My friends! In this menu the most important thing is one. The cake. I truly think that when children have their favorite cake, they really don’t care about anything if anything goes wrong with the cake the birthday is ruined. So really focus on getting the perfect cake for you child and the party will be successful for sure.
In general, when it comes to the menu prefer to cook cool, simple dishes instead of hot ones with sauces etc. You could decorate the platters with chopped vegetables in the shape of flowers, faces or rainbows. Most of your dishes can be prepared even two days ago, so you have plenty of time ahead for prepping. Some ideas could be
- Sandwiches, with bread without crust or round brioche which you can find in super markets or bakeries, or even special order them. For the children I suggest that you go with the traditional filling which includes turkey/ham, kasseri cheese or gouda. For the adults, butter and blue cheese or tuna and mayonnaise, tomato and pesto or cream cheese, chicken and gardener salad and many more sound like some great options. Let your imagination free and experiment with the ingredients you have at home.
- Cheese pies and pies with ham are very easy and quick to prep while our little friends always seem to love them as well as our parent guests. If you don’t want to serve store bought ones you could buy the crust from the super market and after dividing it into parts so that they turn into little finger food pies at the end, fill them with the ingredients of your choice. For example you could combine feta cheese with ricotta cheese or graviera cheese shredded together with ham or sliced sausage, shredded feta cheese with spinach, chicken which you would have already cooked for a bit with peppers etc. Whichever filling you choose, don’t forget to add a couple of eggs and some pepper. Stir well and then fill your crust pieces. Sill them carefully and bake them in a preheated oven at 180C degrees, on the air setting, on the middle rack for about 20 minutes till they turn into a nice color. Make sure to check their bottom to see if they have to bake for a bit more. If that’s the case, place them on the rack below and choose the appropriate setting. They’ll need five more minutes and then they are ready to serve.
- Mini pizzas, which you could have prepped from the previous day and then bake them just before your party. Some plain sauce with cheese seems like a great option for children and as for the adults you could spice thing up with peppers and curated meat. You could even make your own crust or buy some from the super market. Alternatively use store-bought courou crust or crust for tartes cutting it with a small glass or a round or any other shape cherki. You could even separate your crust into squares and make square pizzas. Bake them either just before your guests come, or while they are arriving. It’s a shame to bake them before hand as they will turn hard and obviously won’t taste the same
- Meatballs, which you could prep even two days before even though that’s a dish that is traditionally (in Greece at least) one taken up by the grandmas, aunts etc. If you are one of the lucky ones take advantage of it and spread the work at the rest of the family. You could even get some store-bought ones but if you want to make them yourselves, sprinkle some flour, drizzle some olive oil and bake a whole pan for 30 minutes in the resistance setting on 180C degrees, on the middle rack and you are done. Just make sure you flip them so that they bake evenly on both sides.
- Vegetable/mozzarella souvlaki is a great option to cool down your guests and maybe by presenting vegetables this way, you can tease the children into eating them. Buy little bamboo sticks and stack cherry tomatoes, little mozzarella pieces and colorful peppers. Serve them in a platter maybe five by five, to create a more impressing buffet image.
- You might find home-made popcorn behind the couch on the next day but it definitely deserve a place on your buffet. It is not that unhealthy at the end of the day and you could always serve it to replace store bought potato chips etc. Drizzle some edible paint on top of them and serve them colorful. You can find edible powder in different colors both online and in stores downtown (in Athens at least). At the same stores selling this type of powder you can definitely find some very cool ingredients for your cake too if you decide to make it at home.
- Pasta forever! Kids love pasta and their always happy to find them at parties. Especially if you have just a few kids over or they’re a bit older, a pasta dish with cheese or a carbonara will make them truly happy
Decorating both the space and the table, which is probably a buffet in this case, is something that always gets children extremely excited. Even if the party is not around carnival time (when such decorations are mostly used) you could always use streamers and confetti creating a playful mood as well as balloons which seem to be a necessity in every birthday party. (some children really do struggle with balloons though so if you know that someone might not get along with them, I would obviously suggest that you don’t use any)
Make sure you have stored most of your glass decoration (vases, pots etc.) in a safe place, different to where the party will be taking place, so that both you and the children are stress free and the first ones can play with ease
Another great idea, especially if you have young children, is for you to dress up as a clown, Santa Claus or even a baby so that you entertain them even more. If they want they could wear costumes themselves but make sure you recommend comfortable clothes so that they enjoy their day. Avoid dressing them up as they will probably stain their clothes.
You could also collaborate with the child that is celebrating her/his birthday and prep the party together. Everything besides the cake though which obviously has to be a surprise. If they have a sister or brother you could prep a surprise birthday party together, making both the child celebrating and the one helping feeling important and happy. Correspondingly you can ask the dad, grandparents, aunts and godparents or close friends to help you. The children will understand the value of prepping, the responsibility in it as well as they will feel like they accomplished something great. By helping they will improve their collaboration skills as well as become better at sharing and being responsible. This way they will enjoy the big day even more when it comes and appreciate it even more, acknowledging now the preparations, work and time needed. They will eventually start wanting to be in charge of more things and this is a great way to teach them a valuable for the rest of their lives lesson.
Here are some suggestions from my website:
You could make it with sea shell shaped pasta instead of linguini or penne for it to be easier to serve.
You could use this as a base for the birthday cake and decorate it on top with anything the child would like.
You could add sprinkles and candy on top to make them more fun and add a playful touch.
Our “theme menus” and “tips” always have new additions to inspire and help you. Don’t hesitate to send me all your questions and comments, and I will be replying soon.
