If you have the time make some of the things yourself such as chicken sticks and burgers. The flavour will be nicer than premade and usually much cheaper.

Snags on the bbq, salads, fruit platters and maybe a bag of chips

For such a great number of people I would keep it very simple. Hotdogs with bread, a plate of fried onions, some vegetable kebabs, potato’s in foil, salads, fruit platter etc

I lovbe doing colourful chicken kebabs with onion,mushroom and capisicum!

Potatoe bake, fried rice, coleslaw, garden salad, Greek salad, seafood salad, bread rolls,.
Marinated chicken pieces, kebabs, steak & sausages.

hot dogs! get your relatives chip in

Lots of potatoe salad, pasta salad, greek salad.
You can prepare all this in advance!

Sausages in bread! Everyone loves a sausage in bread!
Slice potatoes & cook them as flat chips.
Sizzle steak is another cheap option.
You could also go into your local butcher & ask for a quote on a meat pack for the desired amount of people.
Don’t forget your side dishes as well! Salad, potato salad, chips & dip, carrot sticks, etc.
As an adult I find 1 sausage in bread, 1 piece of sizzle steak in a sandwich with salad & a handful of chips is a very filling meal at a birthday party.
Good luck & happy birthday to your wee one.

We have always asked people to bring their own drinks for 1st birthdays and a plate of food. This is instead of a gift as one year olds do not care. Mainly just have fun and do not stress out too much.

I make cucumber snakes, slice the cucumber and join together again with nut butter in one slice and cream cheese on next, then if you want to create a head use pretzil sticks for feelers and olives for eyes., I also use celery with cream cheese and diced ham on top in bite size pieces, both reasonably priced. FOR MEATS I USE ABOUT 1KG MINCE, 1KG SAUSAGE MEAT AND ABOUT THE SAME AMOUNT OF GRATED VEGETABLES MIX ALL TOGETHER, ADI D 2 RAW EGGS TO BIND AND ADD 1COP OF BREADCRUMBS WITH GRATED CHEESE. MAKE INTO SMALL PATTIES AND SERVE BETWEEN SLICES OF BREAD WITH ONIONS AND OPTIONAL SALAD. (I usually divide the mix and add herbs to some, curry to some, chilli to some and bbq sauce to others these make loads of burger patties and if you add a few small sausages are more than enough along with the cakes etc that you are going to be serving. Good luck

Nothing beats sausages and sauce.
What about fruit kebabs and marshmallow kebabs, alternating pink and white. on plates. They’re like caterpillar shapes.

Grilled vegetables such as eggplant, zucchini, asparagus coated in olive oil is healthy & gives the veggies a nutty taste

You could ask the guests to bring their own meat of choice and their own alcohol. Then all you will have to do is provide some salads. Make them yourself though because they can be very dear to buy ready made and you really don’t got much for your money!

yeah i was going to suggest the skewers idea as the colours will look good and fit your theme. have different coloured icing cupcakes, you could incorparate some of the food that the caterpillar eat so get an apple and carve a hole through it etc

Meat and veg skewers are a good budget friendly option. One of my favourites is chicken and veg: cut a few chicken breasts into cubes along with red and green capsicum, half button mushroom and some pineapple. Thread these on to skewers, alternating as you go. You’ll only need about 3 pieces of chicken per skewer but they will look great, be filling and a few ingredients will go a long way! You could even make a simple marinade for the chicken too. Hope it goes well.

After St Patricks day you should be able to get half price green plates and things like that which would work in with the theme.
How about serving the foods from the book. Its a party for kids after all.
As far as the BBQ side…you can get bulk packs of sausages quite cheap at the supermarkets and simply have them in bread and be done with it. There is no need to have steak.

my favourite is homemade chicken satay(or your fave marinade of choice) skewers on the bbq. Sausages, hamburgers, chicken wings. they are fun things to eat for everyone. a potato salad or a coleslaw with bread. simple, cheap and easy. honey joys, jelly cups, homemade cookies, a slice. possibilities are endless….I love preparing for parties good luck!

If you can buy heaps of lamb forequarter chops you can make this and it’s easy and tasty just needs abit of prep. http://gustopaleo.com/arrosticini/

Besides the usual snags, marinated chicken wings, rissoles with bread rolls or even chicken fillet cut into 3 layers lengthways to make it go further marinated … We did this for our daughters 1st birthday years ago and yes the cost soon flies out the window …. maybe even ask family and close friends if they can help on the day with the salads and dessers even help lower the costs… BYO drinks too (alcohol) mainly as no one did for our girl’s party
Good luck and enjoy!

I find chicken wings are a pretty cheap meat to have. Potato salad and bread for the sausages will help fill people up.