Hey ladies! I am having a backyard beach party for my going to be 2 year old son. His birthday will be at the beggining of July and during the lunch hour. Here's where i'm stuck, the food! I can't seem to commit on what to serve. I thought about hot dogs but really decided no to that due to the fact that we don't eat them and they are easily choked on. Then I thought about pizza but it's going to be hot and i think that pizza will just be to heavy. So I am now thinking finger foods. Maybe some fruit kabobs, some veggies, but I have no idea what to do about sandwhiches. I can't do pb &j cause my son can't have peanut butter and I want it to be tasty and eye appealing to the kiddos. I also want it to look nice. I don't want to slap two pieces of bread together with some bologna in the middle and serve it. I would love any suggestions that you ladies might have! Thanks in advance for all the help!!
Try hoagie rolls with other deli meats and cheese. You don't have to have bologna. Make it fun and it will be delicious. Throw in some tomatoes and pickles. Stuff that's easy to take off if someone doesn't like them. Good Luck.
Little kids love finger foods. Cut up lots of fruits. Make some roll ups, tortilla wraps, lunch meat and cheese and slice. Maybe a pasta salad, use shells for the beach theme. Put out some gold fish crackers. Cut up some grilled chicken breast into cubes and serve with some type of dipping sauce. Make sure you have lots of water available.
I think you could use the kabob idea for both the main meal and the fruit.
I'm seeing beach buckets from the $1 store, one for each child, with a skewer of chunks of cheese and ham or turkey, maybe pickles or cucumbers whatever your child likes.
Fruit kabobs with bite-size pieces of pineapple, cherries, pears, etc.
Some goldfish maybe in a beach themed container from the $1 store, everything put in the beach bucket with a napkin and a chilled juice container. Then a cupcake cake, super simple and super fun.
You can still do sandwiches, but use cookie cutter shapes to cut them out. Use some that go with the theme of your party. If they are smaller shapes, you can usually get 2 or 3 out of one sandwich. Plus they won't have the crust on them, and most kids don't like that anyway.
I agree with the others, finger foods are great, ham, turkey ,tuna or chicken salad sandwiches can be cut with cookie cutters. We had a pool party one year for my daughter and thinks like goldfish, chips, dips and cheese cubes,fruits etc were served in buckets, with little shovels, and fish plates I bought at the $ store.
Tortilla rollups. Spread a flour tortilla with cream cheese, lay down a slice of ham, turkey or other favorite lunchmeat, add a lettuce leaf, roll into cigar shape & slice. The filling can be anything you want (pimento cheese, flavored cream cheese, super thinly sliced vegies) It's quick, easy, easily adaptable to varying tastes & can be made the night before. I also used to do this with a slice of bread but it's more work. You cut off the crusts & roll each slice very thin. Assemble as with a tortilla.
Can your son have almond butter or cashew butter? Those are both tasty and if you add assorted jellies (grape or strawberry) and cut them into little finger sandwiches, that would be cute, especially if displayed on a tiered tray. You could also do a rolled deli sandwich with ham, cheese or turkey that you place on a flat bread with mayo or mustard, roll tightly, then slice across in 1/4 inch slices. You could also do a tray of chicken nuggets or even do your own version of chicken mini sandwiches, using biscuits as the bread, slathered in a honey butter. Have fun and enjoy your beach party birthday!!
K.
Quesadillas? Super easy to make - just like a grilled cheese, except use tortillas instead of bread.
If there are adults attending, you can have little bowls of salsa, sour cream, and guacamole to make it appetizing to them, too. (Put them in plastic bowls, and put those bowls into a tray filled with ice.)
Serve each guest a Mini Beach Cup made from pudding and crushed cookies. First spoon vanilla pudding into a clear plastic cup and sprinkle crushed vanilla wafers on top as “sand”. Place a gumball on the sand as your beach ball, and a teddy bear cookie under a small drink umbrella to complete the beach scene.
For food, using cookie cutters to cut simple sandwiches into shapes is a fun and cute way to present the food. You can make grilled cheese, turkey and cheese, or bologna sandwiches.
For more food ideas for beach parties, you may find this guide valuable: http://tinyurl.com/26fznx4
Shells come to mind (as in pasta salad).
For sandwiches, you can buy a shell shaped cookie cutter and make them into shapes.
Pinwheel sandwiches can make turkey and cheese look neat. Roll filling in a tortilla and slice. Also mini things like mini grilled cheese or mini burgers. Even grown ups like that.
B.
