Birthday Party Menu

For my son's 1st BDAY I orded a pasta tray, garlic bread, and salad...no cooking! Just warming up- for MOMMY!!! It was pretty affordable too.

I know how it goes, we've got July and August birthdays here. For one we are doing the typical grilling, hamburgers, hotdogs, etc. For the other, I'm throwing a pork roast in the crockpot, shred it, add BBQ and we've got BBQ sandwiches! You could also bake or grill some chicken breasts the day before and shred and BBQ those too!

The easiest is to just have pizzas delivered. Then serve your pasta and fruit salad with it!

We just used Rosati's to cater our sons Baptism a couple of weeks ago. It was under $100 and we served 15 people. The food was great. Salad was fresh, beef was tender and pasta was yummy. My older son turns 3 in June and we will use them to feed the 40+ people that are invited (yea, 40...and that's ONLY family).

T.

I know how you feel about having to have your husband stand and make food. I have always used KFC. You can pre-order 24hrs in advance and it comes in a aluminum dish and I put it on one of those racks with the sternos to keep it warm. People can help them selves. I also get the bisquits. I think that the price is great. Good luck.

R.

Son turning 3 July 5 and daughter turning 5 June 27!

I've done pulled pork instead of burgers and dogs. It is easy, can be done in the crock pot and your can dress them up just like a burger. I have also done roast turkey in a big roaster. Anything that can be done ahead of time and still be really tasty. I have also done homemade italian beef with german potato salad.

Good luck!

S.

BBQ pulled pork is a great idea I have done, as well as the sausage in tomato sauce. I do cut them in half first and then take the long french bread and slice in 3 in sections. Sloppy joes is a good one to do ahead (I freeze and then throw in crock pot) as well as shredded turkey breast. Put turkey breast in crock pot with stick of butter and leave for 8-10 hours. Shred, freeze and done. Serve on buns. If doing chicken, I prefer from the grocery store. Theirs tastes better and is cheaper than KFC. Meijer actually has really good chicken. Nice because you can leave it out. Nothing wrong with cold chicken! Simple mosticholli goes well with it. Good luck!

M.,
Here is what I like to do it is so simple you will not believe it. I take Itilain sausage, prego sauce, green peppers cut long. Put them all in the slow cooker, on high in the a.m. or the night before pending party time, turn on low to keep warm, serve bith hard rolls, salads, etc...
Or Jimmy johns makes great trays's a little pricey ,but good just the same.
p..s you can cut the sausage in half, if you want.I buy it at Sams club, in bulk.
Have a great party!

M.-
Don't know if you've decided yet, but we just had our daughter's 3rd b-day party & ordered Italian beef. The place we used in Lake in the Hills, had a "party pack" which came w/ the beef, rolls (we cut some in half) & peppers. We kept the beef warm in the Crock Pot. It was almost TOO easy.
That morning I made the world's easiest pasta salad- pasta, any veggies you like, & a bottle of Balsamic Vinegrette dressing. We also had fruit salad & a spinach/strawberry salad.
We opted to skip munchies, served food a little earlier & had hardly any leftovers!
Good luck w/ your festivities!

Hi M.,

We actually catered sandwich trays from Jimmy Johns for my son's 1st birthday. They delivered too which was helpful for me, having to bring everything else to the park district, pick up the cake, balloons, etc... it was one less thing I needed to do.

I would suggest finding some way to place the plastic trays in ice... maybe freeze water in a jelly roll pan so you have a sheet of ice to lay them on... that way the sandwiches will stay cool... most sandwiches do have mayo on them so you'll want to be careful with the heat of August, or order without mayo and just provide it for the guests if they choose. I had a huge variety of sandwiches, they were super fresh and they were cut small so even the kids were able to eat and not have a huge sandwich that would most likely get half eaten and thrown away. i want to say they were the 8" sandwich, cut in 3rd's.

Hope Riley's 2nd birthday is wonderful and you and your husband get to enjoy the festivities :)

We've done Italian beef in the crockpot...way easy and tasty, we've done pulled pork sandwiches, spaghetti, tacos, pork roast...which was fun and someone else does all the cooking.
We've also even put together meat and veggie trays ourselves...it is quick and cheap.

Have a great party!

We like to cook a ham and have ham sandwiches for the party. We cook it earlier in the day and slice it ahead of time so you don't have to mess with it when the guests are ready to eat. We usually have 30-40 people, including kids.

Another thing I do is ask people to bring a dish to pass. Helps me out a ton and usually people don't mind.

Shredded turkey breast cooked in a crockpot is always a hot at my parties

something simple and easy is to order a lunch meat tray! nice and easy!