We recently celebrated our youngest baby Eden’s, 1st birthday and enjoyed a simple backyard party. I thought I would share some of our food and favour ideas as it was simple and minimal and we made sure it was food that I was happy for Eden to eat. Our nibbles included home made chips, hummus, carrot, celery and cucumber sticks, cherry tomatoes, mexican dip, fruit salad and plus cheese and crackers.
Home Made Chips
Ingredients
Lebanese bread
Sea Salt
Olive oil
Steps
- Cut bread into chip size triangles (think Doritos).
- Lay in a single layer on a baking tray.
- We sprayed with olive oil and a light sprinkle of sea salt.
- Bake on 180 degrees for 5-8 minutes.
You can also add other flavours or herbs such as rosemary if you wish. When crispy, they are ready, and this really doesn’t take long. We made these the day before and stored in an air tight container. These went down really well with the guests.
Mexican Dip
Ingredients
400g can red kidney beans x 2
400g can diced tomatoes
Taco seasoning
2 x Avocado
Lemon juice
Sour cream
Grated cheese
Fresh tomato
Steps
- Wash and rinse kidney beans and add to blender together with diced tomatoes and taco mix.
- Spread kidney bean mixture evenly over the bottom of your serving dish.
- Either mash the avocado with a good squeeze of lemon juice, or blend in blender if you want a smoother consistency.
- Spread the avocado over the top of the bean mixture.
- Top the avocado with a layer of sour cream.
- Top with grated cheese and fresh tomato.
Hommu
s
Ingredients
2 x 400g cans of chickpeas (reserve some of the liquid)
4 tsp tahini
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp sea salt
6 tbsp olive oil
3 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
Steps
- Rinse chickpeas in cold water and tip into the food processor.
- Add the tahini, crushed garlic, salt, lemon juice and 7 tablespoons of the reserved liquid from the chickpeas.
- Blend and serve.
The nibbles were followed by a typical BBQ lunch and dessert.
Cake/Dessert
I tried something new for the cake this year and made a yoghurt banana cake which I found on taste.com.au. This was iced with Philadelphia icing and topped with fresh flowers. For the flowers I asked my florist to put together an arrangement in the colours I was after. To put them on the cake I cut the stems short and wrapped with foil so they could be pushed into the cake. I was really happy with the way it turned out. The gold ‘One’ was purchased on Ebay. The cake was served with cupcakes and cookies which were made by an amazing friend.
Party Favours
Instead of lolly bags, we sent each family home with a plant, however unfortunately in the craziness of the day I didn’t get a photo, however you can see these hanging above us in the picture below:
I purchased a box of 20 coloured hanging pots off Ebay for $32. We then got a range of different coloured flowers to plant in them. They each had a hand written thank you note tied on with string. They added a great hit of colour to the party and were a nice touch to send home with each guest.