Need a recipe for five hungry 10-year-old boys and their moms, preferably make-ahead. Help!

How about Beef Short Ribs, with Egg Noodles or Mashed Potatoes? And a nice, green salad too.

Loaded baked potato soup with cheese & bacon to top individual portions. Homemade apple crisp with cinnamon ice cream for dessert.

How about finger foods. With good tea, made with loose leaf.
And a selection of savory sandwiches, salmon, watercress, cucumber, tuna; a selection of kid food like chicken fingers, small pizza slices; or skewers of chicken and veggies; Sweets like scones, cakes, tea biscuits would all fit into a bookclub type gathering.
Most could be made ahead and assembled at the last moment.

Thank you for all these amazing ideas! I guess I'll have to have more book clubs at my house to try them all out.

Picnic food even though it's winter. Barbecues chicken or ribs done in the oven long and slow. Potato salad. Slow-baked beans. Maybe coleslaw or something with some tang. Carrot sticks etc. chocolate cupcakes for dessert. All of it can be made ahead and set out for kids and moms to serve themselves.

With all the cold weather across the US, I would make chicken or beef pot pie. Though mac n' cheese sounds fantastic too.

This is a wonderful Mac & Cheese recipe by Jean-Georges Vongerichten (and his wife). It works wonders for me when we have playdates. http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/marjas-mac-and-cheese

Chili; and/or buffalo wings.r make your own pizza - Use store bought pizza dough; have toppings ready and let everyone make their own pizza.

How about pulled pork sandwiches? I've made these chinese pulled pork sandwiches before (http://food52.com/recipes/18628-chinese-pulled-pork-sandwiches-with-kale-and-apple-slaw) and it was great. If you want something like lasagna (but more interesting), you could make moussaka (I actually made some last night, which is why I'm plugging it). The recipe I used (but tweaked a bit) is from saveur: http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Classic-Moussaka
and depending on how far in advance your dinner is, you can prep out some of the ingredients beforehand, like the eggplants and potatoes (which I roast in the oven instead of frying all at once). It takes a bit of work, but it pays off in the end.

lasagna--traditional, or a mushroom version? bolognese?