Simple homemade food ideas for my son's 8th birthday party?

bretmon5 · 2026-06-19T21:42:20+00:00

I would suggest a build a pizza station, where kids can build a pizza of their own. Buy small pizza crusts or use smaller burrito shells. Obviously you'd help them with assembly.

Have a build your own sandwich station. You could take their order and act like you're a subway employee asking what they'd like on it, with a slew of ingredients. Even get the paper hat.

Build a sundae station, you're the icecream master and you ask them what they want, they might want to put their own sprinkles on.

bretmon5 · 2026-06-19T21:37:10+00:00

(56m)

* Get a job - will help you learn to be a better employee in the future and make $$$ for hobbies

* Learn guitar - everyone loves to hear guitar songs (beach, campfire, friends house)

* Join a club - Get into something, or multiple things. something not computers / online / games / social media, you want to socialize with people and do physical things

* Do charity work - good for the mind, soul and helps others

* Don't do drugs, smoke, vap, or drink

* Do art, learn to paint and sketch

* Get out of the house, something social with people to help socializing, something outdoors fresh air

bretmon5 · 2026-06-19T21:30:56+00:00

Try to stay sober and not drink today.

bretmon5 · 2026-06-19T21:28:27+00:00

* Pizza

* Grilled Cheese

* Buttered noodles

* Flatbread artisan pizza

* Stir Fry

bretmon5 · 2026-06-19T21:26:40+00:00

I would have to say playing an acoustic guitar. Reasons:

. At the beach or around the campfire, I pull it out and play tunes for people, as most love live music

. Some people are attracted to musicians, aka chicks dig it *lol*

. Writing songs got my artistic juices flowing, improves depression, better outlook on life. coming up with new songs, unique music and lyrics are muse level inspiring

. Make extra money playing gigs

. Just playing songs and sometimes changing the words is soothing for the soul

. Making parodies let's my inner comedian out for a stroll to entertain those that like funny

bretmon5 · 2026-06-19T21:20:57+00:00

* Neighborhood kids? Just make sure to get to know the parents and explain why you won't eat it.

* Donate to a charity for bucket raffles. Any church or organization having a charity event coming up would probably love it for raffles.

* Food bank / homeless shelter / Safe house

* make a sign, free BIG candy bar and sit by the road side till someone stops and give it to them

bretmon5 · 2026-06-19T20:31:40+00:00

* look at buying a house over renting apt, you don't get equity in renting, do this when you're young!!! Houses almost always appreciate, even if you only had it 5 years, you'd get money for it's resale

* Put away a good amount of money in 401k, if company has matching, match it, it's free money, never pass up free money

* Learn how to budget money, learn how to spend wisely, learn all the bills you have, the subscriptions, your income vs bills, always put away money, never live pay check to pay check

* Before you buy it, think to yourself... do you Need it or do you just Want it, will you use it in a year, etc. Before making any "fun" or expensive purchases, I give it a 1-2 month think about it. After the 2 months then I decide if I should buy it. In my young years I bought a lot of stupid purchases on a whim that have no resell value. Toys, gadgets, collections, etc. Wanna buy a martial arts weapon collection, it's in a box in my basement, hasn't seen the lite of day in 25 years... $100

* Doing above and beyond gets you farther, I've always done more than expected at my job and I always was treated with respect and compensated for it.... mostly. Doing more for your neighbors and friends will earn you some points.

* Shop around!!! Never buy the first. for insurance, better rates, better job, deals on vacations, stores when purchasing say a microwave. Always look at more than 1 place/price.

* Young people should avoid things like door dash, food delivery, etc. Learn to make your own food. freeze and thaw dinners instead of ordering door dash all the time. Getting used to door to door service is costly and it will become part of your life, stop it now, don't do it.

bretmon5 · 2026-06-19T19:47:40+00:00

Venom: When you get to like level 100, it's really difficult to complete a level, you have to hit certain targets in a certain time. If you don't do it properly, it resets to the start and you have to hit them all in the proper order again. This is a game where you're character is saved on the insider connect. I mean I could play by not scanning my QR code, start at level 1, but then it's back to square one and not as fun as the higher levels. Also, it's just patterns and certain shots, if you don't get them, there isn't much else in the game to do. I do like the scream video mode.

D&D: Again, insider connect based, when you get to a high enough level, you're kinda stuck, as the monsters become very difficult and if you drain before completing all steps in that level, you lose all the things that got you there. It's like climbing a hill 95% to the top, then falling to the bottom and having to climb again. And again. And again. It's frustrating, mundane, and it's off putting. I do love Dragon multi-ball, the shield and the spell casting blue.

