First Communion Menu Ideas

My daughter is making her First Communion this Saturday, so I'm in the midst of planning the at-home celebration after the big event at church.  I want to keep it simple (so the focus remains on the church) but I still need to plan a nice meal since we have grandparents and godparents coming from out of town for the weekend.

I'm sure there are other moms also planning an after-the-event brunch, luncheon or dinner, so thought I'd share some of the meal-planning ideas and links I found while searching the Internet:

Frugal Catholic Mommy
Love her idea of serving hot sides like taco bites ("Scoops" tortilla chips filled with taco meat, salsa, etc.)
She also shares a recipe for pepperoni rolls.

Food Network:  Pretty Butterfly Sandwich
Perhaps shape bread dough to look like a chalice instead of a butterfly?

That article reminds me of the Sicilian custom of serving breads sculpted into the shape of chalices and other religious symbols for St. Joseph's Day. You can read about the tradition on Evann's Virtual St. Joseph blog.  Saveur has an article on shaping St. Joseph's bread. Jennifer shares a photo of bread shaped like a chalice and grapes on her blog Family in Feast and Feria.

The GardenWeb forum has some great ideas for simple, nice meals that can quickly be prepared after you arrive home from church. Many of the post-ers on that forum recommended making a variety of salads and sandwiches ahead of time, then just pulling them out of the refrigerator when you come home. This really appeals to me, since I won't feel like spending the rest of the day in the kitchen cooking!

Angie's menu on her Many Little Blessings blog sounds delicious and just perfect for a spring day.

On her Catholic Icing blog, Lacy shares an idea for a "Wine Cup O Jello."   Basically, red jello is poured into plastic wine cups. When it is firm, add a slice of marshmallow on the top to resemble the white host.  I know the young guests at the dinner will love this, so we will definitely be doing it!

Lacy has other First Communion food and cake ideas here.

This ThriftyFun forum has some good meal and party ideas.

Catholic Cuisine has some ideas for decorating a sheet cake. It has more ideas here.

It is a bit challenging to find ideas for a simple yet meaningful First Communion luncheon or dinner. I'll try to take photos of our meal and cake and do a follow up post to help other moms who might be looking for ideas.