Kids Birthday Party Recipes Menu Ideas

List of Indian food ideas for kids birthday party recipes menu at home / vegetarian food items list for birthday party dinner & Lunch – Organizing Children’s birthday party is really a challenging task for parents. Some people love to conduct an elaborate dinner or lunch party and some prefer to make a simple tea party by just providing cake and snacks based on their budget.

Planning a kids’ birthday party can be tricky, especially for beginners. Whether it’s a simple snack party or a full lunch/dinner, choosing the cake, menu, and decorations can feel overwhelming. Most people prefer a vegetarian menu, especially when hosting a mix of vegetarian and non-vegetarian guests. The food should be attractive, kid-friendly, and at least somewhat healthy, appealing to both kids and adults.

Inspired by a friend’s party, I’ve shared a list of Indian vegetarian party menu ideas for kids, with both South and North Indian recipes. Non-vegetarians can adapt these ideas by adding chicken, mutton, or eggs. I also got some great suggestions from my friend Shalini, who lives in the US and often attends potlucks and get-togethers. You can adjust this menu based on your budget, and whether you cook at home or buy from restaurants. Jain food options (without onion and garlic) are also included. Check out my post on simple birthday party menu.

 I have also got some menu ideas from my school moms friends. With the help of this list, you can decide the party menu based on your budget. You can cook the food on your own or buy from outside/ restaurants. You can also opt to make Jain food without using onion and garlic.

All these pictures shared in this post are the ones I collected for years. The picture given below is the simple decoration I made at home for Raksha’s birthday party.

Ingredients for Kids Birthday Party Recipes

I have categorized this birthday party recipes list as Starters/Appetizers, Main course, Dessert, Drinks & Beverages that are suitable and loved by kids from 3 to 10 years. Basically kids love to have foods based on tomato, paneer, sweet corn, cauliflower, baby corn, bread, cheese and fruits. So I have given most of the dishes using these ingredients. These recipes would be surely a winner among the kids. 

Friends, do make your own permutations and combinations according to your kids preferences and frame the party menu. Hope you all find this list useful. Do leave a few words in the comment section and help me with your suggestions for more recipes and a few words of appreciation to motivate me if you find this post helpful. Ok, lets move on to the list of birthday party menu ideas ! Friends, do help me by sharing your thoughts and more recipes to include in this list.

In the above picture, you can find a sample of simple snacks party and the lunch party menu. If you are inviting kids without parents, you can give a simple party by giving a drink, starter/snacks, cake and a dessert. Finger foods is the best option for kids below 10 years. Skip the main course. To make it even more simple, you can just finish it with cake & samosa or veg puffs.  If you are inviting adults/parents, then you can go for wider options. Birthday party should be more of fun, hassle free and memorable. So you can arrange for small games, magic shows, music, dance to make the party more interesting.

Do refer my Simple birthday menu post to get some ideas on how to conduct the party & gifting for kids. I have also shared a sample menu at the end of this post to get some idea. Also check out my Indian potluck party recipes menu if interested.

Drinks/ Beverages/Welcome Drinks For Kids Birthday Party

• Tomato soup
• Sweet corn soup
• Rose milk
• Badam Kheer
• Lemon juice
• Orange juice
• Mango juice
• Aerated drinks / Rasna
• Any fresh juice
• Flavored milkshakes
• Smoothie
• Tender coconut water
• Hot chocolate
• A bottle of squash – Keep it handy incase you want to make more drinks.
• Water

Kids Birthday Party Starter/Appetizer/ Snacks

• French Fries
• Potato wedges
• Potato smiley
• Potato chips
• Potato croquets
• Cheese sticks
• Vegetable cutlet
• Dhokla
• Khandvi with green chutney
• Vegetable puffs
• Masala cashew fry
• Samosa
• Onion samosa
• Cashew pakoda
• Onion pakoda
• Vegetable pakoda
• Baby corn 65
• Gobi 65/Cauliflower fry
• Paneer 65
• Gobi manchurian
• Baby corn manchurian
• Soya chunks manchurian
• Samosa pinwheels
• Masala papad
• Bhel puri
• Aloo puri
• Sev puri
• Pav bhaji
• Onion bajji
• Potato pakora/Bajji
• Bread pakora
• Baked idli fry
• Idli fry
• Idli manchurian
• Bread sticks
• Hara bhara Kabab
• Aloo tikki/ burger patties
• Tortilla with salsa
• Garlic bread
• Bread butter jam toast
• Fried momo
• Steamed momo with sauce
• Corn cheese balls
• Falafel
• Canapes ( Potato, veggies, boiled chana or paneer filling)
• Mini spring roll or cut spring roll into bite sized pieces
• Sabudana vada
• Masala vada
• Dahi vada/ South Indian Thayir vada
• Sweet corn vada
• Vada pav
• Potato bonda
• Mysore bonda
• Potato Paneer bonda
• Mangalore bonda
• Buttered cup corn
• Bread bonda/ Bread roll
• Cup cake/Muffins
• Cookies / biscuits
• Chocolates / Vegan chocolate

