This is part 3 in the Planning Children’s Birthday Series. Part 1 was a 10 Point Birthday Party Plan Check List. Part 2 focused on family strategy for birthday parties, party themes and birthday party invitations.
Guest List
Once we have decided upon who we are sending invitations to, I create a spreadsheet with the names of those invited. I then print out a copy and stick it up on the wall near the phone. That way even if Mr Infrasturcutre takes a RSVP call about the party, he can easily mark their response on the sheet.
I generally have my RSVP date set about four days before the party, so then three days before the party I enter in who is coming into the spreadsheet. The reason for this, is so that I can then use the numbers for calculations on quantities of food.
Food List
I try to keep food for the party closely aligned to the chosen theme and style of party. Some of my favourite menus have been:
A Long Table Banquet – Little Rascal had a knight theme, so we set up a huge banquet table and had chicken drumsticks, baked potatoes, corn on the cob and chunks of bread as the main food.
Footy Pack – Also for Little Rascal, a football (soccer) party. I bought cardboard meal boxes for each child and then placed a hot dog, 2 x meat pies, 2 x sausage rolls, serviette and a fruit juice in them. They all then sat on blankets on the floor (it poured with rain!) and ate together.
Luau – Hawaiian themed food, the details and recipes for which I have included in an attachment below.
I am a massive over caterer and to try and stem this, for the last few years I have been using the file attached below (Guest List and Food List.xls). There are two spreadsheets in this file which are linked.
Birthday Party Guest List And Food List
The Guest List spreadsheet documents how many people are attending and whether they are an adult/child/baby. The second spreadsheet lists the foods to be served at the party.
I then enter how many pieces of each food I want to make for each person (for example 3 chicken wings per child, 2 per adult) and then I have created a formula to determine the total quantity of each food.
I can then work out quickly how many times I need to multiply my recipes by to get the desired amount of food. I have highlighted the cells in the spreadsheets that have formulas in them by shading them blue.
You can tailor this spreadsheet for your own use by inputting the correct information for your party.
The Luau (Water) Theme Recipes Document has recipes for the following party food:
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– choc balls
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– tic toc tea cups
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– pineapple boats
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– kiwi fruit cocktail
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– shaped sandwiches
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– mini pizzas
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– chicken wings
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– frozen bananas ice creams
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– birthday cake – ice cream and berry
With Babaganouski’s birthday less than three weeks away, I am looking for some creative food for 2 year old boys. I know that they would like like the teacups as well, but I would like something along these lines but a bit more boyish. Any suggestions?