Need Ideas for Food at 1St Birthday Party

Whatever you do....keep it small!
You have plenty of time for the big extravaganza!!!
We replicated my 1st b-day cake for my kids...
MiMi made the cake as she did years ago...it was a special time. Have Fun..they are only ONE..once!

Hi M.,
I have a couple of great recipes that are really good! If you going to make your own cake, an easy thing to do so you do not have to spend lots of time serving is think about serving cupcakes! They take less time to bake and then you do not have to worry about portion control if you are going to have lots of people at the party. You can also take the cupcake liners and scoop out one scoop of ice cream and then place they scoop in the cupcake liner. After you are all done, place the liners on a cookie sheet and then refreeze the cups. You will have another great way of portion control and you will not spend all your time serving your guests. The was that I make all my cakes is that I take a basic cake mix and then I add that same flavor of INSTANT pudding to the mix. You can still add the pudding to the cake mix even if the mix had added pudding. For example, if you choose to make vanilla cake, add one small box of dry Instant vanilla to the cake mix. Make the cake as directed and you will not believe what you get!
Icing ideas are also simple. If you want a pudding icing, you will need:
1 envelope DREAM WHIP (found in baking isle by the pudding)
1 1/2 cup cold milk
1 package (4 servings) instant pudding mix
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Combine the 4 ingredients in a snall mixing bowl. Mix to moisten. Beat about 5 minutes until the mixture will stand in peaks.
Another great icing recipe is:
1 (8 ounce) softened cream cheese
1 cup white sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
In a small bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. In lage bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla until smooth.Fold the whipped cream mixture into the cream cheese mixture.

Food sugestions for the party will all depend on what time you decide to have the party. If you have the party after lunch and before dinner time, you can serve a fruit and veggie tray with dips and little finger snacks. This is the best time to have a party because then you do not have to worry about filling everyones tummy. Another idea is a tray of chicken nuggets from Chick Fil A. They are great tasting and the kids like them because they are small.
If you need anymore ideas, just let me know! my e-mail address is ____@____.com this will give you some great ideas and best of luck with your first party!
Best of luck!
J.

I went to a kid's party and they had a big platter from Chic Filet. Everyone likes chicken right? Get a bunch of different dipping sauces and it can't be that much $$$. Or buy or "do it yourself" sandwich platter, get some croissants, a variety of other breads, cheeses and meat. Get some pre_cut veggies and a bowl of ranch dressing and call it a day.

Another piece of advice, keep it SIMPLE. I always only had immediate family for the first birthday. Little ones get overwhelmed with all the people, singing, cake, gifts and what starts off as an exciting day can leave a little one in a meltdown.

Have fun!!!

Well I just had my little boy's party last Saturday and it went great. I found this company called Celebrate Express and did a little prince theme. It was so cute! You can just go to celebrateexpress.com to check out the party themes, they are very reasonable. Anyway, I served fruit and veggies, queso carne dip, brownies, cookies, tortilla rolls, little sandwiches and chips, coke, sprite, and water, and cake and ice cream of course! I figured that the babies that were invited would have food and drink brought by their moms because babies can be so individual in what they eat and the kids and adults loved the spread. I made my cake from a box mix. The key is using a mix that calls for butter instead of oil and freezing the cake overnight. I have a friend that makes cakes for weddings and they are sooooooooo good and that is what she does. It locks in the moisture and the cake is so yummy. You just pull the cake out in the morning and frost it frozen. By the time your people are eating it, it will be moist and delicious. I made a cake the shape of a crown and it got rave reviews and it came right out of a box! For a little entertainment for the kids I got some sidewalk chalk at Walmart so they could go and draw when they got a little bored. We had a pull string pinata which was a lot of fun. I didn't plan a bunch of activities, the kids played together and with my son and by the time we ate, had cake, did the pinata and presents, 3 hours had gone by and we were done! Hope that helps! Enjoy his big day, we had a blast :)

Hi M.,
Here's some ideas that we used when my son turned 1.

Chick-fil-a nugget tray
sandwiches
cheese cubes for kiddos
summer sausage or lunch meat rolled up
Crackers
Fruit, Maybe a watermelon bowl with fruit balls and then moms can cut them in half if too big for little ones
GOLDFISH
some of those baby puff treats that dissolve easily
Gummy candies
For the adults, we had some bigger finger foods, but we really focused on the kids and the parents seemed to enjoy that!
Hope the party is a big success!

