Forget paying through the nose for a store-bought ice cream cake- this is EASY to do! Hats off to Jeanne Winters for adapting an allrecipes.com recipe and sharing her success and her how-to with all of us. THANKS!! Check this ice cream birthday cake out on her blog.

You will need: oreos, 1/4 cup of melted butter, your 9″ springform pan, a jar of hot fudge sauce, chocolate covered graham cookies, 1.5 quarts of chocolate ice cream and 1 quart of complimentary flavor ice cream- cookies and cream, mint chip, your choice. And, room in your freezer for the pan (a real challenge for my overcrowded freezer).

Putting this confection together is, pardon the pun, a piece of cake. Crush 25 of the oreos, mix with the butter and line the bottom of the pan. Stand the cookies around the edge of the pan as the sides of your cake. Cover the cookie bottom with (warmed- so it’s spreadable) hot fudge sauce and freeze for 15 minutes. Soften the chocolate ice cream and add over the hot fudge sauce- freeze again for 30 minutes. Top with scoops of your 2nd flavor ices cream- filling in between the scoops with any ice cream that melted while you’re adding in the scoops. Freeze four hours or overnight and it’s done.

Here’s my favorite part of this recipe- let the kids ‘decorate’ this ice cream cake as one of your party activities. Have colored sugar, assorted sprinkles, even more caramel or chocolate sauce, whipped cream. This is a party after all, not a weight watchers meeting! Give the table a raincoat so that when they miss with the decorations it’s no big deal.

WARNING- this cake creator says it’s really sweet, so thin slices are sufficient!

Not that 2+ quarts of ice cream are cheap these days, but they are WAY less expensive than buying a ready made ice cream birthday party cake. Save a few $ on your kids birthday party food and it will help keep your budget intact with no sacrifice as to quality and fun.

Get in on the building with this adorable kids birthday party food idea for your next Lego themed party. Why should the kids have all the fun? And it’s easy, thanks to great directions from the good folks at Betty Crocker.

It’s a box cake mix with 2 containers of ready made vanilla frosting amended with the gel food coloring in red, yellow and blue to get those strong Lego-like primary colors. 1 cup of frosting for each color- mix these up while your cake bakes. Plus- large marshmallows, cut in half. You’ll use a 13×9″ rectangular pan. While the cake bakes prepare your cake surface from a large cutting board or piece of cardboard, perhaps covered in birthday wrapping paper. With or without the decorative paper, cover this surface tightly in plastic wrap, tightly taped on the reverse side for a smooth surface.

Using a large serrated knife, cut the rounded dome from the top of the baked cake, and discard (or give to the kids for a snack). Flip cake over so the cut side is down and cut it into thirds crosswise, and cut one of the thirds in half to make two squares. Move the pieces to your prepared serving surface.

Crumb coat your cake pieces- meaning cover in a THIN layer of frosting to seal in any crumbs. Make 1 square blue and one white; 1 rectangle red and the other yellow. Set the frosting in the refrigerator or freezer for 1/2 to a full hour.

Add the finish coat of frosting to each cake piece and then finish with the marshmallow halves. Frost 8 of them in red, 8 in yellow, 4 in white and 4 in blue, and place appropriately on the corresponding cake pieces. You’re Done! And your Lego party has the perfect cake that the kids will love. Fun and easy kids birthday party food- Thanks Betty Crocker!

Have some good fun with these ideas for Star wars themed birthday party food. Being a closet trekkie and all things science fiction myself, I truly enjoy these imaginative and edible additions to your Star Wars party decorations! Thanks to mygloss.com for putting them out there for all of us to see.

I have to add my appreciation for the insight that Star Wars is something that appeals across generations to the kids and parents alike. So if your birthday party is multi-generational, perhaps a big family party, this theme might be just the thing for you!

My favorite here would have to be the Carbonite Jello with the Han Solo action figure ‘frozen’ inside. Too funny! The Princess Leia cupcakes are a close second, and shouldn’t be that difficult or time consuming to make. The Oreo hair wraps on the side of each cupcake is inspired. Yoda cookie cutters from Williams Sonoma? Who Knew?

Another take-away here is the inspired signage given to all the food offerings, even those without an obvious Star Wars reference. Vader Potaters, anyone? You can have a lot of fun doing this, get good grins out of the adults and the kids too!

You’ll find ideas for Star Wars inspired party games and additional themed birthday party party food ideas in other posts here, which when combined with these food ideas will give you a fun and funny Star Wars birthday party.

