Everyone can probably agree that food is one of, if not the, most important aspect of a party.  It can make or break a host or hostess’ reputation.  Of course there are other important elements as well, but people will remember the food.  If your decor is stunning and awesome, they might remember that.  But if your food is sub-par, your party will forever be “when we had those soggy sandwiches?” or “that was the mushy wrap things that smelled weird, right?”  So, for our Big Hero 6 party, we did simple but delicious food.  Kid-friendly, but also adult-satisfying, food.  We did a small dinner and a popcorn bar with the movie.  I will give you the details on the popcorn bar next week, that was a ton of fun!

We have the reputation of making good food, so I wanted something yummy that makes everyone happy.  It’s a bonus if everyone can make their own the way they like it.  I themed the food to the movie and played off of words, as well as the visual aspects.  Let’s check out the full menu, shall we?

BIG HERO 6 PARTY
AMAZINGLY SIMPLE FOOD

– Mini Hiro (Hero) Sandwiches.  Hero sandwiches are also known as hoagies and subs, among other terms.  They are simple and delicious.  I wanted everyone to be able to make their own and make them the way they like it.  So, instead of large rolls or a true foot-long loaf, I opted for dinner rolls.  My deciding factor in this decision was that we were going to have about a dozen kids at this party.  Have you ever seen a three-year-old try to hold a foot-long sandwich?  And it’s even worse when it’s just a small piece of the sandwich.  So we did mini Heros and named them after one of the movie’s main characters.

– Fruit tray. Since we were having a popcorn bar with the movie, I didn’t want a lot of sweets with dinner.  For the fruit tray, I chose ‘Wasabi’s Laser-Sliced Apples’, ‘Baymax Berries’ and Go-Go’s Mag-Lev Pineapple Discs.  It was simply apples sliced with our Apple Peeler Corer (affiliate link), whole strawberries and pineapple rings cut into wedges.  We dipped the apples in lemon juice to help keep them from browning.  You could use pineapple tidbits, if you can figure out how to get them out of the can in rings, so they still resemble Go-Go’s mag-lev discs.  I decided it would be easier to just cut them up myself.  Actually, Mr. Napping assembled the fruit trays.  Yep, he’s a keeper.

– Aunt Cass’ Melt-Your-Face-Off Chicken Wings.  Because chicken wings are delicious and I wanted something that was a little more grown-up food too.  We had three different kinds of chicken (confession: some were in strips, not wings) in varying levels of spiciness so everyone could enjoy it, regardless of their palate’s spice preference.  I just bought these frozen and popped them in the oven half an hour before guests started to arrive.

– Fred’s Tropical Citrus Punch.  Blue raspberry Kool-Aid with pineapple juice and lemon slices in it.  I mixed up the Kool-Aid with 2 packets of powder, 1 1/2 gallons of water and 1 1/2 cups of sugar.  It’s more water and less sugar than called for in the directions.  Then I poured the pineapple juice that was in the pineapple rings in.  I’d guess it was around 1/3 to 1/2 cup of juice.  Then I sliced a lemon and put the slices in the Kool-Aid.  It was pretty much gone by the end of the party.

– Strawberry Honey Lemon(ade).  I have a thing for real lemonade, so it had to make an appearance at the party.  I mixed two cups lemon juice, 1/2 cup sugar and 1.5 gallons water together.  I had intended to use honey as the sweetener, but we had babies coming and I didn’t want to have to worry about them unintentionally being given honey.  I pureed one pound of strawberries and combined that with the lemon juice mixture.  Then add one tablespoon of vanilla extract.  I love vanilla in lemonade.  Feel free to omit it if it’s not your thing.

EASY DECOR IDEAS

Because I had a budget for this party, I did really simple decor.  I wanted the focus to be the food, and the Go-Go’s Disc Toss game and the Build A Baymax activity.  I spent about $15 on decor.  Yes, that’s it.  I found some paper lanterns on clearance at Target.  I did buy some LED Waterproof Paper Lantern Party Lights (affiliate link) on Amazon to put inside them.  They were a little more spendy ($19 for 30), but I only used nine and the batteries are supposed to be replaceable.  They lasted almost two days before they died, but a single light wasn’t very bright and we ended up putting three in each lantern.  Overall, I was pretty happy with them.

That was as fancy as I got though.  I stuck to balloons and streamers after that.  I did put Baymax eyes on the white balloons.  I’d seen it on Here Comes the Sun and I loved Kelly’s idea.  They turned out even better than I remembered, especially for just being sharpie on a balloon.

Want more Big Hero 6?  You can check out Go-Go’s Disc Toss Game to get the kids moving and the Build-A-Baymax activity that calmly entertained 6 kids for over 20 minutes!  Great for parties, but they also work for an afternoon boredom buster too!