Hellobee Boards

We go overboard with food. Here is what we typically have - hot dogs with chili, nachos, jambalaya (order from a local restaurant), potato salad (made by family), fruit tray, bags of single serve chips, pork and chicken grilled by my husband, and sometimes finger sandwiches (made by my sister) plus the cake and ice cream. We like food and the party typically lasts all day.

I hate entertaining but this works for us.

You could totally get away with crock pot chili (or just stove top chili) and serve it with lots of fixins'. People can easily eat it with a spoon standing up.

I went to a first birthday party recently and they served potato salad, a mixed green salad, pulled pork sliders with the pork in a crock pot, and some cut up fruits. I went to another party that had us make our own tacos (carne asada or chicken) with all the toppings and then sides of rice, beans and chips.

What about a few crockpots filled with different soups and chilis? Then you can have a bunch of large cups and people can just get tastings of what they want?

I'm with you on the cooking = stress, haha. I'd rather run around with the kids and mingle with adults than worry about preparing food! It's very common around here to just cater, even for small parties.

So far I've seen catered sandwiches with homemade crockpot soup, catered Thai food, catered Mediterranean food, and catered Hawaiian/fusion food. Also have seen catered Chipotle which is basically a make your own bowl type of thing and that went over very well.

I would probably do soup or bbq in crockpots like pp said, but brunch is easy too. Mini bagels, cream cheese, fruit salad, frozen mini quiches, sausage.
Or lasagna. Make ahead or buy frozen, plus garlic bread and salad.
If you do soup in crockpots maybe one cream based (baked potato, broccoli cheese) and one broth based (chicken noodle, beef and veg) plus some cracker and cheese platters, veggie and fruit trays, and little rolls.