A Summer Feast for Special Guests!

The whole of this month, I have been planning a party for some really special, important but extremely hard to please guests.
Anyone cares to guess who could they be ????

It was my little one's birthday this Sunday and the 'guests' were 18 of his friends!
All those with young kids would understand my dilemma..I mean it's hard enough trying to figure out what to make that would please one child; just imagine coming up with attractive looking, non-messy food that would go down happily with one and a half dozen kids :-/

Days of research and pondering later, this is what I came up with, and I am happy to inform you most of the food was enjoyed by the little conossieurs, with just enough leftovers to constitute my next day's brunch and tell me that kiddie food can be pretty, yummy and easy to put together.

Starting with sonny boy's favourite:


These were inspired by Saffron Hut, whose talented author no longer blogs, but has left behind a brilliant blog for all of us to admire and get inspired by.
I did make a few changes to her version, asI did not want to use peanut butter for fear of any of the kids being allergic to nuts, so here I am giving the list of what I used:
Oreo
Plain pretzels
Plain M&M
Cheese spread to stick the eyes
I also used some cheese spread on one inner side of the cookie to help pretzels stick better.

Saffron's recipe uses peanut butter. Try Jam. Or Nutella. Basically any sticky, yummy tasting stuff would work

I could not bear the ask the kids to wait for me to take pictures of the cookies, so I made them again today, to show what they look like.
Uh-oh, the green one's trying to run away!!



The next one was my personal favourite. Fresh, summer fruits threaded onto a satay stick to make a fruit kebab. Dunno why, but they tasted a lot nicer, eating them one after another heightens their taste, or maybe its just the visual appeal. Whatever be the reason, these did disappear even faster than the cookies!


Now this one certainly does not need a recipe, but here are some thoughts :

Do pick seasonal fruit, it always tastes better.

Try to go for a range of colours, textures and flavours. Some ideas:

Green, crunchy & sweet: Grapes, kiwis, melon( green apple is risky, kids are sometimes not too fond of it)
Red & juicy: Strawberries, cherries, raspberries, apple, watermelon
White: Marshmallow
Yellow & fragrant: Mango, pineapple, orange, papaya, peach
Creamy & sweet: Banana

That's it.....go make up your own rainbow :)

The final one is good old cucmber sandwich, which is dressed up ( down?) to make it look pretty and unusual. This was completely inspired by VegeyumYum, a fundu food artist....I mean, just look at this !! ^:)^


We need:

Sandwich bread

Cheese Spread or Cream cheese

Cukes, thinly sliced using a peeler

Freshly crushed Black pepper

I used Amul cheese spread and the slim Japanese cucumbers.

Peel cucmber using a sharp peeler. Lay the slices of cucumber, slighlt overlapping. Do not use salt, as it will make the sandwiches soggy. The cheese usually has enough salt, anyway.Cut into desired shape.

See how she makes them even prettier by using cookie cutters to get interesting shapes.

And finally, my son would be extremely disappointed if I do not put a picture of his cake on the blog, given that he proudly chose it himself, with a picture of his current idol!


No, I certainly did not make it myself, infact I secretly tried to scrape off the Batman part before giving it to the kids, because of the food colour, which seemed to bother only me. For those who are interested, it was a fresh cream and strawberry layered cake. Quite alright.

For the accompanying adults, there was a Filipino style pasta salad, fries & chicken nuggets.

Me and P were too busy trying to play with kids to have much ourselves, and these were our brunch the next day, so I hope dear Sia would allow me to also send it to her sweet summer party.


Have a lovely day !

35 comments:

  1. Cho Chweet! :-) B'day greetings to your sonny boy ... god bless him. As for the menu ...wow! Who would have thought of fruit kebab!And the sandwiches look yummy too. All in all .. I can see a grooving party!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Everything looks colorful and delicious! Childhood birthday parties are the best :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Happy birthday to your son .. the fruit kebab looks delish ..

    ReplyDelete
  4. u r kidding rt? how can resist such a gorgeous looking goodies? send them fast :)
    belated b'day wishes to ur little darling:)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Everything looks so cute & delicious DB, no wonder the kids loved it. Wishing Shiv a very happy birthday! :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Happy Birthday dear Shiv! Everything looks so cute! Love the fruit kebabs especially. My son is into batman too.