Main course For Birthday Party Menu

• Poori with chana masala or potato masala
• Chana bhatura
• Mini idli sambar
• Idli with chutney & sambar
• Mini masala dosa
• Mini uthappam or soft dosa with tomato chutney
• Vegetable Kathi roll
• Frankie (vegetable, potato or paneer)
• Roti or naan with paneer butter masala/ potato kurma/Paneer makhani/ Dum aloo / malai kofta
• Aloo paratha
• Paneer paratha
• Stuffed Kulcha
• Mini Pizza or pizza slice/ Cheese pizza with simple toppings
• White sauce pasta or tomato pasta ( Kids love white sauce pasta)
• Mac & cheese
• Mini burger
• Pancake
• Waffles
• Easy Garlic bread
• Sandwich ( Raw, mayo, white sauce sandwich, corn & cheese sandwich cut into quarters)
• Veg Noodles ( Hakka noodles)
• Veg Fried rice
• Paneer fried rice
• Tawa pulao
• Veg pulao with raita
• Corn pulao
• Paneer pulao / biryani
• Kashmiri pulao
• Peas pulao
• Coconut milk pulao
• Semiya/Vermicelli pulao
• Ghee rice with veg kurma or paneer gravy
• Jeera rice with paneer butter masala
• Veg biryani ( make it less spicy)
• Baby potato biryani
• Bisibelebath / sambar sadam
• Lemon rice, tomato rice
• Curd rice
• Plain rice with dal & rasam , curd

Salad Recipes

• Sweet corn salad
• Mixed Fruit salad
• Kosambari
• Vegetables with dip/ hummus
• Fruits on skewers

Dessert Recipes For Kids Birthday Party

• Birthday Cake
• Ice cream in small cups
• Carrot halwa
• Badam halwa
• Moong dal halwa
• Gulab jamun
• Rasagulla
• Ras malai ( Serve in small cups)
• Fruit custard
• Fresh fruit cream
• Mixed fruit salad ( use apple, banana, mango, musk melon, orange)
• Semiya payasam/Vermicelli kheer
• Fine vermicelli kheer
• Rice kheer or sabudana kheer
• Falooda
• milk kulfi
• Shrikand  or mishti doi in small cups ( I guess kids below 10 don’t like this)
• Fruit chaat
• Brownie with ice cream
• No bake cheesecake
• Hot chocolate fudge
• Frozen banana/ Frozen strawberry
• Bread stick dipped in Nutella with sprinklers on top
• Jelly

Sample menu for simple birthday party

• Orange juice
• A slice of Birthday cake
• Mini samosa with ketchup or Veg puffs or Cashew pakoda or Veg cutlet
• Gulab Jamun

Sample menu for Dinner or Lunch party buffet

• Any aerated drink or Fruit punch for welcome drink
• Tomato soup OR Sweet corn soup
• French fries or aloo tikki or Kebab with tomato sauce/green chutney
• Gobi manchurian
• Roti / Butter Naan / Kulcha
• Paneer butter masala or Mixed veg gravy
• Dal tadka
• Dum aloo or baby potato gravy
• Veg Dum Biryani OR Veg Pulao with Raita
• Plain rice, rasam, fryums
• Curd and pickle
• Gulab jamun
• Carrot halwa
• Ice cream
• Fruit salad
• Paan/ Beeda

POINTS TO NOTE

• Pastries are better than the cream cakes. So choose the cake accordingly.
• Make less spicy food as you are cooking for kids. Parents will adjust/ compensate about the taste.
• Kids prefer deep fried foods for starters. Gobi 65 or manchurian is the best choice.
• They love the food more if its cheese, paneer and potato based.
• Kids love to have poori more than roti.
• Most of the kids love paneer butter masala and potato, peas kurma more than mixed vegetable kurma.
• Always keep some plain rice, dal and rasam to tackle fussy kids.
• If you arrange for dinner party, make some idli too.
• Its always better to avoid aerated drinks like pepsi, 7up etc. You can give some fruit juices instead. No problem even if its store bought.
• Gulab jamun would be the best dessert for Kids. No kid would say NO.
• Ice cream is also a must for kids.
• Keep some hot water ready. Many kids are allergic to cold stuffs like ice cream , chocolate and cakes. So you can tell the parents to give them hot water immediately after they eat ice cream/chocolates to prevent from cold, fever. I am sure this tip works.
• Finally, do not force your kids to eat everything in the plate. Most of the kids love to eat the cake, starter and dessert. Do not worry about it. Parents can feed them later at their house if needed.

Hope this list helps you to decide the party recipes menu quickly. Thanks for visiting this page !