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1st birthday party menu-Seuss theme
My little guy's 1st bday isn't until June but I am already planning his party. It will be about 50-60 people(lots of family who live locally). In both our families, people tend to have large 1st bday parties and invite all the aunts, uncles, and cousins.
There will be a good mix of kids and adults there.
I'm planning on a Seuss theme. Decor is going to be very whimsical and the color scheme is red and aqua blue. Instead of trying to make Seussical food, I am just making regular stuff and giving it Seuss inspired names. The plan is to put a little sign with the cute Seuss name of the dish along with a pic of the book that inspired the dish.
Here's what I have
Snacks
Green egg and ham cups(http://www.pauladeen.com/index.php/recipes/view2/green_eggs_and_ham_cups/ I won't serve them on toast and bacon)
One FIsh Two Fish Goldfish buffet(several different types of goldfish crackers)
Hop on Pop popcorn
Oobleck(spinach dip in a bread bowl)
Kid friendly foods
McMunch?s Lunch(hot dogs) Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!
Who-hash(tater tots) How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Sneedle Snacks(Chicken nuggets) On Beyond Zebra
Main dishes and sides
Poodles with Noodle(Ziti)Fox in Socks
Yot In a Pot(sausage and peppers)There?s a Wocket in My Pocket
Thing 1 and Thing 2 BBQ (pulled chicken) Cat in the Hat
Schlott's Knotts (rolls) Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? Roast Beast Feast(tray of pinwheel sandwiches) How the Grinch Stole ChristmasPomplemoose Pass the Potatoes(potato salad) I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew
Grickle Grass(Salad) The Lorax
Prairies of Prax(coleslaw)The Sneetches and Other Stories
I plan on making 3 different types of cupcakes for dessert. Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes(half will be chocolate, half will be vanilla...all will be iced with vanilla icing and topped with blue cotton candy) Then I'm going to make these http://sugarswings.blogspot.com/2010/02/cat-in-hat-cupcakes.htm but haven't decided on what type of cupcake. Maybe red velvet? Plus I was going to have fruit salad and chocolate dipped pretzels(was going to use the red and blue candy melts to go with the color scheme)
I know it's a lot of food but this is typical for our families...lots of food and lots of options. Plus I would rather have too much food rather than not enough.
I'm open to suggestions. Do you think it's too much? What would you omit? Or do you have a different cute idea for a Seuss inspired dish?
Re: 1st birthday party menu-Seuss theme
I need to take out the Seuss names to really look at the food. (I feel like Tarheels)
Snacks:
mini quiche, goldfish, popcorn, spinach dip in a bread bowl
Kid:
hot dogs, chicken nuggets, tater tots
Main:
ziti, sausage and peppers, pulled chicken, pinwheels, rolls, potato salad, salad, coleslaw
My thoughts- You have 2 snacks that are spinach based. I'd substitute one. While the green eggs and ham is cute, it would be a pain to make 60 of those.
For the kids- I know it's a party, but I appreciate when there is something like grapes or bananas or applesauce/apple slice or a vegetable.
For the adults- It's a lot of mains and not a lot of sides. It also feels like the mains are part hot and heavy and part picnic. The party is in June so I might lean towards the picnic foods and add some other sides. If it's common to have this mix then run with it.
Desserts- sound awesome. Although, my personal belief is that fruit is not a dessert. I'd put that out with the main spread. You can always move it with the desserts later. I hate fruit though so take that with a grain of salt.
I agree with 6. There's not a nutritious meal for the children and the adults' menu is a strange mix of heavy dishes and picnic food.
All the girls here will tell you I'm the theme Grinch (pun intended). I'd rather go to a party with a normal, balanced meal any day than one with cutesy names and a hodgepodge of food. There's a trend in the entertaining blogs to do really over-the-top themes with whatever food items fit that theme, but IRL, people want what they've always wanted: a square meal. Put your theme into the decorations, invitations, and paper plates, not the food.
