1St Birthday Party Food

Updated on March 08, 2007
T.B. asks from Kokomo, IN
20 answers

My son's First Birthday is the end of this month. We are doing a big party so family and friends can all attend (fingers crossed Brody will handle all these people well). Of course this party will have mostly adults, but quite a few kids under the age of 2 will be there as well. The party starts at 11:30am and ends at 1pm, lunch time. We will serve lunch to all of our guest. I want to have food that the adults and children will enjoy. I don't think todlers are up for pulled pork or chicken salad yet. I would love some suggestions. What food did you serve at your childs first birthday.

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So What Happened?

We just finished Brody's first birthday party. What a wonderful day. I decided to serve mini chicken salad sandwiches, make your own lunch meat sandwiches, baked mac n cheese, asian salad, viggie and dip and chips. Good food for adults and kids. Everyone seemed pleased and satisified. Thanks for all the great ideas.

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J.W.

answers from Evansville on

Have both. Kids don't eat a lot. So make a small amount of food you know they will eat as well as the food you want. Besides, toddler food is usually easy to make and won't take a lot of extra time.

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A.P.

answers from Indianapolis on

Hi T., for my son's first birthday, we served chicken nuggets, pizza rolls, mini corn dogs, chips and juice. After all it was his birthday. Pick out some of his fav. snacks and foods and just go with it. Good luck and I hope he has a wonderful birthday!

A.

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B.N.

answers from Fort Wayne on

don't you just love planning parties for your kids. My son just turned 1 in Jan. so we went all out. I wanted to have it at our place but in the end it was too small. We had it at crazy pinz on Lima Rd., Ft. Wayne, IN (not sure if you are in the area) Anyhow I am all about presentation. So, I would start out with finger sandwiches of all kinds and veggies. Then for the main meal I would have something hot since the weather is still alittle cold. Come up with a theme. For instances you could do a tropical theme. That is really common and easy to buy things for. For the kids you could do mac and cheese with food coloring and dye it blue. Boil some hot dogs andcut them half way up into some legs for an octopus and mustard for the eyes. You can prepare all the plates if you have a head count. Then for the adults the pulled pork is very tropical theme. You could take a pineapple and cut the top off and make fruit kabbobs and place them in the pineapple as an arrangement. Then you could go and buy the frozen water ice cubes and use them as ice. Make a fun color punch. There are recipes on line if you don't know any. Gift bags you can buy leis and what not. For the cake you could have fun. Either by making it yourself or have a bakery do it. What we did was have a tye dye theme for our son. I made tye dye cupcakes and bought a cupcake stand and some pin wheels for them and placed them on there with a 1 on the top. To make those you have to buy white icing and gel colors in the cake isle. Make a circle of each color like a bullseye and then take a toothpick and start from the middle and work your way out like a sprial. Good luck and have fun with ideas.

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J.M.

answers from Indianapolis on

Pizza worked out for us. It was easy and delivered right to the door. I also made fruit and veggie platters. Another idea was Qdoba and do tacos or burritos so that your guests can make what they want. Good luck our party was lots of fun!!

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S.S.

answers from Indianapolis on

Wal Mart chicken. Get their regular fried chicken for adults and their chicken strips or nuggets for the kids. It was a hit at my son's party, everyone thought it tasted great. Then you can add a few salads and the cake and your done!!
S. S.

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N.S.

answers from Louisville on

At my son's first birthday party we grilled out, that makes it very easy to please most everyone. We did hamburgers, hotdogs, and a little bit of chicken. Then you get do whatever sides are easiest for you.

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A.K.

answers from Lexington on

Hi I hope this helps. I like things that are a little different these are some of the foods we had for my daughters 2nd birthday and everyone loved it adults and kids. we had pb&j and ham and cheese sandwiches. our party theme was my daughters initial 'R' so I ordered cookie cutters and cut all the kids sandwiches into R's and 2's and birthday shapes like balloons (we just cut the adult sandwiches into triangles). we also had fruit kabobs that I put on plastic stir sticks from the party store (we didn't have any left over) we also had alphabet cereal party mix to go along with the theme but any party mix would be great I bought dixie cups so the kids could carry the mix around with them. and we usually do cup cakes instead of a regular cake that way I don't have to cut and serve and don't need forks.
~A.

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A.W.

answers from Lafayette on

Lunchables, pizza, any kind of food found in a happy meal (chicken nuggets, hamburgers etc), grilled cheese...think non-messy finger food...they're gonna have enough fun getting cake all over them. And don't forget to set the cake infront of your child first before you cut it and have the camera ready...they usually either put their fist in the middle, grab a handful of cake, or stick their face in it...the picture will be priceless.

