New/Different Baby Shower Food

ThisModernLove

I'm helping MIL throw the baby shower for my SIL next month and we've had a recent splurge of babies and showers in the family so we really want to do something kind of different for her shower.  There'll be about 50-60 people and catering is out of the question.  I'd prefer something relatively easy as it will probably be MIL and myself doing most of it.

 

TIA!!

TarHeels&Rebels

What's the usual in your area?  What specifically are you tired of?

shesthetoast

I don't know what your usuals are or what time of day it is, but here are a few ideas:

I've had something similar to these (on hawaiian rolls)...some people call them bunco buns or other similar names:

http://annies-eats.com/2010/07/13/ham-and-cheese-sliders/

and a varaition:

http://annies-eats.com/2010/08/25/turkey-pesto-sliders/

It's easy to make a lot at a time in 9 x 13 pans with 12 hawaiian rolls because the rolls are the same size as the pan - you can make pans ahead of time then just heat in the oven before serving.

Chicken salad on croissants is a popular shower food here. You can make it more seasonal with craisins instead of grapes, change up the dressing, etc.

A baked pasta (lasagna or ziti) is easy to do for a large group with bread and salad if you want a more substantial meal.

Lots of people here also do brunch showers with egg dishes, fruits, mufins, coffee cake, etc. 

 

lsgarver

To change from the usual, I'd pick a loose theme.  pp's suggestion about brunch is a great one.  Ethnic food is another way to go (Mexican, Italian and Greek would all be amenable to this) or pick something guests assemble themselves like a sandwich bar, taco or quesadilla bar, salad bar or pasta bar.  Doing DIY buffets also enables you to make or purchase everything en masse and leave it up to the guests to assemble--beats making 50 chicken salad sandwiches (which is the norm here).

vjcjenn1

definitely a theme, I feel like the showers I go to are a bunch of randomness...

I think BBQ food would be awesome, like pulled porked, bbq beans, cole slaw, corn bread

I've always wanted to throw a shower that puts an adult spin on kid food, like 3 cheese mac n cheese, and chicken tenders with a peanut satay sauce

pasta goes along way...you can do bruschetta, antipasto, and/or tomato/mozzarella for appetizers...then a big salad, garlic bread, and lets see tortellini in a cream sauce and rigatoni in a red sauce, with meatballs and sausage for the side, you can serve cannolis along with a sheet cake congratulating the mom.

Anything interesting the mom is craving???

KoCoLoCo

We had tropical-latin type foods at ours (my favorite).  Roasted cuban pork, lime mojo, poblano rice, cuban black beans, chips, regular salsa, mango salsa, guacamole, empanadas, fried plantains, gazpacho, sweet and spicy citrus shrimp skewers, orange-jicama-chayote-hearts of palm salad.  It was amazing!

Magdala9

For my best friend's shower, I did curried chicken salad in pineapple halves. Fresh snowflake rolls and ginger lemonade with floral ice.  For dessert, we had sugar cookies and the obligatory congratulations cake.

To get enough pineapples, I contacted the local grocery store and spoke with the produce manager.  We picked up a crate of 12 pineapples for our 20 guests.   The produce manager was able to give us a small price break.

For the floral ice, we took a large round plastic container and half filled it with water.  We froze this water then laid edible flowers (nastursiums, lavender and chive flowers)  on the ice.  Once the flowers were laid out properly, we carefully added more water and froze the whole thing.  So the flowers were encased in the ice.  The floral ice looked so impressive in the lemonade.  

daisy21le

Check out my baby shower ideas tag:

http://www.lesliesarna.com/party-ideas-baby-showers/

also my bridal shower tag for food ides:

http://www.lesliesarna.com/party-ideas-bridal-showers/ 

Temp38995750004016

For that many people and you are DYI with juat a few of you, I'd definitely do large dishes of baked lasagna and baked ziti (no meat). That keeps it SUPER easy on you guys. Then do a large green salad and a Ceasar one, and some sort of veggie side, like blanched mixed string beans (green, wax, etc).

 

mireille86

I thought the brunch idea was great.  Maybe try a strata, a french toast casserole, a bunch of fresh fruit (so people can build their own salad), and a juice bar - maybe set out a lot of orange juice, some sparkling juices, and some fruit garnishes.  Or a hot drink bar (tea, chai, hot chocolate, coffee, cider, etc.).

 If you want to try a theme, how about a fiesta theme?  Build your own nachos/tacos is always fun - really, who doesn't want nachos?  And then all you have to do is cook the meat (maybe make beef, chicken, pork, and beans all available) and set out store-bought cheese, shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, salsas, etc.  

Basically, I think you can make it easiest on yourself and still have something different by having the guests kind of customize their own meal, whether it's by having them build their own plate of nachos/tacos, fruit salad, or anything like that.