Need Help with Menu for 1 Year Old Birthday Party

This is something my family loves. chicken ceasar pasta salad. Just cook some chicken breast and pasta and add some ceasar dressing and mix in some romaine and croutons before you serve. We keep a little pasta and chicken seperate for the really picky eaters. It is easy and every one loves it.

For my son's 1st B-Day I had about 15 people aver and I made lasagne and masticolli. I found a great crock-pot lasagne recipe. All I had to do was brown the meat then assemble in the crock-pot. The masticolli took a little more work (plus I made a Blue's Clues cake)...but it seemed to work good feeding everyone.

I don't know if anyone suggested spaghetti but I think it works well - you can offer sauce with or without meat and it is easy to make in large quantities. (I buy Byerly's spaghetti sauce and keep it warm in the crock pot and I don't always admit it's not my own recipe!) Add a couple of loaves of bread and a salad. Plus it makes for some fun photos!

My son just turned a year and for his party we did sloppy joe. We just fed him the meat so there wouldn't be a huge mess. Throw in some chips, pretzels, and for my 3 year old's birthday we had root beer floats :) If some one was brave enough to man the grill yes that is also a wonderful idea.

We have a large family and so we have done a "buffet" for my daughter's Birthdays. Pizza breads, veggie pizza, dips, chips, mini hot-dogs, shrimp, taco salad; and whatever anyone offers to bring. Everything go's out on the table at once and everyone serves themselves throughout the afternoon / evening.

I've been through this 3 times before I would just make age appropriate you could do hotdogs, pork and beans, chips,or something like that.Good luck with the party and God Bless A..

For my sons first birthday, we had the same problem. It was cold out, but not snowy, so my mom went out alone and grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. She just went out to put them on, then came back in until they needed to be moved around. It realy wasn't bad grilling, you had the heat of the grill to keep you warm. It was pretty easy to serve to the toddlers, but did have to be cut up first. I had rented a party room at my friends apartment, and had around 30 adults, and 2 kids (my cousins daughter is the same age as my son), so we had lots of people to feed too. I also put out some veggies and dip, some chips and dip, and my mom offered to bring salads for me. It worked out well, and was really easy. Good luck with the party!

J.

For my daughters first birthday (November) we had about 20 people over. I too was worried since it is not summer and could not cook out, so I made 2 pots of soup, chicken noodle and potato. We also had breadsticks to go with it. For the appetizers, I made veggie pizza on mini bagels, chips, dip, punch and flatbread roll-ups. She also had a chocolate cake with chocolate icing, that is the number one cake for birthdays in this house NOt to mention it makes for great first birthday pictures and then she was promptly given a "birthday bath" after. Hope this gives you a few ideas to toss about.

Congrats on making it a whole year!!! It can be tough!! For my sons 1st birthday party, we also bought a deli sampler with meats and cheeses. I made some warm cheese dip in the small crock pot and potato salad. THey biggest hit with the kids and adults were fruit kabobs that I made..I put a piece of stawberry, kiwi 1 red grape and a cheese cube on wooden skewers. I set vanilla yogurt out for dipping as well. I didn't have enough by the end of the day!!!
Have a great time!!!

we do the same for my son's birthday for a party. and i always make sloppy joes. it goes far, easy to make and kids love them too. and for the kids to you could do a fruit plate to go with the sloppy joes!!

This might not be your thing, but doing a simple Sloppy Joes, baked beans, and potato chips thing always seems like a crowd favorite. It is really simple, inexpensive, and pretty good. I hope this helps.

I had about 20 family members over for my son's 1st birthday party too. I decided on barbecue pulled chicken sandwiches made in the slow cooker.( I bought 3.5 pounds from the deli and warmed it up the morning of the party.) I had some simple side dishes, but my sister in laws brought some pinwheel tortilla rollups( They were a big hit!). I made my son's cake using a receipe without egg as he is allergic and topped it with homemade cream cheese frosting. I did order a quarter sheet cake for the rest of us. It was a great day, my son seemed to enjoy it all and I didn't have much food left over!! Keep it simple so you can enjoy the moment with your daughter!! Hope this is helpful D.