Popcorn is a snacking staple in my house, and it has made an appearance at every kids birthday party we’ve ever had, but I never thought to do popcorn balls! They’re way more fun, prettier when you include a little food coloring, and can actually be a party activity if your hosting a cooking party or something to keep them busy at a sleepover. So my thanks to Nancy Myers for reminding me about popcorn balls in the post over at  LJWorld.com about cooking with kids.

Use your air popper or the microwave popcorn, and even little kids can manage to make popcorn balls without too much help. You should probably be in charge of melting the marshmallows, margarine and corn syrup, but they can do the measuring and some stirring. And since they are in fact a bit messy to make, they’ll love it!

You’ll find a good recipe, at least according to the reviews, for popcorn balls over at allrecipes.com. Ms. Myers in her article does suggest the food coloring, but I’d keep the shades pastel (ie not too much food coloring) so the hands don’t get totally stained.

The kids will make the popcorn balls by shaping the gooey mixture with their hands- the messy/fun part! Have them coat their hands with either vegatable shortening or margarine so the mixture doesn’t stick to them. Have some colored cellophane and curling ribbon to wrap any they don’t eat to take home. And plenty of soap and towels for cleaning up the hands.

I love it when fun birthday party food can actually be a birthday party activity and get the kids having fun being creative in the kitchen. It’s all to the good. You can even just make them with your kids or have them make popcorn balls for the family some home movie night.

Fool them all with these fun ice cream cone cupcakes. PERFECT if you have a cupcake stand to show them off, but even just lined up on the table they look great. And here’s yet another ‘Thank You’ to the folks at Betty Crocker Kitchens for their terrific birthday cupcake ideas.

You’ll need the flat bottom cones, candy like M&M’s that will fit inside the cone, regular sized and mini cupcakes, your colorful icing and sprinkles to finish them off. Although the cupcakes fit perfectly inside the cones in the video, if yours don’t just trim them up so they do fit. A good sharp knife will make fewer crumbs and crumbled cupcakes than a dull one.

If you can’t find or bake mini cupcakes, I’m betting that 1/2 of a regular sized marshmallow will do the trick.

Chocolate, vanilla and strawberry ‘cones’ with appropriate colored frosting will be just right.

With enough frosting, you should be able to stick the right number of birthday candles into one on these cone cupcakes for the birthday child. It might look a bit like a burning porcupine, but then again the whole idea here is an alternative to the traditional birthday cake.

With today’s kids going to a birthday party practically every weekend, a little ‘different’ is a very good thing! So try these ice cream cone cupcakes instead of the ordinary kids birthday party food and make your party stand out from all the others they go to.

Thanks to howdini.com and Betty Crocker Kitchens for this great pancake idea for your next slumber party. Nothing is more fitting for a sleepover party than pancakes – and they can be served either in the evening or the morning to give the kids both something to do and something eat.

From personal experience, if you plan this as a morning activity I’d recommend getting everyone up at least an hour (preferably more) before the scheduled pick up time as they’ll be sleepy and slow until they get going. With some always having a game or something requiring early pick up, doing this in the evening can be a better bet.

The squeeze bottle for the batter is the key to letting your party kids make their own pancakes (assuming they’re old enough). The second important component here is to have a griddle big enough for the kids to gather around so it’s a group activity. Ask around and try to borrow one, or you can buy one for around $20 (as of this writing, at walmart.com) and then have fun with it with your own family’s pancake making after the party.

Your garnishes/decorations will be chocolate chips, blueberries, strawberries, banana circles, and of course whipped cream and syrup. Either set up your laptop and show the kids the video and then turn them loose, or make the pig and initials yourself to get them going. Don’t forget about funny faces with mustaches (bacon or lots of chocolate chips), hats (whipped cream), beards (as for mustaches). Perhaps you can make a face pancake while the kids make their first ones, and then they’ll get the idea.

It’s an extra bonus when your planned birthday party food can also be part of your party activities and help to keep the kids busy, especially when you’ve got them for all the long hours of a slumber party.

How do you tactfully keep within your budget for the birthday party food when parents hang around for the duration of your kids birthday party, and look to snack or eat with the kids? Whether at a party place or at home, you can do it and still be polite.

At a party place like McDonald’s, insure that only enough plates and utensils for the kids are set out in their party room. Pretty clear hint! Since the kids generally play in a space separate from the food and cake, there’s really no option for parents but to pay for their own drinks or whatever they want during the play time.

If bowling or ice/roller skating, casually inform any parents as they arrive that the shoes/skates are included in the party as well as so many bowling games or time on the rink, and that you’ll then be serving the kids hotdogs/pizza whatever you have planned. When its food time, seat the kids and pass out the plates to them, and only them. If there’s food leftover, fine for parents to pick. If not, that’s fine too.

