<p>I’m not the most creative hostess so I’m struggling to put together a menu for the graduation party. I’m ok with the dinner food since I’m having most of it delivered. I’d like some decent snacks though for the kids who will come and go, but necessarily eat a meal. Something more substantial than chips and pretzels, but still in the grab and eat variety.</p>
<p>Any suggestions?</p>
<p>I posted a similar question last year for an after prom event. The best idea was chicken breast wrapped in bacon. You cube chicken breast (not tiny but just one-bite size), wrap in bacon, secure with toothpick, dredge the whole thing in brown sugar, and bake until the bacon is done. The guys especially loved those.</p>
<p>This one is inelegant, but very popular: Pigs in blankets. Take Pillsbury crescent rolls (uncooked), cut each piece of dough in 3-4 triangles, wrap each around a little smokey sausage, bake until the roll is done, serve on a platter with catsup and mustard. Again, not elegant, but they disappear quickly.</p>
<p>+1 for the inelegant “Pigs in the blanket”. We didn’t even offer the dip and they disappeared immediately.</p>
<p>You can also do pigs in a blanket (en croute) with kosher hot dogs, mini or regular size. Dilled shrimp: mix together cooked shrimp, dried dill weed, salt, pepper, thinly sliced red onion, mayo and sour cream. Marinate for awhile (several hours) serve with crackers. (exact quantities of everything to taste). Hummus with veggies and/or pita. Baby meatballs with barbeque sauce…or you can get fancy and make a sauce with the bbque sauce, grape jelly, garlic powder and ginger.</p>
<p>This snack gets eaten up immediately and is simple to make if you have the ingredients on hand:</p>
<p>Lay out small pita breads on a cookie sheet, smear with a little pesto, sprinkle over sun-dried tomatoes (the kind packed in oil, drained), goat cheese, walnuts, just a little bit of each. Bake at 450 for 8-10 minutes until the bread is a little crispy. Enjoy! You can also use the larger pita bread; cut in quarters after baking to serve.</p>
<p>Instead of pesto, I’ve been using the kind of basil that comes in a tube - it’s in the produce section by the rest of the herbs at my grocery store.</p>
<p>But if you use pesto in a dish where it isn’t obvious, please put out a little warning sign for the nut-allergic.</p>
<p>Good point about the nuts, missypie. The basil-in-a-tube stuff doesn’t have pine nuts so it’s a good general substitute for pesto. The walnuts can be left off the pita bites as well (but they’re soooo good when toasted!)</p>
<p>I’m always fine with people serving food with nuts as long as they are visible -a walnut half sitting on top of something is certainly fair warning. And I think every nut allergic person is wary of desserts. It’s more difficult when there is pesto in the pasta salad, for example…is that green stuff parsly or pesto or what? Or spread on a sandwich, as most people don’t pry sandwiches apart in the buffet line.</p>
<p>Buy some wooden skewers and thread on fresh strawberries, fresh melon balls or chunks, fresh pineapple chunks. They look really pretty spread out on a platter. (I have also seen the skewers inserted into an inverted watermelon half, but I tried it once and had trouble keeping the skewers standing up).</p>
<p>This gives you a vegetarian option, a healthy option, and it is easy to serve. We had them at my son’s grad party and it was a big hit, especially with the girls.</p>
<p>chips, pretzels, hot wings and potato skins aren’t fancy, but they are easy to grab and go great with beer.</p>
<p>Or soda pop</p>
<p>We are doing the fruit skewers for S’s grad party - I found short skewers - like 4 inches or so - perfect for 4 ish chunks of fruit.</p>
<p>Agreed with the pigs in a blanket - all ages will snarf them up!</p>
<p>I also made chocolate covered strawberries recently to bring to a few parties. They were very easy to do, but they got a “wow” factor because they look pretty and everyone loves eating them. I dipped them in dark chocolate and drizzled with white chocolate.</p>
<p>Had to check out the “recipe” for the chicken/bacon combo - those sounds YUMMY! Do you use like a 1/2 piece of bacon or less? You must bake at 400ish for the bacon to cook quickly. I’m wanting to try this idea…</p>
<p>This is the bacon wrapped chicken recipe I’ve used: [Sweet</a> Chicken Bacon Wraps Recipe : Paula Deen : Food Network](<a href=“http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/sweet-chicken-bacon-wraps-recipe/index.html]Sweet”>http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/sweet-chicken-bacon-wraps-recipe/index.html)</p>
<p>It disappears very quickly!</p>
<p>If you do pigs in the blanket, you can buy a pack of veggie dogs and you will be beloved by any vegetarian who is in attendance.</p>