    ReplyDelete
  7. WOW! that is the sweetest/cutest b'day party spread I've ever seen. No wonder the kids enjoyed it so much. Birday wishes to your lil one :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. wow all dishes looks very healthy & delicious. Happy Birhtday to ur Son

    ReplyDelete
  9. Happy birthday to your son! What a party, yum yum yum yum!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Happy Belated birthday to your son Shiv...:)..and the food looks delicious...esp. the fruit kebabs!..oh! the oreos too :D

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hey, what fUntastic ideas! and sound yummy too!

    do visit my blog too http://thefootloosechef.blogspot.com

    cheers,

    dershana

    ReplyDelete
  12. belated birthday wishes to your little one.. Thats very creative Rashmi! I like the spider cookies, I am sure all the "hard to please" guests enjoyed your feast :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. a lucky birthday boy, some happy and full friends of his, a proud husband, and a drooling reader (me) should tell you what a delicious and tempting post this is!! :-) awesome!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Colorful, cool, cute, yummy, awesome entry!!! Happy birthday to ur son!!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh, to be a child again...
    Everything looks great. Love those sandwiches! I miss Saffron's posts. Her blog is one of the best (to me) I've come across.

    ReplyDelete
  16. What a spread! ur boy is lucky!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Wow any child would delight in that spread..and thnx for giving me ideas..My lil one's b'day is coming up as well :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. this post shows,..how much hard work u have put in organising ur sons birthday,..and everythin looks cool,..and apt fo the occassion,...my wishes to ur son,..inspiring post for me,..soon in comin time i will eb doin the same,..enjoyed readin every bit of it,.nd very colourful pics,..nd nice entry for the event too:-)

    ReplyDelete
  19. oh my gosh..wht a snaps..luved all the click specially the fruite kababs...wooo creative idea..happy b day to ur kid...

    ReplyDelete
  20. oh my Rashmi, thats simply awesome!!..great menu and lovely ideas...my birthday wishes to your little one. Of course that batman looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  21. absolutely delightful -you've given me so many ideas. thanks dear. happy birthday!!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Everything looks so lovely....happy belated bday to your son...

    ReplyDelete
  23. Rashmi, that definitely looks like a summer feast. Beautiful pics too :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. Awesome cookies, cake, sandwich and fruit kebab. If I am attracted to the spidy cookies and batman cake, i am sure children would have enjoyed it. Lovely entries.

    ReplyDelete
  25. u sure seem to hv impressed ur 'guests' mighty well ;)
    s/w look yummm!

    ReplyDelete
  26. belated bday wishes to your li'l one.. Amazing spread you have there.. I'm sure it was a blast at the party...

    ReplyDelete
  27. wow! girl u hav a lot of creativity ..luved ur spider cookies...;)must have been a hit with the kids...Bday wishes to ur son too

    ReplyDelete
  28. what a great array of treats!!! birthday wishes to your son.

    ReplyDelete
  29. those are so wonderful goodies for a birthday party....:)
    loved those sandwiches and the batman cake......wishes to the bday boy

    ReplyDelete
  30. Everything looks delicious! Esp. the cucumber sandwiches.
    Happy B'day to your little one.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Birthday wishes to Shiv! Love your fruit kababs & the spiders. The cucumber sandwiches look delightful! Am sure kids & adults alike had fun! :)

    ReplyDelete
  32. Everything is so cute! I love the cookies :)

    ReplyDelete
  33. wow wow... i must b killed for visiting so late... lots of love to sweetu shiv.... sab mast hai ... cookie very innovative, cake shiv ko bolna bestest cake hai..... and sandwich kitne sexy lag rahe hain...

    ReplyDelete
  34. Wow! All the treats look gorgeous- and totally creative! Must have been an awesome birthday!!
    Thanks for blog rolling me! I am adding you too:)

    ReplyDelete
  35. Shiv wants to thank everyone for the birthday wishes. Glad you enjoyed the food, I so enjoyed making it:)

    ReplyDelete