please critique my menu

[pixielou]

dd's 1st birthday party is next sunday, at noon time. i have about 25 people coming. our townhouse is small, and can maybe seat 15 people. so i'm specifically doing finger food - discouraging people from sitting down to eat. (i sure hope is nice out so people can hang out on the patio.) there is only 1 other baby coming - his mom is going to bring his food.

antipasto skewers - tortellini, salami, cheese, tomatoes marinated in italian dressing (~3 dozen)

hawaiin shrimp skewers - shrimp, pineapple and star fruit broiled (~3 dozen)

chicken satay skewers with thai peanut sauce (~3 dozen)

brushetta (i make it like uno's tuscany bread) - i loaf of french bread

black bean quesadillas - i'll use 12 of the 8" tortillas

cheese, cracker & pepperoni tray

chips, salsa and quacamole - mainly because of the quesadillas

sliced apples with caramel

is this enough quantity/variety? i was also considering a hummus, baba ghanooj & pita tray, a cold cream cheese veggie pizza (there's a thread on this here), fresh fruit tray or fresh fruit kabobs.

i haven't thought much of beverage yet. we have a ton of canned soda and beer. and i may just make a pot of coffee.

my sister is making the birthday cake. my mom and my grandmother both said they would bring a dessert. i will buy some ice ream.

any other suggestions? thanks!

[vancouvergirl]

i think it sounds great. maybe a salad and a healthy drink option and you're good to go. enjoy!

[hockeybrat]

That sounds really yummy! Would everybody enjoy your exotic mix of foods? The reason I am asking is some people might be more picky about foods. DH, for example, would probably think that is too exotic for his taste so he would probably just munch on the chips.

I think a fruit or veggie tray would be good. How about some chicken drumettes (either buffalo wings style or maybe in terriyaki sauce)?

ETA: If nobody is a picky eater, then I would still add either a fruit or veggie tray and maybe some hummus and pita

[December27JJB]

Ooohhhh yum save me some leftovers! ;)

I agree with Hockeybrat, maybe add a small fruit or veggie tray. These are always a hit when I have people over.

[robyn]

Another vote for a fruit/veggie tray. Otherwise I think it sounds wonderful! I would certainly love to try everything on your menu.

[pixielou]

ok - i'll add a fruit or veggie tray. once i go to the grocery store - i'll see if the fruit or the veggies look better then decide which one. i usually add sliced apples, pears and grapes to my cheese and cracker trays. and if i do the apples and caramel - maybe i should lean toward the veggie tray.

vancouvergirl the salad is out. since it is not a finger food. and i'm only going to have out those little appetizer/dessert plates.

what's a healthy drink option? any suggestions?

hockeybrat ya know - i never even noticed that i have some "exotic" choices on my list. thank you for pointing that out to me. i think most of the guests will enjoy the selection. and the 1 or 2 that won't - not to sound snooty - but they can stop at mcdonalds on their way home - since they are the type that probably wouldn't like anything i served.

[katmg]

pixielou - I don't think it sounds too exotic - sounds like a great mix of foods to me! Yum!

Other drink options might include lemonade, pitchers of water with lemon, iced tea?

[Marie]

I think it looks great but adding a fruit/veggie tray is a great idea.

Beverages...lemonade, iced tea, fruit juice spritzers.

[nic]

I think the menu sounds great

[looch]

very nice. i think the menu is great, and i personally, would have one of everything!

[~Lucy]

I think the menu sounds great, too. If you want to do a fruit tray instead of the apples and caramel, you can make a yummy dip with 1/2 marshmellow cream and 1/2 cream cheese. Whip it just until mixed and it will stay pretty fluffy. (The more you mix it, the flatter it gets.)

[SiValleySteph]

I just had my son's 1st birthday last weekend. We had 20 some people in our townhouse and it worked out really nicely.

For beverages:

We had a champagne cocktail bar - champagne with mixers of Chambord, Blue Curaco or Midori with the appropriate garnishes (rasberries, strawberries and maraschino cherries). That was a big hit.

We also had fresh-squeezed ginger lemonade which was a huge hit! Recipe was from allrecipes.com

***

We did a fruit dip just like Lucy just said - we use strawberry cream cheese for ours. It is sooooooo good.

***

Anyways, sounds good! Have a great time!

[pixielou]

steph i love the sounds of your champagne bar. my family aren't drinkers. but it gives me a great idea should we decide to host a holiday party.

thank you everyone for all of your suggestions. i figured i would just update this to let you know what we ended up with. in the end, 23 guests showed up. dh and i made it 25.

it ended up being a lot of prep work on saturday and sunday morning - but once everything was out on sunday, i didn't have to do a thing until everyone left and i had to clean up. so i was able to sit back and enjoy the party!

interesting thing - around 1:30 i peaked in the kitchen - everyone had finished eating and we had just done cake. there was tons of food on the table, and i was worried about what to do with the leftovers. but one people left at 3 - there was hardly any food left!

antipasto kabobos made 24, about 6 left over
tortellini, grape tomatoes, genoa salami and mozz cheese cubes - all marinated overnight in italian dressing.

hawaiin shrimp skewers made 25, about 6 left over
shrimp, pineapple chunks and star fruit, brushed with a garlic/jalapeno/pineapple glaze and grilled

chicken satay made 60 - all dissapeared within an hour!
chicken marinated in teriyaki sauce, served with satay peanut sauce

bruschetta - one loaf of french bread made 32 pieces - all gone within an hour!
french bread, brushed with pesto, chopped with chopped tomatoes and pizza cheese - broiled

quesadillas - made 8 tortillas into 32 pieces, all dissapeared
mexican cheese and black beans, baked in the oven

fruit kabobs - made 32, about a dozen left oven
cantalope, red grapes and strawberries

veggie tray
i filled 6 gallon size ziplocs with cut veggies. the leftovers filled 1 bag.
red, yellow and green peppers, celery, baby carrots, grape tomatoes, snow peas, mushrooms

cheese and cracker tray
5 different cheeses (2+ lbs), 5 different crackers, sliced pepperoni, cocktail shrimp - garniched with apple slices, pear slices and red grapes
all but about 6 crakers dissapeared

the following all dissapeared - 1 bag of potato chips, 1 large bad of tortilla chips, jar of salsa, 3 avacados of guacamole, 3 (12 cup) pots of coffee, 30+ cans of soda, 1/2 gallon of ice cream, ~6 dozen cookies, and 3/4 of the birthday cake.

[katmg]

Thanks for the review - glad it went so well!