This year for my daughter's 3rd birthday party we had fried chicken, mac-n-cheese and fruit salad. I know in today's health conscious time anything fried seems out of the question but it was a great easy cheap alternative to catering, cooking ourselves, or buying a lot of bar-b-que. Everyone ate everything and loved it (even my organic health food nut friends)! I purchased the chicken from Randall's (believe it or not, it's really good and not too greasy) and got the mac-n-cheese and fruit salad from Central Market. All costing about $150, feeding 20 people. I bought the cake too so can't help with a recipe. Good luck with your party! No matter what, don't sweat the planning too much. The party is more for the adults than kids at this age ;-)

This occasion calls for simple for the small ones, they will not really eat anything to much excitement. Small pieces of chicken like mac nuggets cheese sticks, etc.
The adults something from the BBQ done ahead of time, no hot pit around the kids. Salads. The purpose is to have fun for everyone and make it easy on you.
A small cake for child he will stick fingers in it. Cup cakes done in ice-cream cups can be filled with cake batter and baked. No they will not burn, and there will be no papers to peel off. Just put the whole thing cup and all in muffin pan and bake, just like they are muffins. This will make it look like you knew what you were doing for the adults and the kids can carry it around and eat it with no paper to peel off.
HAVE FUN this is a big day

Try these sites:
http://www.birthdayinabox.com/party-ideas/guides.asp-bgs-2
http://www.kidspartyfun.com/pages/themes/1stbirthday.html
http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/party_babys_first_birthday...

I would have simple finger foods. Cupcakes are a big and make sure little one gets his own mess and all.

I used to make a big deal about ANY occasion, including birthdays-cooked all the food myself, made the themed cakes (I had taken cake decorating classes before kids were born), even made a small one for them to demolish on their first birthday. My kids did not have any sugar before their first birthday, so it was very difficult to get them to even get the icing on their hands for pictures-they tasted it once and didn't want it.
If I had to do it all again....I would order a tray of sandwiches, a tray of fruit and one of vegetables.
I would also order the cake--most places will throw in a small one for the kids to mush up when you order a larger one.
Make sure you plan it for either after their afternoon nap or early enough that everyone will be gone for him to take his afternoon nap.

Hi M.,,
best cakes i know come from your local grocery store,,,i think it's cool know that you can get those mini cakes for the baby to have their own cake just take off there shirt and let them go with there hands the pitcures are great ,,, snackes cheese crackers ,fruits what you and baby both can eat ,,,,then a few liltoys out of the party isle at storepick a theme put it on the cakes and go from there
have fun L.

M.,

For the cake and icing, check out www.allrecipes.com for some low sugar recipes that won't leave your baby boy with a "sugar rush". We've found some GREAT recipes on there for our family/kids.

Provide foods that are easy to grab and eat: pigs in a blanket, chicken nuggets (like the previous post mentioned), veggies, maybe even pizza for the kids, some light-colored beverages (to prevent stains on carpet if indoors), ice cream cups, pasta salad, or finger sandwiches.

I agree not to make it too big. I know it's a big deal to us parents, because this is our first kid and first birthday...it's VERY exciting to us, and we want to share our joy with all the world. But it can be very overwhelming for the birthday child. Be sure to time it when they are well-rested.

We actually had an early party, which everyone showed up at and served breakfast. It was around 10 a.m., and I was amazed that they all showed up. lol But everyone loved it, because after the party, they were ready to do their shopping or run their errands. :) We got a lot of compliments on the time, which I was pretty surprised about, too, as I thought most people would think it was too early. (We just didn't want to make it during his nap time and the afternoon/evening had too many obstacles in the way for the party.)

Enjoy the party and let us know if you need more help. :)

Girl at those early parties I found myself relieved just doing simple finger foods. Like tuna sandwiches, chips and dips and a birthday cake.

Just a quick note about the cake--don't use intense food coloring, because it will stain your little boy's face. When my first son turned one, I made him this really cute cake with Mickey Mouse and bright red icing. As is typical, he smeared cake and icing all over his little face. In the photos, he looks like he's been in a terrible accident, because all that red icing looks like blood all over his face! Use plain, white or light colored icing if you don't want disturbing pictures ;).

Hi M., I am planning a 1st B-day too! Isn't it exciting! I am going to do finger foods... Peanut Butter Jelly sandwiches, Tuna salad, Chicken Salad, Ham and Cheese, for the kids we will cut them into stars, or other fun shapes with cookie cutters. Then maybe some veggies, fruits, goldfish, baked Cheetos, that way they can pick their dinner kind of thing...

For the Cake we are doing a "decorate your own" cupcake. We are going to make chocolate, vanilla, and Zuccini bread cupcakes, and then the kids can decorate their own...

Well that is my game plan or outline... Just have to fill in the blanks now. HA...

I just did my sons 1st birhtday party today LOL

we did a potluck thing with a theme of finger foods, we had fruit, sandwhichs, puffy cheetohs, bannanas, cake and some other stuff i dont remember

we kept it simple and only invited a few people as so that our little guy wouldnt be over whelmed...HE LOVED IT and he really likes sitting at the table in his high chair with all the grown ups...