Birthday Parth Menu

Hi M.,
For my son's birthday we got a sandwich platter from Togos. Everyone loved them. We just got bowls of chips and dip and veggies to go with it.

If the little kids won't eat it, buy some chicken fingers that you can warm up quickly.

Hope this helps.

chicken nuggets, hot dogs, grown up sandwiches, meat balls, wings. easy, finger foods. I'd boil the dogs-and then no one has to grill.

Happy birthday to your lil man!!! I agree with DH. That's the beauty of a mid-afternoon party. I think a fruit tray, chips & dip, crackers & cheese & if you really want to maybe a pasta salad too. That along with cake should be more than enough.

Pizza! Don't spend too much time cooking during the party or you'll miss it. Pizza is perfectly acceptable for kids and adults.
For sides, you can have watermelon, fruits, cheese cubes, goldfish, chips and veggies and dip, and if you need a more adult side, you can have some kind of salad - green or pasta.

Really, it's much simpler than you're imagining!
Have fun!

Fruit, cheese, crackers and veggies/dip are always a good combo with variety. I agree that you don't need to have a full menu...however, do consider that it might be cheaper to do hot dogs and chips than a bunch of different finger foods (burgers are more costly, but hot dogs are pretty cheap!) Just something to keep in mind. :)

You could do build-your-own sandwiches. This way if someone is hungry, there is food for them and if not they could eat a light snack. Get some bread, lay it out in a basket, make a meat and cheese tray and a tray of condiments (lettuce, tomato, pickles and onions). Set out the ketchup, mayo and mustard. Have the fruit and some chips and dips and you're all set. If people get to make their own, you have no worries about picky eaters.

What if you went to Costco or SmartnFinal and picked up a big can of Nacho Cheese, and had that heated in a CrockPot, and then offered a variety of toppings, jalapenos, chili beans, sour cream, olives, etc. That way, if somebody was hungry, they could grab some nachos and some sliced fruit and be good. Or maybe a platter of little sandwiches would be nice, maybe a potato salad to go with it?

This is a recipe that adults and kids adore and it' healthy and super easy for you!

Chicken On A Stick (Makes 8 Sticks)

2 Cups Cornflakes, Whole Wheat Flakes or other Flakey Cereal
1 Tsp Salt
1 Lb. Chicken Tenders, remove white stringy tendon
1 Cup Buttermilk
Sticks, soaked or covered with tin foil
Vegetable Canola Oil Spray

Piture's on the website-www.weelicious.com

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Place the cereal and salt in a zip lock bag and crush with a rolling pin OR place in a food processor until the size of breadcrumbs.
3. Pour the buttermilk in one bowl and the cereal in another.
4. Take the popsicle sticks and skewer the chicken tenders on to the sticks leaving a 1 inch handle.
5. Roll the chicken tenders in the buttermilk and then in the cereal, coating the chicken completely.
6. Line a sheet tray with foil and spray it with oil.
7. Place the chicken tender sticks on the sheet tray and lightly spray them with oil.
8. Bake for 16-18 minutes or until cooked through.
9. Serve with ranch dip.

Ranch Dip (1/2 Cup)

1/4 Cup Yogurt
2 Tbsp Vegansaise or Mayonnaise
1 Tbsp Chives
1 Tsp Lemon Juice
1 Tsp Dijon Mustard
1/2 Tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 Tsp Onion Powder
Salt to taste

1. Place all the ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine.
2. Serve with chicken on a stick.

its not really finger food but it was great. We did a simple make your own tostada/buritto bar. I bought a huge can of beans from costco (you can make from scratch really easy) and put them in a crock pot. had shredded lettuce, cheese, salsa, sour cream, premade tostada shells and flour tortillas. It was super cheep too. some even made quesidillas. We also offered fruit and veggis platters and drinks. good luck.

Hi there,
Fresh veggies and dip is always a good thing. Costco has a great layered dips. You definately want to have plenty of food to eat. If it is going to last until 6:00 then you are going to have hungry adults and kids. You need to have something substantial. Pasta salads or a hot pasta dish would work. I have made pasta mixed with ricotta cheese and mozzarella. (make sure you use enough spaghetti sauce or it will be dry) You can make garlic bread with it too.
Go one line and goggle food for parties, and see what comes up.
Good luck and have fun!

I had my son's 2nd birthday party a few weeks ago and we did sliders (mini burgers) on hawaiin rolls, pizza and pulled pork... all on the BBQ (to keep the house cool). It was a hit!! I had his party at the same time that you are however people were still hungry even though it was 92 degrees out! Suggestion for fruit being outside... put ice in it and keep it in the shade. Bring out a little bit at a time as it will get warm FAST!