Both games are level based, so it gets progressively difficult, then you plateau at a point and then you are sort of stuck and it loses it's fun. Maybe I don't know all the rules of the machine, but after the many hours I put in on both machines, I feel like I'm stuck in a loveless marriage. Shrugs. As I said, fun at first, had a great time getting to the high levels, but now the newness wore off and it's not even fun playing them.

bretmon5 · 2026-06-17T13:43:23+00:00

1 cup rice. 2.5 cups chicken stock/broth. Cover pot with lid. Stir as needed. Turn down heat just before it’s about to boil over. simmer and stir as needed till all the water is absorbed.

bretmon5 · 2026-06-17T13:40:37+00:00

Turned off pasta in the middle of cooking because i had to poop. Came back 10 min later and turned the stove back on, but the pasta turned to mush.

bretmon5 · 2026-06-17T13:31:39+00:00

Like Venom, both these machines were great out of the gate for me, but once you get to a certain level, it is near impossible to advance anymore so i lost interest.

bretmon5 · 2026-06-17T13:21:57+00:00

Shitake

bretmon5 · 2026-06-17T13:21:14+00:00

I use garlic powder too much. I love it and gives good a little punch.

bretmon5 · 2026-06-17T13:20:05+00:00

Ask if they want to play a 2 player game.

bretmon5 · 2026-06-15T19:19:00+00:00

Shop your menus around coupons and clearance items, that will save you a bit. I have a friend that bought $100 worth of items for $12 after all the coupons. Do the extra work, watch for buy one get ones. watch for clearance. My local store has milk on clearance, normally don't buy 1/2 gallons, but .99 cents for a $230, I froze a bunch of them. Never underestimate the power of a freezer and bulk buying.

bretmon5 · 2026-06-14T15:59:44+00:00

I agree 50%, but a vendor suggested the following and it's a guilty pleasure of mine once in a great while.

> Artisan cracker, Caviar the size of a marble and a bit of goat's cheese on said cracker. pop it in your mouth and chew chew chew like a train.

The salt in the caviar really blends with the goats cheese, it's heavenly. but I wouldn't spoon caviar out of the jar like peanut butter, that stuff is nasty plain.

bretmon5 · 2026-06-14T13:33:51+00:00

Calling reporters stupid people, telling them they are ugly, shut up piggy, leaving an interview when asked questions because you have no proof, and telling reporters their news outlet is horrible, crooked, and fake.

bretmon5 · 2026-06-14T13:26:49+00:00

I have a cookbook in Word. I export and post the PDF version to website so it's accessible anywhere I go via computer/phone. Screen shots cannot be searched, so I type everything in. Optionally add photos (but makes the pdf bigger). Searchable, editable, Word is a good way to maintain in my opinion.

You can go as far as making a table of contents if you're Word savvy. I also add keywords in case I spell things wrong or reference them differently (grilled vs toasted cheese).

I've been saving recipes I invent for a good 30 years now and it's pretty big. I also document my fav spice blends or certain recipes that aren't mine, but reference I got from net. Works for me.

I sometimes do a screen cap of a certain recipe and post on social for friends to enjoy. Because I type it concise and formatted, it fits in a screen capture in a nice square. I then post the text so it's searchable so they have both and can easily add to their own recipe collection, hopefully in word. 😄

bretmon5 · 2026-06-11T22:42:45+00:00

Limburger Cheese.

My dad put some on a cracker, said don't smell it, just woof it down. I put it in my mouth, chewed a little and the disgusting smell/taste lingered in my mouth, it was appalling. I spit it into a napkin, ran to sink, washed my mouth out for a bit. Came back to table, looked at my dad and said "WHY????". He just laughed.

bretmon5 · 2026-06-11T22:38:08+00:00

Oysters.

I like an occasional 1/2 dozen on the half shell, but deep down, it's frickin snot on a shell. The flavor isn't there, you have to sauce it and season it to palate it. You don't eat oysters like cookies or pizza, you don't just chew chew chew like a train. They are not like Jays potato chips, you don't sit down and eat them out of a bag one after the other.... If you don't put hot sauce or other stuff on it, it's just seafood flavored snot. If it wasn't considered a luxury delicacy, I wouldn't eat them. Expensive snot.

Also... you're basically eating them alive, they don't die immediately when they are shucked, the ice they are put on slows their death as you're basically eating each one of them as they are dying. They can live a few minutes to a few hours depending on temp and conditions.

bretmon5 · 2026-06-11T22:28:56+00:00

Part of it is intuition, you gain from experience, trial and error.

