Budget Friendly Party Foods for Teen Parties

By Joan Whetzel

Your teenaged son or daughter is having a party for their birthday, a sports team’s winning ways, or graduation. Decorations and entertainment can be done on a budget. But how do you feed a bunch of hungry teens – without breaking the bank? Try these tips for food preps that are budget friendly and kid pleasing.

Where to Shop

Let’s discuss purchasing the food and ingredients to make those party goodies. First off, if you’re not a coupon clipper, it may be worth the effort to spend a few minutes clipping coupons for some of the party foods, sauces, dip mixes, and paper products. Every little bit of savings helps. Second, when purchasing paper products (paper plates, plastic eating utensils, plastic cups, garbage bags, paper towels), buy in bulk. A package of 200 paper plates costs a lot less per plate than several packages of 25 or 50 plates. Finally, make use of stores like Wal-Mart, Sam’s club, or Costco. You can buy many of the necessary food items in bulk. Things like huge packages of chicken wings and chicken nuggets, large bags of chips, and huge multi-packs of sodas. Buying at the warehouse price can save you big, especially if you expect a large crowd of teenagers.

Menu Items

If the crowd of teens is small (4 to 6 kids), throw a pizza making party. Buy Pillsbury pizza crust (dairy section of the grocery store), Ragu Pizza Quick Sauce or your favorite pizza sauce (spaghetti sauce aisle), several packages of grated mozzarella (or parmesan, or sliced provolone), and whatever toppings the kids might like. Toppings might include: mushrooms, onions, green and red bell peppers, sliced black olives, pepperoni, or Canadian bacon. Then let the kids throw the pizza together themselves. You don’t have to wait for the delivery guy, it costs a bit less than buying it already made, and everybody gets the slice(s) of pizza they want.  By the way, many grocery stores these days also sell round pizza pans in their kitchen wares department.

Other party foods that can be adjusted to feed any sized crowd of teenagers includes the following:

1.      tortilla wrap ups (see recipe below)

2.      chicken nuggets and dips – ketchup, honey, honey mustard, barbecue sauce

3.      veggies and dips – honey mustard or ranch dip