Whether you have invited friends and family over to celebrate your birthday or theirs, it’s always a good idea to ensure you have plenty of refreshments for your guests to enjoy. You might like to cook these appetizers and meals yourself or prefer to buy them to save yourself time in the kitchen, but whatever you choose, make sure the following items appear as part of your birthday party menu.
Birthday Cake
No party is complete without a cake, and for birthdays, this is certainly a requirement! If there are going to be a lot of guests at your party, or it’s a milestone birthday that you’re celebrating, consider serving up a larger, more extravagant cake to make a statement. You might even want to consider ordering the cake from a professional baker, particularly if you aren’t confident in your baking or cake decorating skills. If you don’t want to serve a big cake, a selection of cupcakes is a great alternative.
Birthday Cookies
Cookies are another excellent sweet treat that will always be popular, and some people might even prefer these to cakes! Classic chocolate chip, chocolate, oatmeal raisin, or more experimental flavors are all welcome on the birthday party menu, particularly for children’s birthdays. If you want to make an impression, you should think about decorating your birthday cookies to mark the occasion. You can use these cool and sophisticated cookie stencils to make your cookies look so good that people might not want to eat them!
Homemade Dip
A bowl of tortilla chips along with a variety of delicious dips are always great party foods, so make sure these make an appearance on your table. If you are planning to serve your guests a three-course meal rather than a buffet-style spread, these can still make an appearance as an appetizer with pre-dinner drinks. Store-bought dips are perfectly fine to serve, but a few homemade dips can show some extra effort to impress your guests, and they are also quick and easy to make.
Meat and Cheese Deli Boards
For adult birthday parties, or even if you want something for the grown-ups at your kid’s party, meat and cheese deli boards are easy to put together but are always crowd-pleasers. Select a few bottles of wine that will complement the flavors, and don’t forget to include some artisanal bread, pickles, grapes, celery sticks, and chutneys with your deli boards. If you have any vegans attending, make sure there is a separate deli board suitable for their dietary preferences.
Finger Sandwiches
These are great for every age group, and you can switch up the sandwich fillings to suit the age range too. Again, these are easy foods to make and serve up so you won’t have to spend hours in the kitchen and will fit in with a birthday buffet perfectly.
If you have a birthday party coming up, consider these suggestions for foods to serve and see which options would work best for your special event.
