EASY Recipes for 1 Y/o Birthday Party?

K.,
Everyone has good ideas but I haven't seen any pasta salad recipes yet. Here's my favorite. It's way too easy.

Pesto pasta salad:

1 pkg spiral noodles - cooked
1 pkg pesto - I like Armanino's from the freezer section
1/2 - 3/4 cup mayo
Diced yellow and red peppers
Peas
Scallions (or not)
Mix all together and whalllla. Yummy salad.
Hope this helps.
T.

We just had my daughter's 1st birthday party last month. I had my hubby grill chicken legs & hot dogs. I made a ton of pasta salad ahead of time and had veggie trays from Sam's Club. I bought a bunch of different chips and had drinks in a cooler. I made cupcakes. It was a blast. =)

I always like to put out pasta.. for parties most people like it :)

oldest DD was lasagna, salad, garlic bread..
plus snacks :)

This DD will be catered because being pregnant i can barely cook dinner with out being dizzy never mind a whole party! LOL

Happy Birthday!!

How about a build-your-own sandwich bar: rolls/bread, condiments, meats, cheeses, and produce. this make prep super simple, and then you dont have to worry about so many preferences... serve with a couple of kinds of chips, maybe a fruit or pasta salad? If you have other little kids coming these are easy and kid-friendly. To drink I suggest bottled water, some kind of juice for the kids, and your usual adult-drinks: soda or punch.. Bucket of ice.

Or - we got daddy involved for my kids birhtdays, L0L - set up the grill and have a nice old fashioned Hamburger & hotdog roast. He can chum it up with the other guys as he mans the grill for a bit. Serve with coleslaw or potatoe salad, maybe the fruit salad, and again with the chips... :-) baked beans in a crockpot. Lemonade.

Buffet-style continued:
Taco bar, salsa and chips, tacos, build your own taco salad, burrito bar.
Salad bar _fresh choice style - greens, toppings, maybe chicken (buy a whole cooked one at the deli counter and shred it up); with fresh fruit slices - watermelon or various melons and grapes.

With these ideas the key is to prep as much before hand, or recruit help to set things out, then you can relax and celebrate as the guests help themselves... Hope you got some inspiration, have a great party!

I recommend for the main dish- tri-tip sandwiches.

Buy a seasoned tri-tip (as many as you need) and cook it at 350 degreese for two hours and then put it in the crockpot with the juice and a can of beef broth and cook on low for 6-8 hours (you could have it cooking over night and be ready the next morning. It would stay warm the entire time in the crockpot and you can always borrow more crock pots if you need them.

I would say either go spaghetti or a taco bar. Both are easy and you can prepare a lot of it ahead of time. A potato bar is fun and easy too. For the spaghetti prepare your sauce the day before, you can buy meatballs already made or cut up sausages and bake them the morning of. An easy toss garden salad and garlic bread.For drinks you can make Italian sodas, sparkling water and flavored syrups. You can find the syrups at Cost Plus.

For the taco bar all you need is meat which you can prepare ahead of time and reheat the day of the party, tortillas, and then all the fixings. Many of them can be prepared the day before. Make a pot of Spanish rice and some beans.

The potato bar is much the same as the taco bar. Place a bunch of potatoes in the oven a couple of hours before the party and prepare all the fixings the night before and add a toss salad.

Here is a recipe for a great fruit punch. It is all enjoyed at our parties. Start with some punch base mix ( you can find it at the grocery store), 2 2 liters bottles of lemon lime soda, a half gallon of orange juice or a can of frozen OJ and one can frozen limeade. Mix all together and add ice.

I love this recipe and it is super easy.

potato bread (we usually cut it into cookie cutter shapes, I am sure you can quarter the slices too).

cream cheese 8 oz
1 package of ranch mix> mix the ranch and the cream cheese, spread on bread.

2 regular size cucumbers, peeled & sliced (I usually do 2 or 3 slices depending on the shape I use), when done sprinkle the tops of the sandwiches with dill.

This is so yummy! I have felt guilty about just making it, to make it. I have been trying to think of a good reason to make them, so I can't wait for the 4th! As you can tell Pregnant lady here.
Good luck hope your Daughter's day is very special!
M.

For my daughters first birthday I knew it was going to be a stressful day so I went the easy route. We did a baked potato bar. We just threw a pork roast in the crock pot with BBQ sauce, a crock pot with nacho cheese, a crock pot with chili and then all of the normal potato sides, butter, sour cream, onions tomatoes, chives, bacon bits, and a bunch of other stuff. There was something for everyone, everyone walked away stuffed and happy. Not to mention it was so easy and pretty inexpensive if you do the shopping at Sams or Costco.

This rice salad is really good and really easy, and you can make it ahead since it is to be served cold. Every time I take this to a potluck, people ask me to bring it again.

