Accordingly you check out the size of trestle tables from a local hire

Accordingly, you check out the size of trestle tables from a local hire firm.This was the dilemma facing Cas Clarke. By measuring every alcove, nook and cranny she calculated a strategy to seat all 40 guests Brilliant. But when the tables arrived, and this she couldn't have reckoned on, they were all too big. At this late stage it takes precious hours to reorganise all the furniture and seating."I have a short fuse," says Cas Clarke. "When one thing goes wrong, it makes me aware of the potential of everything else to go wrong I suddenly thought of all the food and wine I had ordered. Would any of it be ready? What if the supermarket hadn't made up my order of dressed salmon for 40?"Planning a party so ambitious as this requires some bottle.

So, continuing our series on the varied styles of entertaining, we turned to Cas Clarke, famous for her seminal book for students, Grub on a Grant (it has sold 100,000 copies), and now the author of Posh Nosh, which tackles the problem of cooking for special occasions, from birthdays, Easter and Christmas to anniversaries, christenings and weddings.Cas Clarke speaks with some authority; her first grand party was catering for her own wedding. Wasn't that nerve-racking? "If you can cope with doing it youself," she says, "you can produce a spread far superior to any that a caterer can provide for the same budget. It was the only way I could have the luxury dishes I wanted." Success on this scale gave her the confidence to tackle her mother's 60th birthday.A sense of hospitality and entertaining is in her genes, she thinks. Cas (an unlikely diminutive for Carole) comes from Northumberland mining stock. Her uncle played football at school with Jackie and Bobbie Charlton (the royal family of the town of Ashington). Great grandma, who lived to the grand old age of 97, was a stupendous host, entertaining friends and family who'd trek from miles around for Sunday high tea She accommodated them in three sittings. Cas was deprived of fulfilling a Northumbrian childhood, she says, because her mother eloped when she was 20 and wasn't accepted back into the fold for some years.And so it was that Cas decided to organise a 60th birthday party, the first party since her childhood, for her mother in Milton Keynes, 100 miles from Cas's home in Surrey."It would have been too costly to hand the whole thing over to caterers," she says.

"But it would also have been too difficult to do the whole thing myself at this distance." How to maximise the best of both worlds?The key first step in planning is to assess numbers and then you can work to a budget "It always costs more than you think," Cas says. She went through the Yellow Pages and got quotes from three companies."I'm not even going to tell you how much it cost me to hire the tables, tablecloths, serving platters, crockery, silver punchbowls. I haven't even dared tell my husband yet - although it wasn't that bad; luckily, it was a mid-week party, and not too difficult to arrange hire of things."Cas's husband, Andy, volunteered to decorate Cas's mother's house They ordered flowers. And yellow and white crepe paper (in the end Andy spent 12 hours dressing the house, including draping the crepe paper across ceiling and walls to create a marquee effect). They bought dozens of yellow and white balloons to fill every corner.It wasn't difficult for Cas to decide on the food. There would be a mix of generations, but the greatest concern was to please her mother's friends. A couple of dishes, she finds, are such clear winners on these occasions they virtually choose themselves: a cold salmon mayonnaise, followed by coronation chicken.Coronation chicken (cold chicken in a creamy, mild curry sauce) has been one of the most popular banqueting dishes of the last 40 years, but a certain snobbishness keeps it out of most recipe collections Cas is not a snob Her mother's friends will love it.

It is quite time-consuming to prepare but has the advantage that it can be done the day before.The cold dressed salmon mayonnaise she will buy in from Waitrose. It's fiddly work, cleaning, poaching, boning and dressing whole salmon; and you can order the exact quantity with no waste or worry.This leaves her hands free to expend her skills on a choice of really tasty and traditionally well-received salads (Mediterranean pasta, brown rice and lentils, and three bean salad); some splendid desserts (raspberry vacherin, mango and orange cheesecake); and, of course, the birthday cake).As this is no ordinary celebration, Cas chooses to throw in a few extras: cold ham, turkey and beef (the Northern high tea tradition) and a modern touch, an oriental platter from the supermarket (Safeway does one for either 18 or 30 people with spring rolls, samosas, onion bhajis, chicken, satay and peanut sauce)."We're mad about blue cheese in our family and a lot of people don't like desserts anyway, so I ordered some Stilton and Roquefort and Gorgonzola, as well as Scottish Cheddar and Brie."Drinks I ordered plenty of wine. I allowed a bottle a person, and a glass of champagne for everyone Also beers, lagers, and soft drinks. I do two delicious non-alcoholic drinks - pink punch (with cranberry juice, spark-ling apple juice, orange juice and ice) and iced tea, which is a lovely drink for a warm summer evening (for an alcoholic version you would add some light or dark rum)."COUNTDOWNB-day (birthday) minus two weeks: Bake the birthday cake. Start feeding it with Cognac and Cointreau.B-day minus one week: Get mother to clear house to permit arrival of hired goods. Make numerous shopping lists and checklists.B-day minus 3: Descend on mother for three-day blitz.