Toddler party menu planning ideas?

[amalnahurriyeh]

I'm planning my son's second birthday party, and could use some ideas.




So here are our parameters:

Our household is gluten-free. My son eats meat, but at least one of the toddler guests is a vegetarian, as am I and one of the other parents. I'm feeding six or seven toddlers, their parents, and a bunch of aunties, uncles, and grandparents. Given the toddlers and my desire not to do dishes, I'm thinking that I'll do all finger food.

So far, my thoughts are these:

Tortilla espanola, made in a shallow pan and cut into bite sized pieces
Hot dogs, quartered, diced, and sauteed in butter
Apple and pear slices (seasonal here right now)
Corn chips (I feel like dip will be a germ breeding ground so not for the kids)
Mini cupcakes (because mini!)

Maybe also a cheese plate for the adults? What else? I've got to sustain twenty or thirty people through a four hour party, and I like to make a copious spread.



Thanks for your help!

Comments

[marcelle42]

Cheese plate would be great. Perhaps hummus and cut up veggies? Is pita gluten-free, or do they make gluten-free pita? GF Cookies, or ice cream, or Popsicles (I'm thinking "another sweet thing" here, not "all of these sweet things").

You might do better with brats or something more "grown-up" than hot dogs for the adults.

Of course, I don't have kids, and you should adjust this to your own sanity levels.

[explorer0713]

I think the kids and even the grown ups will like this and be in awe of your mad cooking skills as they try to figure out how you did it.

You could make it gluten free by using rice noodles. And vegetarian if you can find some vegie dogs you like.

I would probably do a pratice run, though, just to be certain of the cook time.

[amalnahurriyeh]

Ah ha ha ha! Those are hilarious! My one worry is that the kids are still little enough that non-halved hot dogs are still a choking hazard... I think I will put this aside for a later birthday, because it is ENTIRELY EPICALLY AWESOME.

if you can find some vegie dogs you like.

There's the rub, isn't it? I mean, cover anything in enough BBQ onions and ketchup and pickles and I'm happy, but still. These are decent, though.

[feuervogel]

I've never been able to stomach tofurky products - the texture is just ... wrong. I'm fond of Smart Dogs (and Smart Italian Sausages). Tofu Pups are just gross.

[travelingmonkey]

I didn't like the Smart hotdogs much at all. I did like their ground though, that was the only mince I found that I ever liked back in the US, and I tried whatever I could find! heh. But the consistency issue is the one that plagues me on most meat-substitutes, yeah. It's why I love Quorn products so much, they make everything perfectly!

[feuervogel]

I find the Quorn ground disturbingly meat-like in texture, so I can only use it in sauces or chili :D

I'm just glad we have a lot more variety than we did 20 years ago!

(On the "disturbingly meat-like" front, Boca "chicken" patties.)

[amalnahurriyeh]

I find the Quorn ground disturbingly meat-like in texture

This is SO TRUE. Quorn roast? Is EXACTLY LIKE CHICKEN. My roommate actually won't eat it because it's too chicken-y.

I kinda love it for this reason.

[travelingmonkey]

I don't know where you're located, but Quorn products are amazing, and are the only [non-meat] hotdogs I have found that I consider edible, they're very good actually (as are all Quorn products).

I would most emphatically suggest the cheese plate for all, not adults. I'm not sure if your own happens to not be fond of cheese? But practically every child I have ever known has been quite fond of cheese.

As for finger foods, and especially with cheese (but even without), crackers are always good, for kids and adults alike. Maybe some sort of bread, like baguettes sliced up, also good with the cheese but just good, in general, and you could put a thing of butter or other related item for the adults to simply use a knife to put a little on their bread, shouldn't be a germ issue there, no mouths on anything, heh. Or you could do some kind of garlic bread, or even cheesy garlic bread or pizza bread things (simple to make, and could go light on the sauce to prevent messiness), loved by all and more filling and tasty... You could also do like phyllo-dough things filled with some sort of cheese (I swear I'm not trying to only consider cheese! lmao! you could try to think of other things to put in something like that, but excluding meat, cheese just seemed the best option! lol. But you could also make it more than cheese, like cheese and spinach, or, ya know, various stuff like that), or maybe stuffed mushroom caps? Taquitos [w/o meat] are easy finger food... uhhh... maybe some sort of potato item? Roasted or cooked in oil on the stove, etc, seasoned and everything, bite-size? Yeah I think I'm out of ideas now. =P

[amalnahurriyeh]

Obviously cheese plate for all! But my cheese taste tends to be fancy-schmancy, so I don't know how many toddlers would be into it. :) MORE CHEESE MORE.

The problem with all of the phillo and bread-based option is making GF alternatives--they've pricey to buy ready-made and I don't think I have a ton of baking time this week.

Hmm, taquitos. A friend got some little tiny tortillas for taquitos at a party of his a while back...I'll have to ask him where he got them. They'd be cute! And toddler-sized! MINI FOOD FOR MINI PEOPLES!

[travelingmonkey]

hahaha. Yeah you could do some additional "fancy" cheese for the adults and cheddar, swiss, etc, for the kids. ^^

Ah, yeah. I wasn't sure how that fared with the GF stuff, but figured I'd throw it out there just in case!

hahahaha, yeah they sell them at our store here; they sell the regular ones, totally huge ones (for burritos, I think they say), and the cute little ones that we have no use for so have never bought but I always eye enviously. ;P lmao. If you didn't find those though, you could always cut up larger ones into a couple pieces. ^^

[amalnahurriyeh]

Pita's not GF, and it's a pain to make GF, but hummus and crackers and veg would be pretty tasty.