For home based parties it’s a bit trickier but equally doable with tact. Tell any parents that are staying that you’ve put some nibbles for parents on your kitchen counter. Pitchers of water or something inexpensive like home made iced tea or lemonade and a big bowl of pretzels or popcorn, and you’ve solved the problem with minimal expense.

All it takes is a little planning and you’ve got your birthday party food budget well in hand even if you have extra parental mouths looking to nibble on the kids birthday party food.

When it comes to feeding the birthday party guests, the first birthday party food that seems to come to everyone’s mind is pizza. Something the kids eat all the time- at home, at school. So it’s not exactly exciting party fare.

Tacos are easy, not a budget breaking expense, and fun for the kids to make their own. If you can chop tomatoes, shred (or cut into ‘strings’) lettuce, buy Mexican cheese, ground beef, the seasoning packets, salsa, and the taco shells, you’re all set. Add in the sour cream and the guacamole if your so inclined and it’s in your budget, but you can just as easily skip them both.

Speaking of guacamole, I’ve discovered an easy and quick way to make it. Mash up your ripe and ready Haas avacado and stir in as much medium spiced fresh (ie refrigerated, not bottled) salsa, and you’ll have a tasty guacamole.

Set out your taco ingredients on your food table all in all line so the kids can follow each other down your table and put their tacos together as they like them. This will take them some time, so don’t rush them. Anything that uses up a few more minutes of your party time is always a good thing!

Keep your birthday party food healthy and add to your table  some melon slices, grapes, or other fruit of your choice. And instead of soda try this delicious sounding Virgin sangria recipe- all their favorite fruit juices + fresh fruit that makes magic in your frig as it all melds together for a yummy drink the kids will love.

Just as pizza doesn’t require an Italian theme at your party, tacos and virgin sangria doesn’t only go with a Mexican themed party- it works as one of the great and easy birthday party foods at any kids birthday party. It just tends to get forgotten as an option when you’re focused on all the other parts of putting together a great party, so I’m happy to remind you how easy they are to prepare and serve.

Those lovely rotisserie chickens at your supermarket make a wonderful dinner but also wonderful party food for your slumber party girls. We get 2 for $10 every Friday, and just had a delightful meal. The second one I stripped all the meat from the bones and it will become chicken wraps for a boat picnic I’m hosting tomorrow.  And that got me thinking about how well those wraps would work at a slumber party when you never know how or when they’re going to get good and hungry.

Supply them with several good and ripe avocados and a container of delicious salsa to make their own guacamole. A cutting board, a dish, a spoon or whatever to mach the avocado, and a few lemon slices completes the necessities. A bowl of pita or tortilla chips to dip in the guacamole, but it’s also terrific as a chicken topper in the wraps.

Instead of lettuce, give them some washed sprouts and introduce the girls to a new food while you’re at it. Put the wraps out and some shredded Mexican cheese and they’ve got everything they need to make a delicious wrap sandwich. Some mayo for the less adventurous and you’ve got all the bases covered.

All this Mexican type food makes me want a glass of Sangria, and this non-alcoholic Sangria recipe would be the perfect accompaniment to your Mexican Chicken wraps. Put it in pitchers or a punch bowl and watch it disappear.

With a quick trip to the food market, a rotisserie chicken and a few avocados plus a container of premade salsa, you’ve just put out a spread to keep your sleepover girls full and satisfied. Some juice and fruit and you’ve got the drinks covered too. Birthday party food is rarely this easy.

These have to be the easiest yet the funnest dinosaur birthday cupcakes that you can make to serve at your preschool dinosaur birthday party. Here’s a shout out to all the creative people at Disney Family Fun. They’d also be great to send to school for a birthday or just about any other celebration that calls for cupcakes.

You probably need to make your cupcakes rather than use store bought ones in order to get the ‘grass’ to adhere – the fresher the icing the better adhesion you’ll get. But with a box mix, making the cupcakes just doesn’t take very long.

Dyed shredded coconut will be your grass. Just place the coconut in a plastic bag along with some liquid green food coloring and give it a few shakes. Grass is now done and ready to be placed on top of your white or brown frosted cupcakes.

Top with washed plastic dino’s from the store. That’s all there is to it! Very easy birthday party food for your next dinosaur party.

Family Fun also has a great idea for brachiosaurus hats you can make out of large sized construction paper for all your guests. (Scroll part way down the page linked to above to find the hats.) The only thing other than the paper that you’ll need to buy are googly eyes from the craft store to make these hats extra fun for the kids. I’d suggest you have them all assembled ahead of time, fitting the bands to children’s heads and stapling them together upon arrival. The hats will get everybody in ‘dino mode’ and ready to participate in your planned activities.