1 cup long-grain white rice
1 cup canned black beans, drained
1 cup canned kidney beans, drained
1 cup whole corn kernels, drained
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup olive oil

Cook rice according to directions and let cool.

In a large bowl, combine the cooled rice, black beans, kidney beans, corn, onions, red bell pepper and cilantro.

Mix well.

To make dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, garlic, chili powder, salt, red pepper flakes and black pepper. Whisk in oil and pour over salad and toss well.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Hello,

I always make sure I have some macaroni and cheese on hand. No matter where we go that seems to be one of the first dishes kids run for. There are two easy ways. 1) you can cook it from the box (the extra cheesy kind) and then bake it with shredded cheddar cheese on top or 2)get a recipe off the website for home made. I have one at home that includes cooking milk for a while and then melting in Velveeta cheese and pouring over the top of the cooked macaroni and then throwing some other type of shredded cheese (mixing it in) and baking.

Kids also seem to love an easy Ceasar Salad and/or turkey hot dogs. And/or fruit salad.

Or you can take hot dogs, slice them down the middle and put a big strip of cheddar cheese in them, wrap them in a croissant (the kind you have to bake in the refrigerator section) and bake them until brown.

If you don't want to cook too much, buy some Costco cheese pizzas or find an inexpensive pizza parlor and get some pizzas.

Of course, I don't know how many one year olds you will have, but they can have everything cut up really small and the older kids will usually find the rest appealing.

Good luck. Sorry for the rambling. I cook every night for my children and it has been a real struggle being creative and making sure to cook meals that they will like and that I can later use for lunches. I am a mother of 3.

Regards,
Kim

Hi there, Some of the most popular food items we served were:
homemade gaucamole (you leave out the salt)...just mush and add lemom juice, basil, cilantro and some garlic powder. Served alnoe or with some little hard bagel chips...

Another yummy was a version of "PB playdough"..we used alomnd butter instead and you can substitue honey with the recipe link down at the end if you want

1 cup peanut butter, crunchy or smooth
1/2 cup honey
3/4 to 1 cup powdered milk or powdered soy milk (at the co-op in bulk)

Mix the peanut butter and honey in a mixing bowl. Gradually add the powdered milk and work it into the peanut butter with a spoon or wire whisk until it reaches the cosistency of Play-Doh.

Once the peanut butter mixture is made, you may roll it into small shapes or flatten it with a rolling pin, and stamp out cookie cutter shapes and eat. Served chilled if you want.

Honey Sub
http://www.recipezaar.com/191476

Appetizers:

Bubbling Cheesy Olive Breads
-----------------------------

*green onions
*lots of grated cheddar cheese
*a tub of artichoke dip (safeway has them)
*small can chopped olives
*mayo
*soft butter
*sliced baguette french loaf
* cajun spice or garlic powder

mix ingredients together in proportions you wish, spread on bread slices, place on cookie sheet and broil till bubbly. ALWAYS a hit. We always run out! Everyone devours these. ( if you don't make the mix to wet,you can spread the slices the night before. cover the cookie sheets, and put in fridge until ready to broil) My sister uses the precut cocktail breads, but these are kinda thin and flimsy. you'd have to spread the mix sparingly if you use them.

Smoked Salmon Pate
-------------------

1 jar smoked salmon
8 oz cream cheese

mix together and serve w/crackers.

Hot Chili Chesse Dip
--------------------
I med onion finely chopped
2 garlic cloves minced
2 t oil
30 oz. chili/no beans
2 C salsa
6 Oz cream cheese, cubed
4 OZ sliced olives
Saute Onion/garlic in oil till tender. put in crock pot. add everything else. Cover, cook low 4 hrs stirring occasionally. Serve w/ corn or tortilla chips

Chicken Salad Sandwiches
------------------------
Serve these on Criossants- makes all the difference.
mix together in bowl (just eyeball it):
5 chk breasts, 8 thighs,cooked/ shredded or chopped (no skins)
1/2 c chicken drippings from pan you just cooked chicken in
2 T red chopped onion
1/2 t dijon mustard
1/4 C provolone cheese /diced
3/4 C of jarred white alfredo pasta sauce
1/4 C mayo
2/3 C finely diced ham
1 fuji apple chopped fine
salt/pepper/salad supreme seasoning- all to taste
slivered toasted almonds (optional)

Sweet n' Sour Meatballs
----------------------
I LOVE Yoshidas Sweet and Savory Sauce (available at Costco) for tri tip sandwich marinade or also cocktail meatball marinade. Use the frozen meatballs if you like, throw them in a crock pot with yoshidas. add a can or two of pinnapple chunks,(no juice)and 1-2 chopped green peppers (1 inch cubes).bring to boil or very hot (to cook the pepper a bit), then reduce to lowest temp. Find someone who has a rice cooker to borrow and cook up a batch of rice. Most of these units will hold steamed rice HOT for many hours. Betty crocker cookbook has a WONDERFUL recipe for sweet and sour meatballs if you feel like cooking from scratch.

