Best Recipe Ideas for a Baptism Party at Our Home?

Here's a super simple appetizer recipe that always gets gobbled up:

Put 1 block of cream cheese in a shallow serving bowl
Pour 1 jar of mango salsa on top of it
Serve with tortilla chips

May sound odd to some but it's totally yummy.

You could always go for the typical suburban party food and get some beef and pasta from Portillos! Or if you want to do something at home, costco has frozen beef (5 lb tubs?) you just defrost (give it a few days) and heat for a few minutes.

We had a cake at our daughter's baptism, but it was a homemade cake made by Grandma, nothing fancy. We had little sandwich rolls, which everyone loved, and a veggie and fruit tray.

What about pulled pork (or beef) in a crockpot? You can set it all up the night before and get it going about 6-8 hours ahead of time. Place chuck roasts (or pork roasts) and 2 sliced onions in the crockpot and let it cook on H for 6-8 hrs. When done add 1-1.5 bottles of BBQ sauce mixed w/ 1/2 jar of apricot preserves and keep warm. Buy cloverleaf buns and make a tossed green salad/potato salad/fruit salad, order a cake and you're done!

Pasta salad is always a big hit and better if you make it ahead. You could also make a fruit salad and a veggie tray the night before. As far as the main dish you could make pulled pork in the crock pot. That way it is ready to go as well.

If you don't want to do cake you could set up and ice cream sundae bar. That way people can eat dessert when they want and you don't have to worry about when to cut the cake.

It sounds like everyone has the same idea - pulled pork! I was going to do a ham but it is frozen so I have to thaw/cook/slice, etc. I found trays of pulled pork at Sam's (around $8) that serve 30 people so I'm going to do that and meatballs (friend is making those), several bags of chips/dips, fruit and veggie tray and that is it. But we'll be starting the party after the actual baptism at 3pm so it's not a peak eating time. As far as cake, I did splurge here because I know a local girl who makes delicious, cute cakes for the same price as those bought in larger grocery stores. I am having a cross cake with my son's initals on them surrounded by cupcakes that look like baby boys with binkys. And we're having three types - half the cupcakes are strawberry with strawberry cream filling and white icing, the other is chocolate and the actual cake is carrot with cream cheese frosting. All that to serve 50 people for $40!

I bought perwinkle blue plates, napkins, etc from a party store at 50% off and am only getting cans/boxes of juice so we don't have to buy ice and cups. I'm also making tea, juice, etc that we have at home so we don't have to buy more drinks than we already have.

God bless your son on his baptism!

I have used the smoked briskets sold in grocery stores. All your side dishes can be made in advance. If you serve potato salad and a few other sides along with some bread or rolls nothing but the brisket will have to be heated up. Easy as pie!

Even though I enjoy cooking and baking, for an event such as your are hosting, buying an already decorated cake is festive and easy on you. You could add some ice cream if you want to make it a little more fun than just cake. Another fun summer dessert I've done with large groups of people is a sundae bar, with ice cream and various toppings. People of every age seem to enjoy that.

God bless you on your son's baptism.