Birthday Party Planning - Step 4 & 5 The Food and cake

Yum! We're doing a simple menu with all food that is safe for Taylor. I do not want to tell her she can't have what other people are eating at her own birthday party! We will be doing a simple menu that will all be made in advance so we can socialize with our friends at the party rather than being stuck doing food prep. Here's the menu:

Grilled Chicken breasts with BBQ sauce
Pasta Salad
Watermelon
Potato Chips

Drinks:
Iced Tea
Lemonade
Capri Sun Juices for the kids.

Chocolate cupcakes (dairy, soy (protein)*, egg free) decorated to match the ladybug theme. I will be baking these and decorating them and I still haven't completely decided on exactly how I'm decorating them. I'm thinking of topping them with a chocolate sugar cookie decorated to look like a ladybug, resting in green frosting.

Once the menu is decided, do an inventory of what you have and what you need. Determine your shopping list and include any serving dishes, plate settings and napkins you need to purchase. Planning far in advance has allowed me to determine which stores offer the best prices on things I need. I'll be getting our utensils and paper goods from the dollar store.

Also, planning in advance allowed me to use a coupon to purchase a tiered dessert stand from JoAnn's for the cupcakes. I'm really happy with this! I didn't really want a traditional cupcake stand that holds individual cupcakes, so this was a great alternative. It's so versatile, it matches my white serving dishes (a very good thing to invest in is a collection of white serving dishes) all the pieces nest together so it's compact, and with my coupon, it only cost $10!

OK...so, I've decided not to post the rest of the details on the party planning until after the party. I have everything planned out and I'm working on making the decorations, and goody bags. I can't wait to show them to you, but I don't want to spoil it for our guests who read this blog. So, if I don't post much this week it's because I'm busy working on the final details. Um, and baking a gazillion batches of cupcakes and a few dozen cookies. But stayed tuned because I'll be sharing all the pics early next week!!! Oh, and by the way, I'm not sure who's more excited for the party, me or Taylor!