Birthday Party Menu - Flushing,NY

Chicken and veggie kabobs. Fruit salad, guacamole and home made pita chips. Birthday cake or ice cream for dessert. Milk and water to drink. Things I HATE that are served at virtually every kid's birthday party - bad pizza, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, soda, chips, artificial juice drinks, juice. We attend a party about every other weekend so this is a sizable frequency of poor high fat processed food 'nutrition'. Kids should both enjoy themselves and learn that fun events can be celebrated with healthy real food - not only with junk.

Hi Pinkie -

for my daughter's 2nd B-day I made smoothies for the kids in my blender - cut up fresh fruit, added ice and some type of liquid (some water and bit of apple juice or sugar free lemonade). Since it was in July, this was a huge hit on hot day and actually went far. I don't serve soda in our house - even to adults. Water bottles, ice tea & 100% juice boxes were in the coolers.

For food I made ziti (whole wheat pasta), small tray of sandwiches, a salad and grilled chicken breasts on the BBQ - extra rolls & condiments on the side for those wishing to make into a sandwich (bought by large wholesale quantity -like Costco). I felt this was cheap enough - not far from what it would have cost if did what 100's of others are doing: same old thing- rental place or pizza, hot dogs, burgers. Kids just get too much of that stuff. I also didn't rent an party item or entertainment - which saved money/put to healthy food choices (we have a pool & I made water games w/ balloons, buckets, etc). We certainly get helped by July weather for making backyard party.

We did have pretzels, tortilla chips w/ avocado dip, and veggies with dip for snacking too.

Good luck and have fun. The kids remember playing with each other most.

How about Dino Nuggets? You can cook them ahead of time and keep them warm in a chaffing dish or crock pot.

Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwichs cut into small squares.

Or, you can order pizzas. Usually a fav with kids (and adults) of all ages and no work on your part! Make a salad to go with it to have some veggies and you are good to go :)

If you have a crockpot you could do a crock of manwich. I do not do ground beef but use ground turkey for a healthier (and cheaper) option. If you have a walmart nearby they sell frozen JennyO turkey logs for $1.98 per one pound log. Here our ground beef is $3.99 and up per pound. Our parties are usually failry large with 40 or more guests. I usually do 4 lbs of manwich in the crockpot. Then I will make a tray of home made mac & cheese (I sneak cauliflower in as well). And I make an edible fruit arrangement using cookie cutters to make flowers along with whatever characters my daughter's theme is. I've done Mickey Mouse, Backyardigans, Princesses..etc. It's really easy to do. Just use your electric knife to cut watermelon into 1/2 inch slices and then cut out the characters, flowers, leaves using cookie cutters. I do the same with pineapple, and then use honeydew melon to cut out leaves, then I use a small melon baller on a cantaloupe and use the little balls to make the center of the flowers. Use wooden skewers to make fruit kabobs and poke the pointed end through a small head of cabbage to hold it all together. The kids love eating their fav characters and anything to get them to eat fruit rather than junk is ok by me....lol. Of course I also put out veggies and chips and dip so they have options to pick from. I do not serve sodas - #1- they are way to expensive, #2- I don't let my child have them so I wouldn't serve it to someone's child either. I usually make a big pitcher of lemonade and unsweetened tea. And also have bottles of water and 100% juice boxes on hand as well. I can usually feed a party of 40 or so for about $100 - $125 with this menu, and that includes ordering the cake. Of course you can scale back the quantity and cost depending on the number of guests you'll be having.

On another note, I'm not sure what theme you are going with but if you check the disney and nickelodeon channels websites they usually always have free downloadable decorations and games you can print and cut out yourself saving on that expense too. I know this is going to make me sound like a real cheapskate...but here goes. I keep all the party decorations in a small box and just right the theme on the outside of the box then store it away on a shelf. I am so glad I did this because my oldest has already chosen to have Mickey Mouse clubhouse party 2 years in a row and we now have an 8 m/o so I'm sure she will be into the same things and we will get a lot of use out of these decorations. Why pay for something twice? Last year she wanted Backyardigans. I printed out all their downloadables, cut out a bunch of them strung them from the chandelier over the dining room table. It looked adorable, like a "backyardigan mobile". I put them on cabinet doors, windows, everywhere. Some themes even have birthday banners you can print for free. We still have her "Pin the Glasses on Pablo" game we downloaded. too cute. Good Luck and God Bless.

homemade mac and cheese, lasagna or a ziti bake and salad. For snacks you could do veg and dip, chex mix (if you do it homemade it makes alot) also I just did a bag of bugels at my daughters party and the kids loved them. Simple non messy food that most kids will eat!

you can do pizza and fresh vegetables and dip...or you could even do cheese and crackers, fresh fruit and fresh vegetables w/ dip...hot dogs....mac and cheese, with jello jigglers, i think every child loves mac & cheese...they love the jello jigglers too...don't serve pop...serve juice and water..my grand-daughter is going to be 6 and still does not drink pop...you would be surprised at how many kids do just drink water.

have a great party!!!

I made homemade sauce and pasta (Baked ziti to be exact) for my little girl's 1st birthday. Making your own sauce is cheaper than buying it and it is easy to freeze if there are leftovers. Plus, you have the benefit of knowing exactly what is in the sauce by making it yourself and it isn't hard to do. Make homemade meatballs and such to go in it. The meatballs are the hardest part and then all you do is let it simmer for a few hours. You can also make the sauce ahead of time and then freeze it until the day of! Sauce freezes really well.

Pizza! Every birthday party we have attended for my son (soon to be 3) has served pizza, juice and cake and the kids love it! You could probably negotiate a pretty good price if you are ordering several pies- like adding in breadsticks or a salad if there will be adults!

Hey Pinky,
How about chicken nuggets? I went to a marty grass/kids party. The mom's finger foods were good, but the nuggets were the best and healthy.

-marinate chicken cutlets with lemon, vinegar, honey, mustard, salt and pepper for a few hours.
-cut into nugget size pieces.
-fry until golden brown and serve.

Hope you have a good turnout.

I have done pizza and chicken nuggest 20 piece boxes. They loved it. Also you can do hotdogs. :):):)

hmm, my daughter is only 11 months old. but mac and cheese with hotdogs is pretty cheap to make in large amounts, and most kids like it. grilled cheese finger sandwiches can be good also. and of course, chips, popcorn, etc. Also, Kool aid is cheaper than soda, 2 packets makes a whole gallon. With kool aid you can adjust the amount of sugar in it. With the mac & cheese you can make larger quantities by getting a box of generic elbow macaroni and a block of velveeta, I can't remember the exact recipe for it though. I hope this helps, even though it is only a couple ideas.