17 Food Bar Ideas
Make your own food bars are a great addition to a birthday party, baby shower, graduation party or even a simple Friday night dinner with friends.
Main course food 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
Who doesn’t love pizza? And the toppings are endless! The only thing tricky about this party bar idea is to think through how the pizzas will be baked.
3. Burrito bowls
For a healthy option, whip up chicken and add avocado, peppers, corn, lime, beans, and rice. For more details, check out The Handmade Home.
4. Mashed potato bar
Who doesn’t love mashed potatoes? Let guests choose from toppings like cheese, bacon bits, sour cream, chives, and mushrooms. The possibilities are endless. image via Imaginary Wedding.
5. Pasta
Boil up a variety of noodles and add sauce! See more about how to make a pasta bar at Somewhat Simple.
Breakfast Food Bar Ideas
6. Oatmeal
Gather cranberries, brown sugar, raisins, and nuts and display in glass containers for a simple, hearty breakfast that each person can make their own. Oringially from Echoes of Laughter.
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? And the Froot Loop garlands are pretty cute too. Find more at The Purple Pug.
8. Biscuit bar
A biscuit bar would make be perfect for brunch. Bake up the biscuits and add Nutella, honey, jams, and peanut butter. Find out more on Kojo Designs.
9. Yogurt
For more details, check out Pretty Providence.
10. Crepes
Fill a crepe with whatever you please for a sweet or savory crepe. For more check out Kojo Designs.
Dessert Food Bar Ideas
11. Cookie Bar
Cookies are always a good idea and I love that cookies can double as party favors.
12. S’mores
This S’more bar is cute and scrumptious! Set everything up in glass cylinders for easy access. See more at Secret Agent Josephine.
13. Candy bar
Display the guest of honors favorite candy in clear containers. Done and done. Image via 27 Pineapples.
Drinks & Snacks
14. Root beer floats
Consider subsisting Root Beer for your fizzy beverage of choice. Coke floats and Sprite plus Sherbet are delicious too. Find out more at A Crafty Spoonful.
15. Banana pops
Simply chop bananas into pieces and supply a ridiculous amount of toppings. Delicious! See more at Bakers Royale.
16. Hot chocolate
Add a hot chocolate party to any winter party for instant fun. There is no wrong topping for a hot chocolate bar. Consider peppermint bites, sprinkles, coconut, marshmallows, cinnamon, and caramel sauce. See more at Kevin and Amanda.
17. Trail Mix
I love that the trail mix supplies is set up in brown paper bags. So sweet and simple. Oringially found at Jacks and Kate.
Comments & Reviews
Love the round up! Thanks for posting.
I did a yogurt/parfait bar for my son’s brunch birthday party. There are so many toppings you can use and we set out 2 different kinds of yogurt, greek and vanilla.
I’ve also done a lemonade bar. We set out pink lemonade and regular lemonade. We made icecubes with fruit in them and we also left out various fruits and fruit juices to flavor your lemonade. We also left a few “hard” choices for the adults to mix in 😉
For my daughter’s 3rd birthday coming up in a few weeks, we are going to do a popcorn bar. We will have about 8 varieties of popcorn (regular butter, light, chili flavored, dill, cotton candy, grape, white chocolate, dark chocolate). We are doing an outside showing of her favorite movie, so we can’t go wrong with popcorn!
A friend and I are planning another friends bachelorette party, and we’re doing a Bloddy Mary Bar and a Taco Bar. We figured they’d be easy to do, especially the Taco Bar. People can make tacos, nachos, taco salads, etc – and not get super full from eating everything either. Love these ideas!
I hosted a panini bar… I had two panini makers, two kinds of bread, grilled chicken, sliced turkey, spinach, roasted red peppers, three kinds of cheese and a couple kinds of spreads (pesto, olive, etc.). I also offer tomato soup as a side dish…
I’m having a hotdog bar (recipe cards; chicago dog, reuben dog, etc…) and a grilled cheese bar (pizza, caprese, french onion,)… for my daughter’s graduation this Sunday…
When I “say” hotdogs and grilled cheese, people kind of roll their eyes, they don’t think past ketchup, mustard and American, but I’m SO excited!! 🙂
We had a hot dog bar at our son’s bday party last year. You are right – there are so many options besides mustard, ketchup, relish! It was a huge hit! (We were inspired by the then-recently new Sonic hot dog ads.) 🙂 Grilled cheese bar is a fun idea too!
