Food Ideas for Daugters 1St Birthday!

For my daughter's first birthday I did cold cut meats and cheeses with different kinds of breads. I did a watermelon bowl (made watermelon, cantelope balls) and served it in the watermelon shell. I made a couple of dips (spinach was one of them) and served with fresh veggies and chips. It was a big hit and was relatively simple. All of it I was able to do ahead of time so I didn't have a huge mess on my hands. I've also seen the tortilla roll ups where you put cream cheese, chives and some kind of meat, roll them up, slice them and put on a plate. They always seem to go quickly.

Most importantly, have fun. Try to have something you can do ahead of time so you can enjoy the day!

Blessings!
L.

Hi K., I saw some really cute ideas for the 4th of July on familyfun.com, here is the link..
www.familyfun.go.com/recipes/special/specialfeature/july-...
Have fun, and happy 1st birthday to your little one!

You can do a theme of your daughter's favorite red, white, and blue foods. Red Jello, white cool whip for stripes, and blue berries in the corner to create a flag. Pigs in a blanket. Red strawberries dipped in white chocolate. Watermelon and a seed spitting contest. We actually had a watermelon grow in our front flower bed from eating the fruit outside. Chick-fil-a chicken nugget tray. Popcorn. Blue tortilla chips.

Hope you find what you are looking for. Have fun.

When I would have a group of people over, I would fix everything to make shishkbobs (sp?) and have everyone do their own with whatever they wanted. I would have chicken and beef, onions, pineapple chunks, green peppers, small tomatoes, etc. They would put it on the grill and cook it just how they wanted. Then of course I would have macaroni salad, baked beans, watermelon, cantalope, etc

Hope you have a great party for your little one. They grow up fast so enjoy them while they are still at home.

What about a taco bar. You could use turkey, chicken, and beef. Cut up lettuce, tomatoes, get some sour cream, salsa etc. When I think of little ones I try and think of easy foods for them. You can buy the already made taquitos etc. Other items you can make: seven layer dip, rotel dip with meat for nachos so the food is filling and make some without for those who do not like meet.

And you could also buy a few footlongs subs at Subway($5 each) and do sandwich trays with different dips for chips..

I was going to suggest mexican food too. You can jazz it up by marinating some flank steak in lime juice and cooking it on the grill, then thinly slicing it and serving it with tortillas! You can do the same thing with chicken. My family LOVES this meal and its an inexpensive way to serve steak and chicken because once it is thinly sliced, and piled in a tortilla with grilled peppers and onions (which I just put in one of those square grill pans on the grill), it goes a long long way! Enjoy!

We did the $5 pizzas from Pizza Hut last year for one of my kids and bought some 2 liters on sale at the store with cups and ice. I put out two diff. kinds of chips that didn't need dip along with the cake. Everyone was happy and there was more than enough food. I think on everything we spent $50 total. :-)

Frito pie!!! You can lay out all the fixins on a table and each person can make their own in either a brown paper bag(my fav) or a bowl. Fritos,chili,onions,cheese,mustard,hot sauce.
Mmmmmm. :)

We've done Italian night for my son's birthday. I serve lasagna and spaghetti with garlic bread and a salad bar. That's always a hit. We also did the pizza idea suggested below which is super easy. My son's last party, we got a Chick-fil-a nugget tray and had all the same things that go along with the grilled stuff - potato salad, baked beans, mac and cheese,etc.