Do PB and J's for the kids with no crust maybe in fun shapes. Everyone loves a yummy sandwich. I agree with Pizza. Costco is a great deal! and remember no one remembers the food they had at the party or well say your party sucked because of the food. Just try to have fun and not worry about the food to much.

What about pizza? We just went to a 3 year old's party and the parents had fruit and juice and then a few pizzas and cake. It seemed to work out great and wasn't a hassle or a mess. You have to think most of the little ones won't sit still long enough to really eat a hot dog or burger and pizza is more portable for the grownups and less messy. Just a thought. Good luck with the party, I'm sure it will be a blast!

M., we just went through the same thing... I made a huge batch of meatballs (super easy-you can email for recipe if wanted) and just through them in a crockpot. We also heated up some little smokies (these were a huge hit with the adults and the kids). And then, I got the huge bag of chicken nuggets from Costco (the ones shaped like Mickey Mouse) and served those up as well. We put out bowls of ketchup, mustard, BBQ sauce, and ranch so there was dippings for everything if wanted. Along with that we had chips and fruit (grapes, strawberries and watermelon). It went over real well. The kids loved it and the adults were fed. Good luck

It is nice not to have to worry about cooking while guests are there. You could provide something that you could either make ahead of time or just buy at a grocery store/Costco like cold sandwiches/sandwich roll-ups (turkey/ham)and something like a pasta salad. Or a cheese and meat platter with crackers/bread is good for both kids and adults.

One more idea is to do stuff in crockpots -- meatballs with sweet & sour sauce and the little cocktail weiners in BBQ sauce are great for both adults & kids. Have a supply of toothpicks and you don't even need silverware. Crockpots keep the food hot so you can leave it out for hours (on low) and not have to worry about poisoning anyone. Have Fun.

Make sure you have plenty of finger foods for the kids, they will be too excited to eat a real meal. i did english muffin pizzas at my son's bday and it was a huge hit, cheap too. Everyone both kids and adults loved them. Just open up the muffins, put a little pizza sauce on it cheese or you could have different toppings for people to choose from. Kind of a make your own pizza bar. Toss in the oven 10 mins and yummy!
Have fun

for me, it's easy to make a couple of different pasta salad combinations. bags of pasta are pretty cheap. i like rotelli pasta with cubed red/yellow/ or orange bell peppers, chopped up carrots, red onions celery, artichoke hearts, olives, etc and a part of a bottle of italian dressing. you can add cheese or not, no cheese would be better if it's sitting outside. another easy one is a penne with fresh chopped italian basil, cherry/grape tomato, mozzerella balls, in a wine vinegar/oil dressing. All of these can be made the night before and they taste better the longer it marinates. one dip is not to add tomato or cheese until the day of, the dressing can make it mushy.

a veggie plate (much cheaper to assemble one yourself) with baby carrots, sugar snap peas, grape tomatos, cauliflower/broccoli, and instead of a traditional ranch type dip, use hummus. Trader joes has a great white bean hummus dip. can also have a bag of pita chips to dip into the hummus too.

bruschetta is nice too. chopped up tomato, fresh basil, a little garlic, good balsamic vinegar, olive oil. serve with sliced baguette

M. :)

Great planning to have finger foods and snacks for the kids. Just carry it on with sandwiches, either those you made cut into quarters, or purchased subs. You could also have sandwich meats and cheeses, and let them make their own. Keep it easy!

I really like turkey roll ups for these types of snack need. Just take large flour tortillas, spread cream cheese, then layer turkey and lettuce. Roll up and cut. You can also do a few PB&J cut into fourths for the kids.

Last year, we did an "ocean" theme and did finger foods and it was really fun! We had "Ocean Blue" (blue lemonade), "Surf's Up" (blue jello with whip cream), "Turtle Eggs" (grapes), "Octopus" (hot dogs), "sharks" (goldfish type crackers), "seawead" (green pasta). It was all inexpensive and easy to make and was a BIG hit with kids and adults alike!

Octopus: I bought Jennie-O turkey dogs at the 99cent store. Cut them in half. Then cut them longways about halfway up to create 6 legs. Drop them in hot boiling water until the legs curl up. Put 'em out on a platter and offer ketchup and mustard, etc. No buns required! Here's directions: http://homecooking.about.com/od/beef/ss/hdoctopussbs.htm It doesn't show them cut in half first, but I liked them smaller.