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D.T.

answers from Indianapolis on

Toddlers don't need 'special' food (ok, ours don't anyways, I know some can be picky). My kids (1 and 4) love pulled pork and salads. But anyways... small finger foods are good... chicken nuggets, hot dogs (be sure to cut them up), baby carrots (steam to soften them - not all kids have molars or alot of teeth by 2 for crunchy carrots), broccoli, apple slices, grapes (cut in half), nectarine slices, orange slices, watermelon chunks, cantelope chunks (heck, just cut up a bunch of fruit for a fruit salad). Put out dip for the veggies. Crackers and pepperoni make good mini-sandwiches. 100% juice boxes for drinks, pretzels to snack on.

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M.W.

answers from Charleston on

What I have found that works good with kids is pizza and chips they can eat that easy. For my sons 1st b-day we did it at the McD's. So the best thing i can say is order some pizza

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N.H.

answers from Louisville on

We always do pizza and it works out really well. It's not too expensive either. We ordered Pizza Hut this year and got a deal for ordering at least 5 pizzas- all large pizzas (anything on them you want) were $9 each. I'm sure most places give discounts on larger quantities. Good luck!!

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A.W.

answers from Indianapolis on

Well you can always do what my sister and I did for our kids' first birthday.For the little ones you can make cupcakes and a small cake just for Brody.You can make grilled cheese sandwhiches and cute them in triangles.Fun finger foods for the little ones.And you can have the pulled pork and chicken salad for the adults.Just an idea!

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S.H.

answers from Indianapolis on

T.,
I have had childrens' parties like this for the past 6 years. I've found that pizza works well and so does sandwiches/subs. With the sandwiches/subs, people can make them to thier own liking, and toddlers will be able to enjoy it too!!
Good LUck

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T.S.

answers from Wheeling on

for my sons 1st Birthday we had ,meat and cheese trays ,a big sub sandwich with all the condements so people could put on it what ever they wanted .I had chesseballs and crackers .a cookie tray.I also set bowels of candies around .Pasta salad ,maccaronie salad and potatoe salad.Then we had cake with Ice cream sundays .For the sundays i bought all kinds of toppings so everyone could make what they wanted .We have a pretty big family with lots of children so this went over very well.

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M.D.

answers from Evansville on

We grilled out cheeseburgers and hotdogs and had chips and pork and beans. It went over really well. Most toddlers seem to like cheeseburgers. My friend, for her son's first birthday, just had like smoked sausages in a crock pot and then cheese dip in another with chips, and like a cheese tray and a veggie/fruit tray. That was really nice too. Good luck!

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J.D.

answers from Fort Wayne on

Hi T., my son just turned 1 February 23rd. I had about 16 adults there and 6 kids under the age of 9. This is what I fixed, taco sald for the adults, I just used my veggie tray to put all the fixins in and put the taco meat and beans in separate containers, I had a variety of chips too. I also cut all my fixins and such the night before to save a little time. For the kids I just made two boxes of mac and cheese and they were happy. With my son being my third child and having already tried every kind of party, this one was the easiest for me, it allowed me to not be a prisoner to my own kitchen. With plastic bowls and cups clean up was a breeze.
Hope the party goes great. J.

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D.T.

answers from Muncie on

I would suggest a BBQ. That way you can have several things going at once. Mac & cheese are a kid favorite and so are hotdogs. Chicken breast (boneless and skinless) and potatoe salad are good too. Just a few ideas, you can even put some ribs on for the adults.

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K.B.

answers from Indianapolis on

We split it up for our children's first birthday. We had burgers and chicken breast potatoe salad...barbeque type food for the adults. We also had skinned hot dogs, fruits (peaches) applesauce, yogurt and things that our children ate at the time. It is really just up to you but it doesn't have to be much different than your daily menu. Have a great party! K.

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P.K.

answers from Indianapolis on

We had about 20 people at my daughter's first birthday a couple of years ago. We decided everybody loves pasta! It's easy to make. Sauces can be made in advance. We did a spaghetti sauce and a garlic cream sauce. Then we cooked up spaghetti noodles and some rotini noodles. So people had a choice of what type of sauce, what type of noodle, they could mix and match, etc. It was easy to fix, easy to clean, and a one-dish meal that everyone loved. The little ones could easily pick the rotini up with their fingers and eat it. Hope this helps.

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T.S.

answers from Louisville on

honestly I would make it as easy as possible. For my daughters first birthday I had a meat tray and some party buns for sandwiches that you can have made up at any deli. The kids like it because they can also eat the ham or turkey rolled up with a piece of cheese. Then serve little finger foods with it. Makes for easy clean up and you don't have to worry about keeping things hot. For a drink I served punch made with icecream w/ splenda. I tried to keep the sugar intake low. The party for a one year old is mainly about the adults anyway when it comes to food. Just remember they are only one once so take loads of pictures and make this a great time full of fun!! Don't stress over it. I hope you have a blessed birthday party!

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