Buffet/Party Food

[25MUM09]

I'm hosting a 1st birthday party at home for my daughter where there will be mainly family and 4/5 mums and their babies attending. I want to do easy buffet/finger food but everything I've chosen looks very beige and boring. I've gone for:

Pizza
Sausage rolls
Cocktail sausages
Quiche
Savoury eggs
Sandwiches

I was thinking I could 'posh' it up a bit by doing the cocktails sausages in a honey glaze and maybe doing some cocktail sticks with cherry tomato and mozzarella

Any other colourful finger food that doesn't require a lot of effort on the day?

Soft fruit is in season its cheap in the market.

Cucumber and carrot sticks with hummus so the babies at least have something sort of heathy to munch on!

I make homemade flapjack for my little one which goes down really well and is great finger food. Just mashed banana, oats and dried fruit and baked in the oven for 20 minutes.

Thanks to you both, puddings are pretty much sorted. We've got a main cake with cupcakes too, fresh fruit and I was thinking of doing these kebabs but any idea how the marshmallow would hold up if I made them the night before and put them in the fridge? Or am I better off just doing it all before serving

Ooh yes crudités and dips/hummus are a good shout, I didn't want to do a proper salad as wanted to keep it finger food

That flapjack sounds so easy though, I'll definitely be trying that some time!!

Use colourful wraps with cream cheese, grated carrot and ham to make tortilla roll-ups. You can get deep purple beetroot wraps and bright green spinach wraps from Morrisons and most supermarkets sell the orangey-colour ones.
Beetroot hummus is deep purple, which would be a great splash of colour with guacamole and salsa.

They look great @Ricekrispie22 would they go soggy if I made them the day before?

roasted veg kebabs on stick you could put some chicken or salami on theire too.
cheese tomato and cucumber and pepper on sticks.
colourful veggie pizza on flat bread or naan
puff pastry slices.
peppers and mixed veggie fritata

Cheese and pineapple!

I've never made them the day before. They're so quick to assemble that I've never needed to do that.

I personally think your food is fine. A few glasses of prosecco and everyone’s happy!

Yeah they probably are very quick to do but I'm going to have a million and one other jobs to do as well. I'm just trying to plan what I can do in advance and what I need to do on the day... can't wait to see how it all turns out xx

You could prepare all the crudites and cheese, tomato for sticks etc the day before, stored in airtight boxes/bags in the fridge, then just put them on sticks on the day. I'd leave the sausages plain too, they are perfect the way they are and honey doesn't really go with them.

Anything hot. I hate a cold buffet

@greendale17 what do you think, like a couple of slow cookers with stew or soups to help them selves with some nice crusty bread? This would be so much easier for me but thinking of places to sit and eat.. that is my next problem

@greendale17 or more pizzas, warm quiche etc?

You do batch cooking of chilli con carne, curries, cous cous etc

I like buffet food but just not served cold so things like pizza, breaded chicken etc but appreciate you need a big oven and the timings right.

You need some salad.

Just my personal opinion but it's not really the right weather for soups and stews. Mind you, my husband would disagree. He's eat them all year round!

@IWouldLikeToKnow no you're right, although if someone made it for me I'm sure I could eat it! The party isn't until end of August though so hopefully it will have cooled down a little by then