I'm planning my daughter's second birthday party and I'm at a loss as to what kind of food to serve. It's going to be mostly adults, just 5 or 6 children, and I really want to do just snacks and stuff. I'm looking for some inexpensive ideas for foods that would appeal to both children and adults that wouldn't be too much work (I have a toddler and an infant....I barely have time to clean my house, much less cook for 30 people!) If you have any ideas, please let me know! Thanks!
For my daughters second birthday we did tortilla rolls, fruits and veggies. The tortilla rolls are real easy. Just take a tortilla, add a piece or two of ham or turkey, a slice or two of cheese, roll them up and cut them into slices. Its fun and easy. To keep them together you can stab them with toothpicks.
cheeseball (homemade): 2 boxes cream cheese, 1 bunch of green onions, 1 pack of salami or pepperoni (vegetarian substitutes work too). chop onions and salami, mix with cream cheese. put in cling wrap lined bowl and smash in to form rounded top. refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving, but overnight is better. dump out of bowl and remove plastic wrap. serve with crackers.
cheese tray, veggie tray, cake, cookies, crackers, chips and easy dips either made or bought.
you could also try little smokies wrapped in a half of a crescent roll and baked till borwn for "grown up" pigs in a blanket. those are super easy. or for a vegetarian substitute, put flavored cream cheese in half of a crescent roll. make sure all the ends are sealed up and bake as directed on crescent roll package till golden brown.
hope that helps.
For my nephews 2nd birthday party we served hotdogs for the kids and hamburgers on the pit for the grownups. You could serve up all the fixings really nice on a long plate with bowels of chips and different kinds of snacks. Kids love hotdogs, and they are so into the party running around and having fun the last thing they are thinking about is eating. Also, for drinks juicy juice boxes and waters in a cooler work really well (if you are having an outside party) so that kids can go get a juice on their own when they're thirsty.
An idea I was going to use for my sons 3rd birthday before we had to change plans due to the rain was, make kabobs. I was going to make them out of friut and cheese. You know, like a grape, then a chunk of cheddar, then a piece of pineapple, then another piece of cheese. It would be a great way to stretch the friuts and cheeses. And it looks neat to boot. Also, I don't know if you would have any large cookie cutters, but I was going to make PB&J sandwiches and maybe a different sandwich for adults and use the cutters to make shapes out of them. Then just stack them up on a platter. I hope this idea helps you out. If you need any help, because I know what its like with 2 little ones, let me know, I would love to help.
S.~
I have two kiddos. Recently we have been doing snack things such as pigs in blankets, cheese dip, veggie trays, and occasionally we will cook up some hot dogs or hamburgers. for a two year old party, you really dont need to go all out on food cause half the time the kids are not going to be interested in eating. go simple on the veggie trays, cheese dip and ranch dressing and pigs in blankets if interested. even fruit trays.
When my daughter was 2: i did taco's i cooked and let every one make what they want. and how they want it.
Hi S.!
I'm not sure what your budget is but I, too, never have time to cook so what I've found to be very easy is buying the finger foods sold in bulk at Sam's. If you don't have a Sam's card, you can find smaller boxes of finger foods in the frozen section of HEB. I've served "taquitos", mini tacos, tator tots/fries with wolf brand chili on the side with shredded cheese for chili cheese fries/tots, bagel bites for the kiddos, buffalo wings, etc. There are sooooo many to choose from at Sam's. If you don't have a membership you may go by and see if they have a "visitor's pass". They may let you try it out before you decide whether or not to purchase a membership. All the items I listed can all be popped into the oven and placed in bowls or on platters.
And By the way, if you go to Sam's, swing by the bakery. They have the best tasting birthday cakes, too!
Have Fun!
D.
Food I would suggest would be healthy finger foods. Try making bite size grilled cheese with fruit on the side. Also try making peanut butter crackers with bananas for a topping. Carrots and apples with dipping sauce. Now for the adults, they love fruit too ( or they should). Make club sandwiches and lemonade. A fun juice for the kids would be ginger ale with strawberry sherbert. Let it melt and serve when it turns into liquid.
My kids like pigs in a blanket and bbq smokies. I put two bags of smokie type links in a crock pot with a bottle of Kraft(TM) Original BBQ sauce and heat. I also use the smokies and cresent rolls cut in half lennghtwise to make the pigs in a blanket. Those both usually go very quickly, even by the adults. Corn nuggets are easy and very popular in our house as well. They are like chicken nuggets but made of creamed corn. Best of luck, J.