Watergate salad
----------------
mix together:
1 tub cool whip
8 oz INSTANT pistachio jello (dry mix)
40 Oz crushed pinnaple, with jiuce
2 C mini marshmallows
1 C pecans (optional)
Refridgerate at least 1 hour. Pretty in a glass footed bowl, like a truffle bowl. Garnish w/more whipped cream or half lime slices all around the top edge.

Ambrosia
---------

2 tubs cool whip
3 cans mandarin oranges
2 cans pinnapple tidbits
1 bag mini marshmallows
3/4 bag sweetend coconut

Mix together. refridgerate 2 hours.

pretty on a buffet table and easy: Line a big low edged basket with a white fabric napkin, fill with store bought muffins, criossonts, and pasteries.

several cans of Stag chili in a crock pot, with grated cheddar on top, are good for chili dogs or serving over nachos! Or serve with Corn bread and honeyed butter.

Kahlua root beer float
----------------------

1.5 oz Kahlua
1 oz cola
Sccop vanilla ice cream
Pour Kahlua and cola over ice cream in tall glass. Fill with club soda.

Ice cold lemonaid is always a treat on a hot day.

If you want super easy, just do sandwiches cut out with cookie cutters. You can get cookie cutters that match the theme and do any type or variety of sandwiches you want. For my son's birthday, we just did pb&j since it was a bunch of four year olds and they ate them all up. You could do ham and cheese or turkey and cheese the same way though.

K.-

#1 Make it easy for yourself
#2 Do some prep for 2 nights(while baby is sleeping) before event
#3 Make some stuff and order the rest (if you don't like to di it all.)
#4 Great resources are allreceipes.com and myreceipes.com

The salad I make for everyone (it's been the hit of party) is mixed spring lettuces (They come in the big clear box from Earthbound) - Thinly sliced Red Onion - Dried Cranberries - Crumled Goat Cheese - Sliced Pear or Granny Smith Apple. Brianna's Blush Wine Vinaigreete (there's a pic of a Strawberry on the label!)

Main Course - it's summer so think about something easy to grill. Maybe Flank Steak or Tri - Tip - some Chicken Breasts. Make 1 marinade - double or triple it and Marinade meats over night. Hot dogs for the bigger kids is always a good stand by.

Drinks - again EASY on yourself - purchase water bottle (althougth not very GREEN so - perhaps put out pitchers of water with lemon and limes in it.) Juice Boxes for the older kids and 1 Cocktail Drink - Marg's or Mojito's or Sangria (foodnetwork - Bobby's Flay's Rose Sangria is outstanding!) All of these can be made a head.

Have fun!

for my sons first birthday we just got pizza and 2lt bottles of soda and juice i made the cake from a box and store bought iceing i wanted to have a big party for him but then thought about it and really he wasnt going to remember it anyways so we just made it fun and easy if you want more ideas being this easy let me know im full of them i am a great cook but didnt feel the need to go all out for something like this good luck and remember have fun with it dont make it h*** o* yourself

I assume you are ;looking for recipes for adults not 1 yr olds. I like to take baby spinich,toss it with sliced strawberries and slivered almonds or walnuts with a raspberry vinigarette dressing. It is cool and refreshing for summer time. You can throw in a little feta cheese to if you want. Various types of little sandwiches are good and easy to do as well.

How about some chicken salad (chopped chicken breast, celery, apple, nuts in a mayo based dressing (add a little apple cider vinegar to the mayo, salt and pepper to taste). Another is shrimp salad (use either tiny shrimp or the ones just a little larger (may want to cut them in 2 or 3), add celery, red onion, dill or cilantro--again the mayo dressing. These can be put in bowls to self serve into pita pockets (the regular size or the mini ones (you can get them from Trader Joes). Have lettuce available for filler. You could even jazz up a white albacore tuna salad with some sliced olives and chopped up red/orange/yellow bell pepper, red onion or and chopped marinated artichoke hearts for the pita pockets. A nice arrangement of sliced fruit and maybe a potato or pasta salad should finish it off. Enjoy and take it easy. It is only her first birthday.

Go to Dream Dinners. It's super easy, the food is fantastic, and they have this whole summer menu that is geared toward entertaining. That's what I do when I have to feed a big crowd. Also, the price per serving is very inexpensive (between $3-5 per serving for main dishes). They have the main dishes covered, and then they have a lot of great (and easy!) recipes for side dishes that coordinate with the entrees. Good luck!!

