Birthday Breakfast & Tea

djenks_2

Hi, I'm struggling for inspiration! Its my Sons 12th birthday on Weds and I want to make hime a special Brekfast and tea. We have just come back off holiday so I'm a bit poor at the moment - dose anyone have any menu ideas?

Thanks, Dawn

Queenie

My d11yo thought he was the dogs knee's when I made him egg on toast for his b/day (I don't make cooked breakfasts )

My roasts are pretty "famous", so I always offer them their choice of roast for their b/days. My dd, my dh and my d11yo all lurve lamb (which is pricey!!) and with dd's birthday being New Year's Day and Dh's being Dec 30th it could have been a real nighmare ... had I not resorted to lamb chops/cutlets instead.

As your son has a July b/day, could you do a bbq meal? Or maybe, what we call a "picky tea" ... picky tea is basically little tidbits of all sorts out of the freezer/fridge ... very like a Spanish Tapa's?

Failing that, how about making an ordinary tea but making his favourite sweet treat to round off the meal?

starlite_2

I'm sure he will gladly recieve anything with a smile!

But maybe poached eggs on toast and a big glass of smoothie for breakfast?
Or maybe a spanish omellette with toasted pitta on the side
The key, I'm sure, is in the presentation - spend a bit of time on the layout of the food, and add a few decorations to the tray and any food will become special!

squeaky

Or, if you make some pizza dough (or a basic scone mix if you don't have any yeast) rolled out thinly, but set out little dishes of some of his favourite things (ham, tuna, peppers, corn, whatever)...

..first have a nice time squirting ketchup and tomatoe puree with a few herbs and things into dish and squelching them all around then plastering the rolled out dough(thinly) with it, then adding all the goodies before topping with cheese.

So he gets to choose how much of what goes where. If he likes kitchen stuff he can even give the dough a good bashing before rolling it out.

Twenty minutes in the middle of a preheated oven at gas mark 5 (375F 190C) will do it.

starlite_2

Queenie is right ..kids love things they can pick and choose at, so maybe a buffet of pizzas, corn on the cob, garlic bread, deep-fried bits(brie, chillis, onions etc) and salads and coleslaw etc
but perhaps the best bet is to ask hime what he would like and then try to make it in the cheapest way possible (not forgetting it's a special occasion so splurging a little is all good!)
Damn the old style board has made me feel like a mum of many already, even though my first isn't due for a few months, but the tips have been very useful in childminding etc..so I shouldn't feel too bad, at least I am well prepared!

Queenie

HM burgers are also dead easy (and minced beef is often on the reduced counter in supermarkets) ...

.. just mould the mince into balls and ... flatten! Some people eke it out with breadcrumbs plus an egg.

You can make the burgers "different" and zany by ...

... add a slice of pineapple and a slice of cheese = hawaiian burger (sp?)
... add a teaspoon of chilli powder to the mince = Mexican burger
... add some garlic to the mince, top with brie = Parisian burger
.. wrap the burger in slice of bacon (before cooking) = Danish burger
... look up "Sloppy Joes" via Google = American burger with a twist (?)

You get the idea LOL

henhog

Most kids love spag bol - and you can make a load of it (the bol bit that is) and freeze it for another day. You could do garlic bread to make it more special. Hot dogs and rolls are another fave with all kids, (this one can be mega cheap if you use tinned hotdogs, but slightly bettter ones are often available on BOGOF). Icecream is a good pud for most kids.
For breakfast you could try eggy toast (I think this is also called French Toast) - this can be made with added cinnamon if you have a sweet tooth. Or maybe you could do pancakes - that would be a treat and cheap and easy.
When we were kids we were allowed to pick our own birthday tea - we never wanted dear things, just our faves i.e. sausage and mash, egg and chips! Maybe you could ask him what he would like or if you fear he would ask for something that costs too much, give him some choices.
Good luck.

Chipps

One of our son's favourite birthday dinners was chicken fondue. (If you have or can borrow a fondue set)
Basically you heat up some oil in the pan (we did this on the stove before putting the pan over the heater) then you all cook your own chicken pieces. I used cubed chicken, which I cut up a bit smaller. Then there should be bowls of different flavoured dips to dip the cooked chicken in. The hot oil cooks it through very quickly.
We have done this a couple or more times, and the dips I remember are: a chinese cook-in sauce, a mexican dip, a curry & a cream cheese dip, as well as ketchup. The boys liked this, partly (I suspect) because of the element of danger involved! And it is fun to do.

starlite_2

fondue is also great for dessert..with melted chocolate(and with melted chocolate I find cheapest is better than anything!) and apple/strawberry/orange slices etc.

Prudent

It was my daughter's 13th Birthday in May. I wanted to make her a very fancy breakfast (to cheer her up as it was a school day). After going through a lot of extravagant and/ or exotic options she finally decided she wanted on a whole packet of the wee willie winkie sausages (small sinkless sausgaes) covered in masses of tomato sauce! It didn't cost much as she loved it.

starlite_2

HE HE... yes always remeber kids like simple things when it comes to it..anything fanciful is wasted on them when they'd rather be treated to all out junk food they usualy won't be allowed.