A party bar (sometimes called a food station) would make any party instantly more festive, and less stressful for the hostess. With a food party bar, guests can make their own dish according to their tastes… extra marshmallows, no problem… don’t like olives, no biggie.
16 Party Bar Ideas
Food statoins work well at any event birthday parties, graduation parties or even a simple dinner party with friends.
Main course party bar ideas
1. Nachos
Who doesn’t love nachos? With a nacho bar, you set everything out and let guests decide what they want piled on top of their crunchy corn chips. Plus, you can use the punny phrase “This is nacho your average party!”
2. Pizza
3. Burrito bowls
4. Mashed Potatoes
Who doesn’t love mashed potatoes?
5. Pasta
Breakfast ideas
6. Oatmeal
7. Cereal
How cure are the plastic buckets filled with cereal and the empty milk carton filled with crepe paper flowers? Plus, who doesn’t love cereal?
8. Biscuit Bar
9. Yogurt
10. Crepes
Desserts
12. S’mores
Drinks & Snacks
15. Root beer floats
16. Hot chocolate
17. Trail Mix
Any one of these ideas would be fun for a simple gathering at home or you could combine a few ideas for a bigger event. My friend, Katy, hosts dinner at her house and she always does a “make your own_______” theme. I love it! We’ve done nachos, fajitas, and pizza so far! Do you have a make your own ________ buffet? What are other good meals to do this with?
Here are 24 more fun food station ideas:
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We do a stir-fry bar for our family of 6 nearly every night. We change up the options, but mainstays include chicken, ham, tofu, sausage, potatoes, baby corn, spinach, and various other veggies, eggs, and a variety of sauces. We give everyone a bowl, let them put their protein and veggies in, we stir-fry it and they pick a sauce. They have a choice of putting it on a tortilla, rice or noddles. Cooking for a huge party would take forever, but it works well for our family to be able to get the kids to eat what they won’t normally eat. A HUGE one is the tofu, as well as spinach.
I like this… wait I LOVE THIS A LOT! I am thinking about a taco bar. A MAJORDOMO TACO BAR! I am inspired all because I chanced upon this awesome post! Serendipity at it’s finest!
So do I, I like the taco bar. Ahaha.
I love the idea of a trail mix bar. It is so unique! I had never heard of it before. Setting up a trail mix bar is perfect for a country western/ rustic party theme. I love the inspiration!
One of my favourite party bar is a brunch bar. I have a big family and usually to feed everyone the quickest way we have a do it yourself wrap station with scrambles eggs, ham, cheese, mushrooms, peppers, etc. and we have a bunch of sauces 🙂 we also offer a do it yourself fruit salad station 🙂 thank you so much for all the other ideas! they are quite inspiring!
I’ve done a chili bar. Served regular chili with cheese, onion, mashed potatoes, spaghetti (Chicago style chili), and crackers. Was a great party for cold weather. If I had more slow cookers I would have made white chili or a vegetarian option. Most of my friends are omnivores, though, so that would have only been for variety.
I do a lot of themed bar ideas for my entertaing. One night though I wanted a potluck style theme, so I called it ‘garbage salad night’I asked all my friends to bring whatever they had in their crispers, fridge or pantry to throw in the salad! I provided the big bowl of lettuce, the many random bottles of dressing i had in mt fridge, and homemade bread. Everyone loved it! No one bought anything new!!!
I love this lists! Found it on pinterest;)
Yay! Glad you found it 🙂
I ran these idea’s by my 10 year old daughter and she wants to have a Nacho Bar at her Candyland Party birthday party. I think it’s a great idea but is there a need to have any additional item’s? I ask because my daughter would also like to add in a mini burger bar. How was your party set-up, did you offer additional food items?
I had a quesadilla station at a fiesta themed party I threw several years ago. In addition to all of the typical ingredients (grilled peppers, sautéed onions, a variety of meat, etc) I also had atypical ingredients such as goat cheese, fresh figs, etc. Make sure to include a variety of toppings, such as salsas, sour cream, avocado slices, BBQ sauce, etc. I had several electric griddles plugged in and it made it soo easy. It was a huge hit. I’ve also done a shish kabob party with shrimp, marinated beef, marinated chicken, bell peppers, pineapple, mushrooms, tomatoes, etc. Everyone put their own skewers together to be cooked on the grill. Also a hit-as long as there is plenty of grill space and snacks to munch on while waiting for your skewer to be done. 🙂
I’m loving all of these ideas! I’m doing a chili bar for my daughters birthday on Sunday. I’m making 2 different chilis: a traditional with beef and beans and then a white chicken option. For toppings I’ve got: doritos, fritos, black bean/ roasted garlic tortilla chip, goldfish crackers, oyster crackers, pepperjack cheese, sharp cheddar cheese, monteray jack cheese, sour cream, white onions, green onions, and three different hot sauces. We live in IL so the weather is a bit suspect this time of year so I wanted something that people would still be able to eat while milling around the house if we can’t be outside.
We had a chili bar. We made a big pot of chili and then put out lots of fixin’s – shredded cheese, sour cream, fritos, salsa, hot sauce, rice, pasta, corn bread, onions. Then we made a big salad and put out some clementines. It was a hit.
We have done an omelet bar at my house. We take zip lock baggies and crack 2 eggs in each. I have all kinds of veggies chopped up in their own containers. we go around and put in what we like. Zip it up and drop the baggie in boiling water, in about 2 – 3 ,minutes (depending on how much stuff you add you have fluffy omelets ! of course squish the eggs around and add a slash of milk salt & pepper ! easy and no clean up.
So many great party ideas