Hi K., we had a small gathering for my son's birthday party (20 people). For us - we bought frozen appetizers from Costco, such as, shu-mai, dino nuggets. Also - we got potato and chicken salad from costco (already made). We also baked chicken wings (marinated ourselves), garlic toasts (costco) and made fresh guacamole (for dips). Additionally, we had a regular cake, an ice cream cake, and additional snacks for other kids.

have fun!

Hi K.,
I am reading your responses b/c my baby boy is 11 1/2 too and I am planning a very small gathering. We just moved to San Rafael from Los Angeles a week ago and don't know too many people here yet. Most of our friends here have older kids. Are you in San Rafael? Are you part of any mom's groups? I joined Meetup.com to meet other moms with babies so my baby can start to socialize more. Let me know if you are interested in meeting sometime for a playdate. We live near the Civic Center right now. If you give me your email address I'll send some pics of me and my little boy so you know who you're talking to. :-) Let me know if you're interested in a playmate for Sadie.
D.

The web site I use is www.Tasteofhome.com Lots of really graet easy receipies.

Good luck!!

C.

I usually do some sort of lasagna or spaghetti, salad, bread and cake. You can do the lasagna the day before and then cook it the day of. If you do spaghetti, you can make the sauce the day before and that way the day of the party you just have to cook the noodles and throw everything together. A web site that I use quite often is www.allrecipes.com They have some wonderful recipes and you can narrow your search down by ingrediant. I would definitly recommend to do something simple that can be done, for the most part, the day before. That way you won't be in the kitchen the whole party stressed out and missing things. If something comes up or you just aren't in the mood to cook, frozen lasagna's work well. I love to cook, but have done this several times before. Have fun

You can always go to Costco and get the frozn appetizers. They ahve so many to choose from. We have gotten the Bagel bites and dinosaurs chicken nuggets (which kids love), taquitos, quiche,chicken wings, nachoe cheese and chips, meatballs. Allt this is easy all you have to do is pop everything in the oven and the nachoe cheese and meatballs put in acrock pot with some sauce. To just name a few but they have so many different things there. The guest always love it because we have such a variety of food to choose from. If you wanted to do a meat and cheese platter with different type of rolls then make a potatoe salad and pasta salad. Last year I had ordered all the food from Sandra Dee's bbq. IT WAS DELICIOUS!!! We got the ribs, tri tip, potatoe salad, red beans and rice and corn bread for 20 people and it only cost $200.00. You figure by the time you go to the store, buy everything and put it together that is what you will spend anyways. Sandra Dee's has alot on thier menu to choose from also.

Here is a great side salad recipe that my step mom gave me it is supper easy and everyone loves it. It does make a huge amount of salad. My Husbands company has potluck days and ever since he took this salad his coworkers always tell him to bring it.Hopefuly you have a costco because I don't have mesurements on the brocolli or grapes.
1 large bag of brocolli heads from coscto
1/2 of a box of red sedless grapes from coscto
2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans (chopped fairly small)
10 strips of crunchy cooked bacon (crumbled)if you have people who don't eat pork use the turkey bacon.

Cut the brocolli Florets into small bite sized pieces place in a large bowl, cut the grapes in half and add to bowl, mix in the nuts and bacon stir really well.
Dressing
1 cup mayonaise
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tablespons white vinegar
Mix well then toss into the salad stir really well, refriergate for at least 4 hours (though you can do it overnight) stir well before you serve it. It will last up to three days in the fridge. This is the only way my kids eat brocolli.
Good luck
Amanda

Some of the recipes the other moms gave sound delicious. But do be careful of some of those items. As a mom of allergic children, I would caution against serving peanuts (or nuts of any kind) or sea food esp for young children. and be careful w/ hot dogs as they are a common choking hazard.

Maybe something easy like turkey luncheon meat (Hormel has a good version called Natural choice that is nitrate-free) sandwiches and set out condiments so people can make it the way they like (our children are also egg-allergic so they can't have mayo either) i'm just paranoid. esp for your one-yr-old -- unless you've introduced PB before and if you know for sure none of the other children/parents coming to the party aren't peanut allergic, i'd stay away from nuts. Just my two cents worth!

Other easy and healthy things are baby carrots sliced real thin and cucumber slices and apple slices. Good luck to you!

Peanutbutter and jelly sandwichs cut with cookie cutters and chips Good luck

Hi K., I've some great EASY recipes. Most use common pantry ingredients, & can be prepared ahead.
Email me & I'll forward to you.
J.

A really cute and cheap idea for little kids is to make jelly (grape or strawberry)and cream cheese sandwiches and cut them out using cookie cutters. You get all kinds of different shapes and the kids seem to really like them.