reader question of the week

I'm going to try something new this week, and we'll see if it works. I often get questions for party-planning ideas and tips- and while I would like to answer all of them, in detail- I simply don't have the time in addition to all my other (paying and nonpaying) duties. The blog is a labor of love- an unpaid internship, shall we say- and knowing that I have such a creative, smart bunch of readers I figure I might turn these questions to you. I'll publish one question a week and see how it goes. If it doesn't work, this little feature will go away quietly.

Question of the week: 

"I'm looking for creative food ideas for parties that work for both adults and kids alike. My daughter is celebrating her first birthday next month. Pre-kids, I used to have fancy gourmet dinner parties. But now I need to tone things down so that the food appeals to both kids and parents and doesn't take me all day to prepare. For my son's third birthday, we had a taco bar. I'd like to do something a bit more sophisticated/unique for my daughter's party. Any ideas? One thought I had was a noodle bar- can have all the fixings for asian noodles (shredded chicken, cilantro, peanuts, etc) plus Italian style with marinara or pesto. Would love to hear any other ideas or thoughts!  Thanks– Julia"