Meal Ideas for Princess Party (Or Cheap Catering)

I went to a party that served sandwiched that were shaped like fish (little mermaid theme). The mom just made sandwiched and then cut them with a cookie cutter. The adults might like chicken salad in half pitas. You could make and stuff them ahead or let them do there own. You could garnish them with a thin slice of apple to make them look fancy. Or make some other sort of sandwich and use a fancy toothpick to stick then together. Serve with grapes or apple slices or something you can prepare ahead of time and pull out of a ziploc. I also like to serve La Madelines tomato soup which is good and easy to do ahead of time. You could just keep it warm in a crock pot. Hot soup always makes you feel full.

I've just been buying 1lb each of three different lunch meats (I roll them myself) and 2 types of cheeses, the hawiian king rolls, cheese sticks for the kids, grapes or peeled oranges, maybe a small veggie tray, chips and plenty of Capri Sun drinks.
Many have followed me in that menu and it now very popular in the party circle I am in.
Hope this helps.

How about soft tacos? Just set all the ingredients out and let everyone make their own/their child's as specifically as we know kids can be. (by the way, there is nothing wrong with a chicken nugget soft taco...Tyson has bags full of good heat & serve nuggets...the Market Pantry brand at Target is good, too. Tacos don't have to be the spicy Mexican style that send some kids running. Plus, moms would love having some low carb wraps.)
Also, there is nothing easier than cupcakes rather than a whole birthday cake. My mom has a pretty stand, but we have also done things like cupcake caterpillars or ladybugs or using different colors of frosting to make a whole tablescape of cupcake shapes like clouds (groups of white cupcakes,) butterflies, flowers (one cc is center & 3 in a line make each petal,) etc. Best of all, no one is stuck slicing cake & handing out plates.
Good luck, and have fun!

Subway!! You can get the extra long party subs and their prices aren't bad. We've been to a lot of parties where they just grilled hamburgers and hot dogs... At WalMart they have cutters for sandwiches and I just bought a heart (2 hearts, side by side, so it cuts the sandwich in half). You could make sandwiches and use that to cut them (I think it was $2) to make them cute for your princess. :D
Another idea is we rented a cotton candy machine from Sky Pirates and EVERYONE went crazy for it!! I think we made about 200 cotton candy things. It was $50. Definately worth it! LOL

How about some trays of baked ziti that you make the day before and put in the oven before the party? Easy to make and a crowd pleaser. I hosted my Keno group's x'mas party. 22 ladies! They loved the ziti and I got to have fun. I put sausage in mine.
Good luck!
E.

I took my daughter to the Let's pretend tea party, and they served her Chocolate soup (pudding) and princess sandwiches, (PB &J's cut in half and put sprinkels on one side of the sandwich) and fruit kabobs. All this is make a head, the sandwiches I'd make the day before. For the adults Spaghetti or any pasta dish, just make the sauce ahead of time (or just use Prego)and then all you have to do is boil noodles, get bag salad. Hope this helps.

I really think that the chicken nugget platters from Chick-Fil-A are really reasonable. We did that for a party with the kids and it was a hit. I threw together a salad and fruit salad myself and cooked some Ore Ida waffle fries. You could also try the sub sandwiches by the foot from Wal-mart. They are REALLY cheap and you could do easy side dishes with it. Also, depending on your budget, Olive Garden's pans of lasagna are great. We had a big party last year of about 45 people and I ordered two trays of lasagna and two trays of chicken parm and they were really awesome and it wasn't that expensive.

I know you said you didn't want to do pizza bc it got expensive. But Little Ceasars has good sized pizzes for $5 each. Pizza is easiest for me, forgot cooking! hah