Collection

What to cook for a child's birthday

Sixty dishes for a children's party at home with a price per serving: mini pizzas, sausage rolls, nuggets, potato smileys, cake, cupcakes, layered jelly, lemonades. Ready tables for eight guests, a sweet table, no oven, for toddlers.

60recipes
$0.17–$3.15per portion
5 min – 2 h 10 minto cook
41–797kcal per portion

Plan a week from this collection

Sixty dishes for a children's birthday at home: nineteen finger foods, from mini pizzas on buns, sausage rolls on sticks and corn dogs to potato smileys, cheese sticks and animal sandwiches; fifteen mains, among them mini burgers, breaded chicken skewers, mac and cheese and fish fingers with mash; three breakfasts for a morning party; sixteen sweets, including a chocolate cake with cream, cupcakes, layered jelly, a fruit rainbow and chocolate fondue; seven drinks without soda.

Servings are child-sized, 150–350 kcal for a snack or a sweet, and each has a price, so a table for eight guests is costed in advance. No recipe has anything spicy, whole nuts, alcohol or coffee; recipes on skewers and corn dogs are meant for children from four, for younger ones take the sticks out before serving.

Ready menus

Table for eight guests

Two finger foods, vegetables with dip, a cheesy main, a cake and lemonade. Bake the cake the day before; sausage rolls and mini pizzas go into the oven 20 minutes before the guests.

Salads 2

Orange Chicken and Cheese Salad Dinner40 min399 kcal≈ $2.07

Chicken, Pineapple and Cheese Salad Dinner35 min472 kcal≈ $1.89

Starters 18

Mini Sliders with Pizza Toppings Snack15 min227 kcal≈ $1.23

Sausages Wrapped in Flaky Pastry on Skewers Snack55 min300 kcal≈ $0.83

Baked Cheese Sticks with Crispy Breadcrumbs Snack35 min335 kcal≈ $0.73

Animal Face Sandwiches Snack15 min243 kcal≈ $1.10

Potato Smileys Snack45 min295 kcal≈ $0.44

Veggie Sticks with Dip in Cups Snack15 min112 kcal≈ $1.21

Flaky Pastry Pizza Rolls Snack45 min436 kcal≈ $1.29

Baked Corn Dogs Snack30 min424 kcal≈ $0.72

Mini Ham and Cheese Tea Sandwiches Snack15 min346 kcal≈ $1.02

Lavash Cheese & Herb Roll Snack45 min322 kcal≈ $1.38

Fresh Vegetable Platter with Herbs Snack15 min42 kcal≈ $1.39

Air-Fryer Chicken Popcorn Snack25 min355 kcal≈ $1.74

Cheesy Crab-Stuffed Bites Snack35 min443 kcal≈ $1.87

Cheese, Grapes, Olives, and Ham Skewers Snack15 min397 kcal≈ $2.01

Stuffed Boiled Eggs with Cheese and Garlic Snack25 min249 kcal≈ $0.58

Air Fryer Breaded Cheese Sticks Snack30 min464 kcal≈ $1.25

Lavash Chips with Paprika and Hummus Snack10 min436 kcal≈ $1.75

Nachos with Cheese and Salsa Snack25 min518 kcal≈ $2.11

Mains 14

Oven-Baked French Fries Dinner40 min244 kcal≈ $0.44

Mini Chicken Patty Burgers Dinner30 min426 kcal≈ $1.79

Breaded Chicken Skewers Dinner35 min283 kcal≈ $1.34

Baked Mac and Cheese Dinner35 min512 kcal≈ $0.84

Chicken Meatballs in Tomato Sauce with Pasta Dinner35 min448 kcal≈ $1.34

Cheesy Chicken Quesadilla Triangles Dinner25 min431 kcal≈ $1.82

Fish Sticks with Mashed Potatoes Dinner35 min423 kcal≈ $2.03

Homemade Ham and Mozzarella Pizza Lunch1 h 10 min798 kcal≈ $1.73

Homemade Baked Chicken Nuggets Dinner35 min344 kcal≈ $1.16

Chicken Roulade with Ham and Cheese Dinner1 h351 kcal≈ $2.22

Chicken Cutlets with Mashed Potatoes Dinner45 min718 kcal≈ $2.10

Quick Flatbread Pizza Dinner15 min520 kcal≈ $2.66

Baked Chicken & Cheese Lavash Rolls Dinner35 min712 kcal≈ $3.15

Honey-Soy Chicken Skewers Dinner1 h 40 min512 kcal≈ $1.04

Dessert 26

Berry-Faced Pancakes (Kefir Pancakes with Fruit Faces) Breakfast25 min348 kcal≈ $0.76

