Hi Ladies! My daughter's first birthday is this Sat and I don't know what to make for lunch. Normally we do burgers and hot-dogs, and the fixings to go with it, fruit veggies chips a pasta salad. I'm wanting to do something different this yr, what have you done in the past that isn't to complicated?
The kids will eat whatever. The parents are the ones who will want something tasty. Try sloppy joes, salad and good frozen (non-alcoholic) drinks--if its warm outside.
For my daughters first birthday party I bought a sandwich tray from the local grocery store and had fruit, veggies, chips, etc. to go with it. You could also make your own deli tray for people to make their own sandwiches. I made pbj and gold fish for the kids. I think it was one of the easier parties I put together.
Hot beef or hot chicken sandwiches -- all you do is cook the meat slo-cooker works well. Remove chicken from bones or just put the meat in a big mixer bowl and shred with your mixer and make gravy and pour over meat. Or make some with gravy and some with BBQ sauce.
Tacos in the crockpot and then people assemble themselves. Also sloppy joes in a crockpot.
A taco bar? Crock pot with shredded chicken or ground beef, then all the fixins (cheese, sour cream, salsa, lettuce, tomatoes, pico de gallo, etc).
This weekend we did sausages and hot dogs, potato salad, veggie plate, queso in a crock pot, lots of chips, dessert.
And last year we did large Costco pizzas and salad.
You can make meatballs in sauce, and cheese in your crockpot and put out buns for people to make meatball sandwiches.
You can put out Kaiser rolls, or whatever bread you like, with a tray of sliced deli meats, and cheeses, and a plate of other sandwich items and let people choose what kind of sandwiches they would like to eat.
Simple, and easy.
Then you can make macaroni salad, potato salad, and veggie trays. And if you want bowls of chips and dips. Sour cream ranch dip is amazing. I always make it when company comes over.
I like the sandwich tray idea. Or you could always do only one of the hotdogs/hamburgers, so there is less to prepare. If you are looking for easy, I would recommend getting everything pre-made at the market for convenience. Any salads can be purchased, and hamburger patties instead of making them yourself. Of course this is more costly, but more convenient.
A pasta feed or a taco bar is always cheap and yummy :)
