Budget friendly meal for a large crowd

[worm761]

DD's 5th birthday is this weekend. DH would like to have a very casual get together to celebrate. Really just dinner, cupcakes and friends. But we just hosted Thanksgiving, have DD's birthday, and Christmas for both kids coming up. So I would like to keep this gathering on a budget. The kids coming are 2, 3, and 4. So I need something toddler/ preschooler friendly too.

Any suggestions are welcome!

 

[havaneselover]

Ziti casserole, chicken nuggets, Mac and cheese. Throw in some garlic bread. Seems pretty simple.

 

[powellrj]

Pasta is both toddler and budget friendly and would be easy to feed a crowd.

 

[crisi]

And at that age, buttered egg noodles with hot dog octopuses make a huge hit.

(The grown ups at your get together might actually want some ziti with a few links of italian sausage - if you cut up the sausage and put it into the casserole, you can get by with far less than one link per person).

 

[TwoMisfits]

Hot dogs are about as budget friendly as you can get...

You can wrap them in croissants and have cheesy pigs in a blanket, or you can serve them boiled or grilled in buns.

To make the meal a little healthier, I'd grab the seasonal baby clementines (you can pre-peel them ahead of time) and whole pineapples (which you can chop ahead) and make a little yogurt dip for the kids to have with their fruit.

Top it off with pretzels or popcorn and the cupcakes and you are all done for a very cheap and easy night (very little work will have to happen in the party if you preprep the fruit and dip)...

 

[tarheel618]

Personally I would do pasta. Maybe one with red sauce and one buttered.

Hotdogs scare me for their choking risk especially when kids are excited and don't chew them up well.

 

[havaneselover]

Personally I would do pasta. Maybe one with red sauce and one buttered. Hotdogs scare me for their choking risk especially when kids are excited and don't chew them up well.

Yeah I'm with you and neither of mine have ever liked them (they eat plenty of other junk so I never pushed them

 

[TwoMisfits]

Hot dogs are about as budget friendly as you can get...

You can wrap them in croissants and have cheesy pigs in a blanket, or you can serve them boiled or grilled in buns.

To make the meal a little healthier, I'd grab the seasonal baby clementines (you can pre-peel them ahead of time) and whole pineapples (which you can chop ahead) and make a little yogurt dip for the kids to have with their fruit.

Top it off with pretzels or popcorn and the cupcakes and you are all done for a very cheap and easy night (very little work will have to happen in the party if you preprep the fruit and dip)...

I guess since the choking thing came up, I should have mentioned that when I make the cheesy dog croissants, I slice the dogs lengthwise and then widthwise and put 1/4 dog with shredded cheddar per Pillsbury croissant...so the dog is very small and the casing has been split (the big choking risk)...we've served these to family kids 1-2 years old...never a problem...