A successful baby shower starts with the right food!
One of the main parts of planning a successful baby shower is serving food that is tasty and convenient to eat. You can have the food catered or order deli trays from your local supermarket. or if you like to cook and have the time you can plan to prepare the food yourself. We have put together a list of several food ideas to serve at your baby shower that are easy to prepare as well as tasty and easy to eat.
Cheese Tray Ideas
What type of baby shower you are planning and where will it be held? If it is a casual party at someone's home then plan to serve food that is easy to handle and not too messy. If the guests will have to hold their plates in their laps then you do not want to serve food that is too messy to eat. If there will be tables set up for the guests to sit at then you can be a little more adventurous with the food.
Chips & Dip - choose from tortilla chips with salsa, guacamole, bean dip, and sour cream or a variety of potato chips with onion dip and ranch dip.
Spinach Dip - serve with raw vegetables, crackers, toast rounds, and/or pita triangles.
Spinach Artichoke Dip - add 1-14 oz. can of artichokes (drained & chopped) to the spinach dip.
Seafood Spinach Dip - add ½ cup crab meat (the imitation seafood legs work well too, make sure to shred them before adding to mixture). You can use either the spinach or artichokes or you can omit both.
Hummus with pita chips, toast rounds, celery and carrot sticks.
Pita Chips - you could buy pre-made pita chips but it is so easy to make them and they taste 10 times better. You can make them a couple of days before the baby shower and store them in an airtight container. There are tons of seasoning varieties you could use, let your imagination go wild!
Toast Rounds - Get a couple of loaves of crusty bread such as Italian and slice into ¼ inch slices (baguettes work really well because they are the perfect diameter). Brush with olive oil or melted butter. You can season the oil or butter with a little bit of garlic and/or kosher salt or whatever seasonings you want to use. Bake, cool, and store as above for pita chips.
Vegetable, Cheese, and Fruit Platters:
You can order these from your local deli but they are so easy to make and can be simple or elegant depending on how you arrange the vegetables and what you use for the tray. You can use decorative glass platters, bamboo wood cutting boards, and tiles. Floor tiles make beautiful display trays for platters and they are inexpensive. Your local hardware or floor store will have a great selection of tiles to choose from. Black marble, white tiles, or any decorative tile will work. Buy the 8x8 or 12x12 size, depending on how big your platters will be.
Vegetable Platters - buy a variety of vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, zucchini, yellow squash, celery, cherry tomatoes, button mushrooms, etc. Wash vegetables and cut into bite-size pieces. You can line the tray with large romaine lettuce leaves making sure to leave some edges of the tray showing. Arrange vegetables on tray in a cascading style starting with a large base of vegetables and working your way up like a pyramid. You can also place a bowl of vegetable dip in the center of the tray and arrange the vegetables around it. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve. This can be made a day in advance. Serve with ranch dressing, green goddess dip, onion dip, etc.
Cheese Platters - buy a variety of cheeses such as cheddar, Colby, Swiss, havarti, gouda, etc. Cut into bite-size pieces and arrange as above on decorative trays. You can get really creative with this and cut the cheese into different shapes such as squares, triangles, etc. or use mini cookie cutter shapes. If you can find baby related cookie cutters that's even better. Serve with a variety of crackers and toast rounds.
Fruit Platters - Buy a variety of fruits such as melons, berries, grapes, oranges, kiwi, etc. (don't use apples or bananas since they do not hold up well). Cut into chunks, slices, and/or decorative shapes and arrange as above. Serve alone or with a refreshing yogurt fruit dip.
Salads - chicken or turkey salad, tuna salad, and/or egg salad can be served on a decorative tray lined with lettuce leaves and served with crackers, toast rounds, pita bread, and/or small rolls. Make sure to place these salads on ice or serve in small portions and refill as necessary. Pasta salads and antipasto salads are other tasty and easy dishes to prepare.
Appetizers -
Stuffed Mushrooms
Deviled Eggs
Spinach & Feta Triangles
Pigs in a Blanket
Cocktail Meatballs
Chicken Fingers
Wraps & Finger Sandwiches -
Make a variety of wraps and sandwiches or make a cold cut and cheese platter with small rolls, breads, and condiments on the side.
Hopefully these ideas will help you throw a successful baby shower with food that is not only tasty but convenient for your guests to eat. Your guests as well as the guest of honor will be so impressed by the effort you made to make her baby shower a tasty experience!