For my kids parties we usually have sandwiches - I buy sandwich buns, Turkey and Ham from the deli at the grocery store (you can add cheese and put the sandwiches in the oven until the cheese melts) and then we usually have potato salad or Chicken cashew salad, chips and dip, veggies (carrots, cauliflower, peppers) or fruit (whatever is in season is good). If you keep it simple it is always easy.

It doesn't need to be fancy - remember that people are coming over to celebrate your daughter's birthday - not just to eat your food.

One other thing to remember in response to previous advice:
You are inviting people over to your house and unless it is a planned potluck it is not ok to ask people to supply the food for your daughter's party.

Have fun and Happy Birthday to your daughter.

Do hotdogs for the kids and chili or BBQ's for the adults. I would cataer it more for the adults since you have far more adults and only a couple of children.

Order Pizza, Pick up Kentucky Fried Chicken, Make Spaghetti, Make Lasagna, Grill burgers.....Whenever I have little one's over at our house I stock up on juice boxes also they're easy, cheap and usually don't make messes.

Usually every year on my daughter's birthday we grill burgers but her birthday is also in August. But it's inexspensive, and usually a crowd pleaser.

hi, i have three kids and i usually go with the simple sloppy joes. you get 10lbs of hamburger 2 bottles of ketchup and 1 1/2 bottles of sweet baby rays bbq sauce, then brown the hanburger and mix it all together. then just get some chips and dip, maybe some cheese and crackers and your set. don't forget the b-day cake

We have done tacos the last couple of bday parties for my kids the parents love it and so do the kids. I make the meat and put it in the crockpot and then you just need lettuce which you can buy shredded already, cheese, tomatoes and then I usually buy soft and hard shells and then just some doritoes and tortilla chips. Its easy and people love it the kids can have tacos if they like them or my kids usually just it the cheese and the shells together. The last party we just had we had over 40 family and friends it was for a bdayparty and house warming party since we just moved it was great.

There is a guy in Mineral Point who does fantastic barbeque pork for like $3/pound. We used him for my son's first birthday and then again for my daughter's baptism when we had a house full of people.

For my son's first birthday we had about 10 people (not as many as you), mostly adults, and I made lasagna. It was easy to make ahead, put in the oven and my son loves pasta so it worked great for him too. You could easily make 2 the day before and then bake them for the party.

All you need to go with it is salad and bread, which are also easy to get ahead or make ahead if you are a baker :)

J.

i think sloppy joes are good with maybe pasta or potato salad.have maybe some taco dip or chips around too.

For my sons birthday I serverd sloppy Joe's out of the crock pot. I also had an easy wild rice and chicken sald, baked beans, chips, and punch. Any Hot meat sandwich is easy and almost everyone likes them. With 20 people don't worry about getting too fancy. It is also fine to ask guests to bring a salad, fruit, or something to share. That way you wont have to worry if there will be enough food to go around. I hope you have a wonderful first birtday!
I just had to add I am due in Dec and our girl name is Cora, also my sister has the same name spelling A. as you.

I just had a huge bday party for my 4 and 2 year old it ended up at our house cause of rain. anyways i just ordered pizzas(not to messy) cake and some chips. since you have mostly adults in Dec you could make a big pot of chilli with small corn muffins and set up all the fixings so they can help themselves. set up a cooler with drinks and buy the small water bottles for kids(i skip the juice boxes they are messy and kids dont care if they dont have a choice)this menu should keep you free to have fun and get heavy duty plastic stuff so there wont be a huge clean up.Get balloons and a cute cake and your set.

For my dauighter's first, we just went to the local grocery store and bought deli trays, rolls, and chips. The kids could eat all the food seperatly, and the adults could choose what they like. I have a great recipe for punch that was cheap and easy. The best part was that we had leftovers for a few days, so I didn't have to cook! We had three small children there,(I have cousins that are a few months younger than her) and it worked well for them too.