Farmer's Cheese Pancakes with Sour Cream Breakfast25 min555 kcal≈ $1.76

Fluffy Pancakes with Strawberries and Whipped Cream Breakfast30 min466 kcal≈ $1.02

Birthday Chocolate Cake with Cream Snack2 h403 kcal≈ $0.62

Vanilla Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting Snack1 h269 kcal≈ $0.38

Layered Rainbow Fruit Jelly Snack1 h 45 min143 kcal≈ $0.66

Warm Chocolate Fondue with Fruit Snack15 min344 kcal≈ $1.58

Soft Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chips Snack30 min343 kcal≈ $0.58

Fruit Rainbow Skewers Snack15 min159 kcal≈ $1.65

Fruit Skewers Snack15 min114 kcal≈ $0.97

Mandarin Fruit Platter Snack10 min168 kcal≈ $1.20

Banana oat cookies Snack25 min314 kcal≈ $0.62

Spiced Pumpkin Muffins Breakfast45 min556 kcal≈ $0.59

Fluffy Kefir Chocolate Cake Snack2 h 10 min588 kcal≈ $0.61

Fruit Jelly Cups Snack30 min169 kcal≈ $1.12

Candied Oranges in Dark Chocolate with Chopped Nuts Snack40 min352 kcal≈ $1.77

Honey-Spiced Gingerbread with Glaze Snack1 h 40 min436 kcal≈ $0.17

Caramel Apples on Sticks Snack30 min300 kcal≈ $0.81

Chocolate-Covered Strawberries Snack20 min298 kcal≈ $2.07

Banana Milkshake Snack5 min297 kcal≈ $0.79

Strawberry Lemonade Snack10 min80 kcal≈ $0.94

Hot Chocolate with Marshmallows Snack10 min221 kcal≈ $0.42

Homemade Mint Lemonade Snack15 min86 kcal≈ $0.36

Spiced Apple Cider Snack15 min135 kcal≈ $0.78

Non-Alcoholic Mulled Grape Juice Snack15 min194 kcal≈ $0.97

Banana Berry Smoothie Snack5 min217 kcal≈ $1.29

How to use it

Every recipe has a servings counter: set the number of guests and the grams recalculate. Children eat less at a party than it seems: for eight, three finger foods, one main, a cake and one drink are enough, and a fruit platter saves those who eat nothing else.

Cook in this order: the day before, the cake, cookies and jelly; in the morning, vegetables and fruit, the pancake batter; an hour before the guests, the oven: sausage rolls, mini pizzas and corn dogs all bake at 200 °C. Serve the main in the middle of the party, after the games, and keep the cake with candles for the end.

Plan a week from this collection

Questions

What to cook for a five-year-old's birthday?

Food that can be picked up without a mess: mini pizzas on buns, sausage rolls, cheese sticks, potato smileys, animal sandwiches, fruit skewers. For a main, mac and cheese or nuggets; for sweets, a cream cake and layered jelly. The table for eight above shows the price per child.

What to cook for a children's party without an oven?

Animal sandwiches, skewer canapés, cheese balls, vegetable sticks with dip, a quesadilla and pancakes with faces on the pan, fondue over a water bath, jelly, a milkshake and cocoa. The no-oven menu above is made of exactly these.

Which cake to make for a child's birthday?

Chocolate kefir cake with cream cheese frosting: it is not dry, cuts cleanly and bakes in 35 minutes. No buttercream roses, berries for decoration. With few guests, cupcakes instead of a cake: no cutting, and a candle fits in each one.

What to cook for a three-year-old's birthday?

Soft and without sticks: syrniki, oven nuggets, fish fingers with mash, potato smileys, jelly, banana cookies and a smoothie. In the toddler menu nothing has to be bitten off a stick, and there is less sugar than in the others.

How much food for eight children?

Three finger foods at one serving per child, one main, a cake at one serving per child plus one per two adults, a litre of drink per four. More than half the children never reach the main, so let there be more finger food than mains.