what to serve for a birthday party meal/dinner

[houseforjoy]

my little one will be two tomorrow :jawdrop :cool, and her birthday party is saturday. i am blanking on what to serve for dinner. it is just grandparents and aunts/uncles, no cousins this time cuz they can't make it. so what should i make for dinner?
usually for birthday parties i do pizza but we have had that way to much the last few weeks, or pancakes and eggs but with just adults except for my kids that doesnt' seem like a good idea, and it is still to cold to grill so no brats/hamburgers.

so what is something that is a good feed it to a crowd food? something that hopefully isn't too involved to make since i have a birthday cake to make too. and something that isn't going to make me go broke either....

ideas?

[Waterlogged]

crockpot brisket
baked potato bar
tacos

[houseforjoy]

i have never made nor tried eating brisket :shifty

tacos sound like a good idea since i could do everthing ahead of time:think

[Waterlogged]

i lived in TX for 7.5 years - brisket was a staple. :shifty there was even a "brisket" section in the grocery store. :giggle

[ShangriLewis]

We do burritos or chili usually. We love mexican food though.

Burritos...we do a big batch of whole beans in the crockpot. Mexican style rice, lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, cilantro, lime wedges, olives, onions... then two smaller crockpots with two kinds of enchilada sauce. We put two tortillas down and put all the stuff in and serve them wet.

Chili...we usually do a white and red with all kinds of toppings.

I tend to do things potluck style. So, I give people toppings, tortillas, salsa etc to bring.

[houseforjoy]

mmmm chili..... sadly i don't think i could get my dh to go for that since he is not really a big chili fan. but maybe if i did a white one too that would work....

[Katiebug]

Chilli and buns of some sort is always cheap, easy and crowd pleasing. You could always get fancy and have assorted things to put on top..cheese, sour cream, green onions.

[backtobasicsmum]

Spagetti, bread and fresh veggies

[houseforjoy]

gahhhh dh is poo-pooing everything!! he wants to do pancakes, but since the only kids are ours, i feel weird doing that and don't like doing it usually anyway bc then you are eating a sweet carb dinner followed by a sweet sweet carb dessert. not so balanced.

i brought up tacos, crockpot lasagna, and spagetti. grr

[ShangriLewis]

Pancakes would feel silly to me:giggle.

[Garland]

A Taco-Bar or Baked-Potato Bar sound like good ideas. Lots of ingredients in little serving bowls, and people can put whatever they like on them.

[houseforjoy]

Pancakes would feel silly to me:giggle.

exactly!!

and i thought tacos sounded easy, but he thinks it is too putzy??

[Garland]

Tacos is something most people like though. And you can make the ingredients and presentation of them as fancy/festive or plain as you'd like.

[kaismamma]

Would your husband go for taco soup? It's like chili, only definately different. It's one of my favorite meals for a crowd because it's so easy and everyone always loves it!

[houseforjoy]

hmm never made or had taco soup but it sounds interesting. do you have a good recipe? i can google a recipe too

[Soliloquy]

I always give my kids the choice of: burrito bar, spaghetti, sloppy joes, or lasagna. All easy for a crowd.

[houseforjoy]

what do you guys do for a burrito bar? i have only ever done baked burritos

[kaismamma]

Taco Soup:

1 lb. ground beef
1 onion
1 big can tomato soup
1 small can beef and veggie soup
1 can corn
2 T. taco seasoning
2 cans kidney beans
2 c. salsa
1 can stewed tomatoes

Mix and warm.

Serve with avocado, sour cream, fritos, chedder, and cilantro.

[PrincessAnika]

growing up the birthday child got to choose supper, but it was just our family, and usually my mom's parents - nobody else was close enough. parties were rare and usually cake/ice cream not a meal. that said - we love cheesy spaghetti bake. you make spaghetti (mix sauce in after noodles are cooked/drained), and a generic white cheese sauce, then layer in a large baking dish, 1/2 spag, most of cheese sauce, rest of spag, then drizzle any extra cheese sauce on the top. it'll soak down through. bake @ 350 for 20-25 min, can cover with foil to slightly shorten baking time IIRC. you can mix in meat if you want, with the spaghetti. its great served with fresh bread (of any kind) - but forewarning my mom usually has to make 2 pans (by large baking dish i mean about 15x10) to feed all of us, and there are rarely leftovers.
sloppy joes are another good 'feed a crowd' dish - rolls, cheese slices (for anyone who wants them), and sloppy joe in the crockpot to keep warm. can do chopped veggies or raw baby carrots for a veggie. sloppy joes are browned gr beef, mix in tomato soup i think, or sauce....i don't quite remember right now sorry.

[Lily]

Our go to birthday dinners are : brisket, taco/burrito bar, indian taco bar, spaghetti (cooked and left warm in a crockpot) or steaks.

---------- Post added at 07:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:53 PM ----------

what do you guys do for a burrito bar? i have only ever done baked burritos

You'll need meat, beans, veggies, sour cream, cheese, whatever else you want to put in one and tortillas. Each person gets to make their own burrito and roll it up (we let people heat them in the microwave if they like them hot like I do).

[RiverRock]

Our family has grown exponentially over the years, so I now do appies and cake. I"m actually hosting a party for ds tomorrow and on the invite I wrote "snacks and cake". There will be enough hearty snacks that people can call it dinner, or it they eat before coming they can graze. This way I don't have to fuss with setting a table, and my house is back to normal by the next day. I don't have time to cook a full meal and get my house company ready. Most of the appies I buy, and I spend time making a special cake for the birthday child. DS is getting a crazy alien....it is soooo him! :giggle :heart

[houseforjoy]

DECIDED: Taco Bar!!

thank you everyone for the good ideas!!