First birthdays usuallyneed to beadult and baby-friendly events. This makes meal planning a little more complicated.
Best foods for grown-ups at a first birthday party
Chances are you will be feeding adults more than children at a first birthday party. For parties that are not scheduled over a meal time, choose easy, child-friendly appetizers like cheese, crackers, and vegetable or fruit trays. For breakfast, lunch or dinner time parties, serve something that you can prepare in advance (or order) and set it out so your guests can help themselves, buffet style. You will likely be too distracted with your birthday babe and his friends to serve food!
Here are some ideas to get your brainstorming started:
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- Bagels and cream cheese, coffee and fruit for a breakfast party
- Sandwiches, pizza, salads and fruit for a lunch party
- Chilli, soup, bread and cheese for a dinner party
Choose foods that work well with your venue and the party timing. For example, you can't warm up food at a venue but you can cook or reheat food easily at home. Food that can be eaten standing up is a good idea because grown-ups will likely be following little ones around and moving from room to room!
Best foods for kids at a first birthday party
You will likely need to serve some finger foods for little ones, too. You might want to do this just to make sure you don’t have any grumpy, hungry guests. Don’t expect one-year-olds to eat much at a party though. There will be too much action for most to want to sit down and eat. For parties that aren’t over a meal time, include some popular finger food on the adult table.
- A bowl of kid crackers and cheese
- Yogurt and fruit
- Noodles
- Steamed veggies
- Your one-year-old's favourite food
If you are serving a meal, you can try to set up a kids’ table or even set out blankets for an indoor or outdoor picnic. A lot of one-year-olds eat whatever their parents happen to be eating so add some smaller spoons and lots of napkins to your spread!
Best drinks for a first birthday party
For birthday parties at home, make sure you have milk and juice on hand and plenty of sippy cups for little ones to drink from. Juice boxes might be okay at this age but they can be very messy in the hands of a one-year-old and not all toddlers are ready for a small straw. Set out drinks on an out-of-reach table and encourage parents to help their kids with a drink.
If your party is not at home, juice boxes might be your best bet. Hand them to the parents so that they can help open and keep track of the box! As an alternative, you could set up a drink station with a plastic pitcher of lemonade or water and some small plastic cups for parents to serve when needed.
The drinks for adults will depend on the time of day and location. Most parents will appreciate a cup of coffee or tea, regardless of the hour. If you have an afternoon party you can add soft drinks and water bottles to the mix. You might find it easiest to set out a cooler of drinks with ice so that everyone can help themselves. Many parents also serve alcohol, beer or a glass of wine, especially if the party is as much a celebration of a year of parenting as it is a first birthday. Make sure that you have plenty of water and snacks available if you are serving booze. One word of warning, parents will be relaxed and may not follow their children as closely if you are serving alcohol. Make sure that this is appropriate for your venue and the children you have invited.
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First birthday cake
Almost all birthday parties have a sweet to cap things off. You can make or buy a cake, decorated to match your theme. Lots of parents also make a smash cake, which is a cake that the birthday boy or girl can dig into and destroy for those cute, messy face pictures. But you aren’t limited to cake. You can stick a birthday candle into all kinds of sweets. Other ideas include:
- Cupcakes
- Iced cookies
- Ice cream sundaes and ice cream cones
- Pie or crumble
- Pudding
- Chocolates and chocolate-dipped fruit
- Popsicles and freezies
You might want to serve the sweet towards the end of the party. This is a good signal that things are wrapping up. Kids will likely be messy and getting a little wild by this time anyway. Make sure you sing happy birthday and have your camera ready. This is one photo shoot you don’t want to miss!
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