I did a Cheesecake bar for a friends baby shower. It was so fun and we used the big Cheesecakes from Costco and had all kinds of fruit and sauces.
a Gyro bar is great too… Pita bread, gyro meat, tomatoes, lettuce, black olives, cucumber sauce and red onions.
We had a make your own sunday bar at my son’s first birthday party. The kids loved it but most of the adults were in there more than once! I had three different sauces, candy, cookies, fruit, chocolate chips, marshmellows … I kept it all hidden inside until everyone had finished their lunch and brought it out while we served cake. Perfect treat for the summer! We have also done pizza, sandwiches, pancakes/french toast, salad, and many more. It is a great way to serve a lot of people and not have to worry about different tastes or allergies!
I love all of the ideas !!!!
what about a make your own soup bar? Have hot chicken, beef, and vegetable broth with noodles, rice, vegetables and different meats. Could be kind of fun.
That’s a great idea for a soup bar. I do that all the time at our local oriental buffet. I get the won ton soup and add shrimp, rice, and some vegi’s . Delish!
Awesome! We have a boatload of allergies/specialty diets going on in our family, so a lot of these are just practical dinner ideas for us. Thanks!
LOVE party bars! We’ve done pizza, taco/burrito, and hawaiian haystacks for our big family gatherings. Makes prep so much easier and I love that all my guests choose what THEY want!
Y’all have so many fun ideas! I’m googling “Hawaiian hay stacks” now 🙂
I hosted a Christmas party for 40 and we did build your own Hawaiian Haystacks. I made the rice and chicken gravy and assigned out toppings: cheese, olives, celery, pineapple, coconut, tomatoes, almonds, chow mein noodles, mushrooms, bell peppers, etc. It was easy to please everybody! (I even made the gravy dairy and gluten-free).
What a fun idea 🙂 and nice of you to think of the dairy gluten free people!
We just hosted a taco bar! Very similar to your nachos bar… but with hard and soft taco shells. Someone at our party mentioned having taco bowls, like for taco salad, at our next one. Thanks for more ideas! Our Sunday School class is doing “Make your own” nights for our monthly get togethers and now we have MORE ideas. Wahoo 🙂
i was going to suggest taco salad bar. an office i visit hosted one as a fundraiser, with small ($3) and large ($6) plates. You could choose from taco meat and/or a black bean-corn-salsa mix, chips, ranch, olives, cheese, salsa, tomatoes, onions. Good additions would be avo or guac, cilantro, refried beans, multiple cheese options, upgraded greens (they just had iceberg), etc.
We do taco-in-a-bag bar – a fun-size bag of doritos, opened up, with all the taco fixings you want in it, or dumped out onto a plate – yum!
I hosted a waffle party! It was awesome – savoury, sweet, anything goes!
I LOVE that idea! thank you 🙂
I was just going to say that! I have been to a party with a waffle bar and it was awesome everyone loved it!
I am currently planning my daughter’s graduation party. We’ve decide to do a burger bar. We will have hamburgers and turkey burgers with all different topping options…. sauteed mushrooms, sauteed onion, sliced onion, lettuce, tomato, bacon, pico de gallo, guacamole, grilled pineapple, Pepperjack, cheddar, swiss, havarti. Would love any other recommendations!
BBQ sauce, teryaki sauce would be good with the pineapple. french fried onions (though, that may be too many onions) and maybe some other veggies. You could grill red peppers if you were grilling burgers, maybe spinach leaves or alfalfa sprouts, or fried green tomatoes- I’ve seen those on some cooking shows, like BLT burger, but with fried green tomatoes.
I don’t know your crowd or your daughter’s, but I’d suggest having a vegetarian option, whether a prepared “veggie burger” or one of your own.
