I'm hosting a 5th grade graduation- pool party for my daughter and a bunch of her girlfriends. I need ideas for fun foods- grill is OK. Thanks!
edinaeats
May 05, 2008 07:37AM
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CHOW Pick, posted December 03, 2008
Food Media, posted December 03, 2008
Green, posted November 25, 2008
Wine and Drinks, posted December 03, 2008
Tripe.. its so new school. And after Hannah Montana told Teen Beat how much she loved it, its all the rage among the youngin's.
Seriously, first question - especially with young girls - are any of them vegetarians-in-training, and are there any food allergies or diet constraints?
There was a thread here talking about Juicy Lucy's - cheese-stuffed burgers popular in St. Louis..
Assemble-your-own-kebabs might be fun - you could control the grill, and they could assmble the things, assuming they like chunks of various meats and marinated vegetables..
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And if its warm, a fruit salad is easy and can be vibrant.. rice salads as well..
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I think scaled down versions of decidedly adult foods would be good. Girls of that age love to feel all chic and grown up. Maybe a chilled soup or something, though I guess it depends on how adventurous your eaters are. With a chilled soup you could serve a traditional bruschetta or a fruit bruschetta. Both are easy and can be prepared a bit ahead of time. Any sort of granita would be nice and refreshing if you're outdoors. There are also these, but they are a bit out there. http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/20...
Something easy and relatively safe as far as keeping everyone happy would be making their own pizzas. You can use pitas and do them right on the grill. For dessert, you could make a fruit pizza.
You could also have a smoothie bar if you have a blender or two. I guess the practicality of this depends on how many girls are there. Just cut up lots of different fruits, freeze them or bring out ice, have a few juices, and some Sprite on hand and let the girls go to town.
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if it was me......
I'd like mini burgers grilled, with all the goodies out for me to make my own dream mini burger. Our local chain market makes round soft buns in the deli- we use for my daughters "subway" sandwich days- perfect for little burgers!
Kebabs- why not do 1 inch cubes of sirloin, 3 to a small stick skewer, seasoned with salt and pepper. Have kebabs with 3 mushroom, kebabs with 3 tomatos, zucchinis etc- with some fancy dipping mayo- which can also be used for mini burgers.
Fruit salad- a given. Strawberries are great here- hope you are in a good place for fresh fruit!
Grilled pizza wraps- simple and easy- though I'd give it a whirl prior to the party, just to be sure. We have used small thin homemade pizza dough- day old works best for us- brush lightly with olive oil and grill each side- we love to fill with dressed caeser salad, fresh buffalo mozzarella and shredded chicken with a tomato or two, roll up- volia- a wrap. You could use all types of greens, and as long as you have a litle dressing action going- YUM.
Chinese chicken salald- shredded chicken, cashews, red cabbage shredded, and noodles dressed with peanut oit- and chinese chicken salad dressing. Am I missing an ingredient- green onion or cilantro.
Cupcakes and punch, homemade lemon pops? Homemade fudgicles?
Have a great party!!! Don't forget lots of umbrellas for the drinks!
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When my sons were younger pool parties were often at my house, especially during the hot summer months.
Burgers, hotdogs, sodas,water or fruit drinks - coolers full of ice set outside that way they get their own drinks. We had a mix of boys and girls always. We made different things but It was burgers and hotdogs with chips that were always a hit. For dessert, ice cream cones or missles were fun, and yes I have all sorts of floaties toys and they ate them in the pool. Easy clean-up!
I love kebabs, but at that age no way did I trust any of them to not do something silly and me being the worry wart... well oh heck no.
So I would make the burgers, set out the condiments and buns. Set up chip bowls and dip, offer salad and then try to be invisible and stay dry as they bombed each other.
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I would agree that anything involving hot fires, pointy things, etc, should be done under close watch.
But you could use soaked wood skewers, have everything already prepped, and just allow them to assemble things. You could "de-skewer" them yourself after cooking, and serve them with warm pita bread.
If you wanted to do it yourself, making your own chips is fun, but you would have to keep the children away from the hot oil. You could do it in the kitchen, as they'll be by the pool. But unless you have another adult or two, you can't leave the pool area unattended, so anything that kept you in the kitchen might be a non-starter.
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Folks- these are 5th graders- my 5 yr old knows the toothpick/skewer rule, for petes sake!! If Mom is going to the trouble to make a nice party for these girls, I trust they are not the "hey go stab Sally in the arm and see if she screams" type.
Just sayin'.
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As well- forget the girls doing the assembling- let them swim! I'd do all the assembly myself- they'd probably poke themselves silly trying to thread on a piece of zucchini!
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Paninis or pizza. Girls can custom make their own for both. What's really fun for them is to roll out the dough themselves, into whatever shape they want and then top. You can grill them. My son, OTOH, loves meatloaf cake:
http://www.meatloafcake.com/
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Camping onto chowser's post: build-your own quesadillas to grill. I wish I had a buck for all the quesadillas my daughter and her girl tribe have chowed down on in this house!
Cay
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Big submarine sandwiches are always a hit as well. You can buy the 6 foot sub buns at a bakery and make your own, or order them.
Little cocktail meatballs in sauce and sandwich wraps cut in 1-2 in pieces are great appetizers for kids/teens parties.
Chips and dips of all kinds are welcome as well. The obvious is tortilla chips with salsa or guacamole, but even 10 year olds would go for the 7 layer Mexican dip.
If you want to invest some time, fruit kebabs with sweet strawberry/yogurt dip would be a fun food the kids could help make.
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I love to have fruit availale for my own parties for the kids. Watermelon, grapes and strawberries are devoured. Also they love veggies and ranch dip. Subs would be an excellent choice! Fun presentation for the kids.
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I would forget the skewer idea all together and use soaked wooden popsicle sticks instead... stab free! I would skewer breaded chicken, so they would be like chicken strips on a stick. I think anything is more fun if it's on a stick...
For dessert, I would keep the whole stick food thing going, and thread the popsicle sticks with marshmellows and strawberries for a chocolate fondue... I bet the girls would have fun with that.
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