Friday, June 24, 2011

Birthday Party Menu

My oldest daughter, Abby, just turned 4 this past week.  My husband decided we needed to have the party at our house instead of the local park.  He doesn't seem to think about the cleaning & planning that's required when it comes to having lots of family over - as opposed to the $5.99 carry out pizzas from Papa Johns I had originally planned to take to the park while still maintaining the usual "lived in" appearance of our home.  Since we just moved to our house last November and never really had people over for a party I figured now was as good as a time as any to take on the birthday party challenge.  Now you must understand that I don't take these things lightly - birthdays are a huge deal to me!  Hence I referred to my new favorite website, pinterest.  (On a side note, if you haven't checked this site out, you must...you will be just as addicted as me!)  They have all kinds of ideas when it comes to recipes, party planning, crafts...you name it!  So it came as no surprise that it was easy to find some great ideas for menu and food display ideas.

We started out the day with a special birthday breakfast - Mickey Mouse shaped pancakes with powdered sugar icing and sprinkles in lieu of the usual syrup.


After the diabetic coma had been lifted with lots of strong coffee, we then went to Abby's favorite place, Buckner Park, and brought along a Chick-fil-A picnic, also her favorite!  Here she is playing in the splash pad with her daddy :).  


The birthday party was later in the day and the menu consisted of your typical hamburgers, hotdogs, fruit, veggies, chips, and punch (nothing new), but food display was where I became inspired from my good ol' pinterest!


Rather than throwing some sliced veggies on a platter with dip in the middle, I found this genius idea to make individual veggie cups with ranch in the bottom of the cup!  For the fruit, I came across this idea to serve them in waffle bowls rather than one large serving bowl.

 

I also came across the really fun way of serving baked potatoes!  I baked some potatoes and laid them out with different toppings so people could customize their own.  The leftover baked potatoes have since been sliced up, pan fried in a little butter, and topped with all those delicious toppings you see in the picture...dee-lish!  I've decided pre-made baked potatoes are going to be a staple in our refrigerator since making these.


I got the recipe for the lemonade punch from my mother-in-law.  It's just one can of frozen lemonade concentrate mixed with a 2-liter of Sierra Mist.  I also borrowed the drink dispensers from her too...thanks, Holly!  The other thing of punch was raspberry sherbet mixed with Sierra Mist and filled with lemon, orange, and grapefruit slices.


Of course no birthday party is complete without the birthday cake.  So in honor of fulfilling Abby's desire to have a lemon cake, I used this recipe for delicious lemon cupcakes!  Here's my cute little birthday girl with her cupcakes...


While I'm no expert party planner by any means, getting some creative inspiration from online turned out to make planning this party a lot of fun :).  Happy party planning to you!