Your mention of brats reminded me of the good Italian chicken sausages my roommate bought on accident--they'd be great for this.

You know, I have an ice cream maker...but the image of giving people under three feet tall melting chocolate sugar and setting them free in my living room is giving me some anxiety. LOL. I've made chocolate cookies with almond pastry cream filling before...those might be pretty great as an alternate dessert...hmm, maybe some chocolate mint ones too? Cooooooookies.

[rainbow]

some ideas:
roasted veggies cut into kid sized friendly bits and served cold (beets, potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, etc)
hummus (for the adults at least; for the kids you could always put individual servings in little cups and give one to each toddler for their own dipping joy)
bean salad (finger food for toddlers, spoon food for adults *g*)
mini quiches (and/or cheesecakes) (if you do eggs/dairy)
stuffed mushrooms
bite sized fruits dipped in chocolate
devilled eggs (if you do eggs)
bite sized dolmades (can be vegetarian or meat based)
mini "pizzas" -- safe crackers or bread in bite size pieces with sauce, cheese, and kid friendly toppings (which might just be cheese).
fruit/nut bars
falafel

and i'm going to link to some recipes from norwitz notions for a couple recipes for a couple of the suggestions; you can see my niece has given her seal of approval:
http://norwitz.net/blog/2008/01/23/roasted-root-vegetables/
http://norwitz.net/blog/2008/04/06/bean-salad/
http://norwitz.net/blog/2008/03/07/banana-date-nut-bars/

[amalnahurriyeh]

Ooh, tiny pizzas! I love that idea. When I was a kid I'd eat toast pizza (bread + spaghetti sauce + cheese) all the time. It was delicious. I don't think I have the time to make dolma this week (the last time I did it, it was an all-night proposition), but deviled eggs sound good to *me*, at least. *g*

[starlurker]

It's a bit finicky to make, but stuffed cherry tomatoes are delicious and versatile. The stuffing can be anything really: I've had great success with basil, bacon and bocconcini cheese stuffing, but the stuffing can be anything creamy in texture. I do find that a soft cheese is a necessary, delicious component. The tomatoes can be stuffed the night before the party since they're best chilled, if that helps with prep. I've served it to kids with great results, though to be fair, the kids that I've served it to have an adventurous palate.

[amalnahurriyeh]

My son got really excited every time he saw a tomato this summer, would reach out, grab it, take an eager bite...and then spit it out and hand me the tomato back. *g* I don't mind finicky if it's fast, which stuffed cherry tomatoes would be, I think.

[starlurker]

If you are making it and using a soft stuffing, an icing bag makes the job so much quicker. Hope you have one!

[acelightning]

You can never go wrong with cupcakes, and of course any gluten-free cake can be baked in cupcake papers. Don't forget a nice thick layer of frosting, and some sprinkles! (There are all sorts of all-natural, gluten-free, non-artificially-colored sprinkles for sale in places like Whole Foods.)

There are a lot of things you can do with eggs. Besides the obvious deviled/stuffed eggs, you can also "marbleize" plain hard-cooked eggs with a number of different things. For a party, especially one involving toddlers (or even older kids), I'd use "small" eggs. Hard-cook them the usual way, and then after you've rinsed them in cold water, roll each egg around on the countertop so that the shell crackles all over, but leave the shell on. Then put them in a big jar and pour the liquid of your choice over them until they're all immersed, cover the jar, and refrigerate at least overnight. Drain and peel before serving, either whole or cut in half.

Liquids:
1. The liquid from a jar of pickled beets.
2. Strong brewed black tea, plain.
3. Strong brewed black tea, but add one or two whole star anise and a chunk of gingerroot when you're brewing the tea. Add some dark soy sauce before pouring over the eggs.
4. Water, dark soy sauce, a little dark molasses, and a few drops of "liquid smoke".

[amalnahurriyeh]

I'm definitely doing cupcakes, rather than a whole birthday cake; I want to go out and get a mini cupcake pan, so that I don't end up with seven half-eaten cupcakes spread throughout the house.

Interesting idea to do marbled eggs; my kiddo only eats them scrambled (*eyeroll*) so I hadn't thought of ways to play with hardboiled. Om nom nom.

[acelightning]

Don't forget the mini-cupcake paper liners!

The visual appeal of marbled eggs may get at least some of the kids to try them - and probably most of the adults. (Kids can eat half of one "small" egg; adults can eat one or more whole ones.) The beet liquid gives the eggs a very pretty dark pink color and a kind of sweet-and-sour flavor; the others are all shades of brown, and mostly salty/savory. I suppose you could even scoop out the yolks, mash and season them, and stuff them back into the marbleized whites.

[kyrielle]

Black olives are often popular with little ones - whole they're a choking hazard, but sliced they're fine. Cucumber and green pepper are pretty popular with our little guy too. At the salad place he likes the cold peas and corn, so maybe those would work? Add lettuce and adults could have a salad (so could toddlers, but they won't in my experience).

As far as dip - maybe put a dish of it up and let the adults have a little bowl or plate of dip? Adults would need to dip the kids' things, though, I think toddlers with a plate or bowl of dip would become highly messy.

[amalnahurriyeh]

Really? Olives? Ha, I suppose because I don't like them I'd never assumed that they'd be a hit with kids. That's a great idea, for both young and old.

I do like dips, in general...perhaps getting some little paper cups for individual servings for small people, to prevent both mess and mass contagion...