Food Ideas for a Construction-Themed Birthday Party

Decorate the food table at a construction-themed birthday party with metal buckets, hand tools, hard hats and model vehicles -- with plenty of traffic cones and caution tape -- and you're more than halfway there. For some parties, in fact, this would be enough. But if you want to go the extra mile, the food itself can be incorporated into the theme. It just takes a little creative thinking.

Yellow and Black Food

Yellow and black are the two colors used to signal caution around construction sites, so pairing yellow and black foods together is an easy way to invoke the theme.

  • Offer skewers of yellow or orange cheese and black olives.
  • Top deviled eggs with a slice of black olive.
  • Make a corn and black bean salad for the buffet table.
  • Surround a bowl of black bean dip with yellow corn tortilla chips.
  • Prepare trays of cooked black beans alongside turmeric-colored rice.
  • Make a pasta salad using squid ink pasta and yellow bell peppers as ingredients.
  • Mix together a bowlful of fruit salad consisting of pineapple and large black grapes.
  • Make two batches of crispy rice treats, one with regular crisp rice cereal and one with cocoa-flavored rice cereal. Cut them into squares of equal size and alternate light with dark squares when laying your party platter. You can also do this with blondies and brownies.

Orange Food

Orange is another caution color, used most notably in traffic cones and safety vests. Incorporate orange into your buffet table offerings for a splash of extra contrast.

  • Offer carrot sticks, which can double as girders, on a relish tray.
  • Quartered oranges offer easy refreshment on the buffet table.
  • Hot sauce gives Buffalo chicken wings their characteristic orange color; they make for classic party fare.
  • Try sweet potato fries or tater tots.
  • Smoked salmon provides a splashy orange hue and a savory flavor to balance out the sweeter offerings.
  • Slice Fuyu persimmons horizontally to display their interior five-pointed star pattern. Lay the slices out on a plate in a decorative pattern.

A Build Your Own Bar

Provide a "build your own" entree for a fun twist on the construction party theme -- let your guests construct their own custom sandwich, taco or baked potato from a variety of fillings and embellishments. If the opportunity to include black, yellow and orange foods, such as sliced olives or cheeses, comes up, so much the better, but there's no need to go overboard.

The Cake

Birthday parties need cake, and a many-layered cake that's cut to display the inner workings complements the theme well. You can stick to the color scheme and opt for a yellow cake with chocolate frosting, or you can choose your own favorite fillings and flavors.