Can you make this into a cookout? I'm trying to imagine you fooling with all the above dishes for 60 people and I'm not seeing it turn out well. Do hot dogs & hamburgers or get a BBQ place to cater or do subs. Any of those ways would be cheaper & easier and would provide a balanced meal for your guests. You can still put your theme into cupcakes and a couple small things, but shoehorning like this creates awkward results.
Best of luck!
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Thanks everyone for your input!
Just for some background.....
For most parties that my circle of friends and family go to there is usually a green salad, a couple cold salads, some sort of sandwich tray(sometimes it's subs, sometimes wraps, sometimes just lunch meats so you can make your own sandwiches) and then a couple crowd pleasing hot dishes(there is always sausage and peppers and some sort of pasta with sauce...usually ziti, penne with vodka sauce, or stuffed shells) Plus there is the standard chicken nuggets and/or hot dogs and fries for the kids (We just thought tots fit the who-hash name better than fries)
So lets try this again.....
Snacks..keep these fun and theme-like since I have this vision of a cute snack table....Goldfish buffet, popcorn, some sort of dip to call Oobleck and chips, a veggie tray. Maybe mini spinach quiches for the green eggs and ham. I wanted something snacky that was green eggs and ham other than making deviled eggs and dying them green(which is what most people seem to do) DH hates deviled eggs plus we both though the green deviled eggs just look gross. So, I think we'll either skip the green eggs unless Costco has a box of spinach mini-quiches that I can just pop in the oven. If I do those, I'll make sure to serve a non-spinach dip.
Main course-no more theme stuff. I'll print out pics from Seuss books and just use them to decorate the food table instead of using them as food names.
Hot dishes-Pasta(I'm thinking penne in vodka would be better and less heavy than ziti), sausage and peppers, meatballs. Keep it all crowd pleasing Italian so it doesn't seem like a bunch of random stuff. Plus they are things that I can easily make trays of the night before and then reheat that morning while we are decorating/setting up. (there is a kitchen in the log cabin we are renting for the party) Rolls in case people want a sausage sandwich or meatball sandwich. Do I need a hot side dish? Can you think of a hot side dish that would work with this menu plus is easy to prepare ahead of time?
Cold dishes-tossed salad, potato salad, coleslaw, sandwich tray(all of these will be ordered from Wegmans other than the tossed salad) Is having potato salad and coleslaw too much? I don't want to get rid of the tossed salad.
Kid friendly dishes-nuggets and tots or fries. Bags of apple slices from Costco. Most of the kids will also eat the pasta and the meatballs too.
I'll go all cutesy on the desserts with the cupcakes and stuff. Do you really think I should put the fruit salad out with the meal? Most parties I've gone to have had the fruit salad out as a dessert as a choice for people who didn't want cake.
The cabin that we are renting has a large main room. On the other side of this room, there is another room with a long table. There are 2 doorways(no doors...just a doorway) to get into this room. All the hot and cold food will go in there so people can go in 1 door, make their way down the line and then go out the other. The snack table will go against the wall in between the 2 doors. Then when it's time for dessert, that table will be the dessert table. Does that make sense?
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Agreed with everything Tarheels said. I can't imagine having to make that many main dishes for one party. I'll also say that just because it's what HAS been done, it doesn't mean you need to continue. Holy frijoles that would drive me insane.
I always wonder if it's just me being anti fruit, but I have never thought of it as a dessert. UNLESS it's the stuffed strawberries or served alongside a chocolate fondue I think of fruit as something you eat to make you feel a little better about all of the other crap you put on your plate.
But this is why the fruit goes out with the dessert. If you put 1 strawberry on your plate, then all the calories and fat from the cake and other goodies don't count!
Trust me with this crowd, I will get looks of confusion if the fruit goes out with the meal and people will be asking me if it got put out early by accident. Plus the bags of apple slices will be eye roll worthy from some people. They already think I'm a health nut because I always have organic 100% fruit juice boxes for the kids instead of Capri Sun fruit punch.
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