BBQ, A1, cucumbers, banana peppers, pickles
For our engagement party, we did a make your own salad bar. And my mother own does make your own pizza. Recently I hosted a make your own burger bar: beef or vegan burgers with about ten toppings. These are great ideas – thanks!
Love this post – to add, I do a Mac & Cheese bar every year for Christmas – it’s a total hit. Usually the same toppings as the Potato bar. Yummy!
I love party bar too. Last year for my daughters 3rd birthday she wanted hot dogs as the party food. I was less than excited since I tend to do over the top parties. I made it work though with a hot dog bar. I have a triple crockpot and had chili, sauerkraut, cole slaw and all the fixins! The kids (and parents) loved it. Plus it wasn’t expensive!!! Make your own bars are the best! Thanks for these other ideas. I have many more birthday ideas now 😀
I did the hot dog bar for my son’s summer bday – it was a big hit!
I would love to see pics of a hot dog bar and do an updated party bar list 🙂
Love the ideas! We have done the yogurt bar, baked potato bar, pizza bar. And for our gradutaion party this year, instead of cake, we are doing a mini fruit pizza bar. We are using individual sugar cookies. My sister’s son is having a candy bar instead of a cake. I hope guests find it fun without the traditional grad. cake.
I think it’s super fun!
I love your list of was looking and making my own lists and stumbled upon yours. I love hosting make your own________ parties and have been trying to think up some different ones. It is the best for parties and really makes the party and since food takes time to prepare and such why not make it the main event!
I love candy bars at wedding receptions. I'm helping my future sister in law plan her wedding and she's having a candy bar. Thank you for all the helpful ideas! I looked online and found a company, Box and Wrap that supplies cute candy bags, candy boxes, and Favor boxes. They are very nice and reasonably priced. She's going to order some and let the guests fill their own container from the candy bar. Wedding Favors Done!! Much better than giving something that will be thrown away or tossed in a junk drawer!
I LOVE the pasta bar – such fun ideas. But, the link is the same as the one before it – do you have the link that'll take me to the pasta bar inspiration? I'd love to see more details!
(btw, love your blog, I've gotten so many great ideas so Thank You!)
I think this is from Robin Sue at Big Red Kitchen blog. She has a past bar post… http://www.bigredkitchen.com/2010/04/how-to-host-your-own-pasta-bar/ . This party idea was a hit with my family.
THANK YOU for giving me the correct link!
So many great bar ideas! I've added them to my Pinterest board:http://pinterest.com/madebyaprincess/party-decor-design/ and started following you 🙂 Thank you!
Mom had us and our cousins do sandwich bars when we were kids. The only rule was you had to eat what you made. She also did crepe buffets for Sunday suppers sometimes.
What great ideas! I love the glasses (and what looks like chalkboard paint) with the Mashed Potato Bar the best. Thanks for sharing!
Sarah
http://www.dumpedanddiscovered.com
Oooo I love the yogurt bar! I may have to do that at my baby shower!!
-Jess @ That's Sew Crafty
Oh, wow! Great ideas! We do "oatmeal bar" for breakfast at our place–and breakfast is a party everyday with a family of 10! :o)
These are great ideas! I love all the colors in the candy bar! 🙂 I had friends do an ice cream sundae bar for their wedding, and the cupcake bar in the cafeteria at our university is always a hit!
🙂
Love Party bars! I also went to a party with a really fun martini bar, with different color sugar for the rims, and fruits and mixers… so fun! I have never thought of the cereal or oatmeal bar!! Thanks! elyse
How cute! I love the cupcake decorating bar! I'm going to have to try that at one of my parties. I love throwing parties!
oh, what inspiration for future parties – LOVE THIS! thank you for the roundup!
happy 4th!!
I also love the idea of party bars! A couple friends of mine had a potato bar and a candy bar at their wedding receptions. The potato bar was a choice of mashed or sweet, and came out of one of those "squeeze" machines like soft serve icecream. LOL With all different toppings available! I love the cookie bar too. Great ideas!