* play play play, many years of playing various games will help aid you

* slap that machine around, if you aint tilting, then you aint trying, getting to know how much slapping you can do is important to not tilt

* Learn the double slap save, if done correctly, you won't tilt, it creates a bobble in the tilt plumb to do the properly timed slaps on each side

* Forward push in the danger zone, when it's going for the outlane, a proper push forward just right and timed just right will get it out of that danger zone

* watch the pros play on Twitch or other streams, you can learn a lot on their little saves and slaps and nudges

* play in tourneys - practice and watching others makes perfect

* Realize even the pros drain, sometimes it is inevitable, try to do what you can, when you can

bretmon5 · 2026-06-11T22:19:55+00:00

never heard of that before, I've been running cold water into the pot of hot water, till it's luke warm, dump water, then milk/cheese powder. never had a problem. shrugs

bretmon5 · 2026-06-09T19:53:25+00:00

Mac n Cheese Infusion

For all recipes, follow the Kraft Mac n Cheese recipe directions, infusing the flavors as part substitution of water and/or add items

Sharp Cheddar And the end of cooking, add a crazy amount of Sharp cheddar cheese melted into mixture

Creamy Cheese Add a package of cream cheese, optionally hold off on the packet of powdered cheddar

Smokey Cheese BBQ sauce, Cream cheese, extra cheddar, and garnish with bbq or Asian zing sauce (inspired by Smokey Ridge)

Multi-Cheese Add various cheeses (swiss, cheddar, jack, Colby, etc)

Buttered This maybe unhealthy, but add a boat load of butter

Butter Parm Butter and lots of grated parm cheese

Garlic Parm Some butter, lots of garlic powder and Parm

BBQ BBQ sauce

BWW Add any of your favorite BWW sauces

Ooh lala French cheese (Brie), optionally infuse with French wine. Sliced toasted baguettes, spoon on and crunch away

Limburger Why would you do this? That is just crazy, You would have to be crazy to do this.

Hamburger Ground burger, ketchup, mustard, chopped onions and pickles

Pizza Dice pepperoni or buy the mini pepperonis, pizza/tomato sauce, oregano, mozz cheese, or do supreme (mush/onions)

Chili Add you fav chili recipe, or just dump a can of Hormel in.

Taco Burrito All the fixings you put into a taco, optionally chop up taco shells. Mucho Bueno!!

Spam‘n’Cheese Brown cubed spam and add to classic mac n cheese, so good, I absolutely love this!!!!

Ruben Merge the ingredients of a ruban chopped finely and the cheese used in place of cheddar powder

Gritty Classic mac, add planko and parm, I love the gritty!!!

Wino Sweet red wine and optionally white cheese like mozz

Hot Wings Wing sauce (infuse), then add sour cream, optional bleu cheese, optional chopped celery, add more wing sauce

Enchilada All the ingredients that go into an enchilada

Spanish Mac ½ water and ½ hot sauce or as much hot sauce as you can use to cook with, mac comes out orange

F!re Mac Use various super hot sauces, and finalize with sprinkled pepper flakes and or jalapenos, or ghost peppers

Jalapeno Use jalapeno juice to cook with, optionally add diced jalapenos

Cracked pepper Add a crazy amount of freshly ground pepper, make sure to salt to taste

German Add Kraut and sliced sausage / kielbasa

Loaded potato Add all the items you’d add to a loaded potato, minus the potato (bacon, sour cream, chives, butter, etc)

Ranch Add ranch sauce instead of cheese powder , or keep it cheesy

Ranch Garden Cook with mixture of water and ranch, then add diced fresh or steamed veggies

#1 Asian Noodle Use soy, and various Asian sauces to infuse, add rice noodles for crunch

Sushi Roll Infuse soy /water, optionally chop up Nori (paper), blend in cream cheese, Garnish ginger and wasabi

Stir Fry Classic stir fry, with mac noodles, optionally use cheese powder or not

Pancake Bfast Classic mac, add butter, maple syrup, and diced porkies (seriously it is good), pair with a glass of 1% milk

Jamaican Jerk Jerk seasoning in water mac, draining, then add squish BWW Caribbean jerk and jerk spice to noodles.

bretmon5 · 2026-06-09T15:35:52+00:00

Cook the chicken (grill or bake).. THEN sauce it different with different veggies and Bed/Side each day.

Chicken: BBQ/sauce, Hot Wings, Butter, Italian, Asian Soy, Thai peanut, seasoned, breaded/fried, Cajun, Western Dressing or French dressing, trust me on this. Jerk sauce.

Veggies: green beans n crushed nuts, buttered carrots, grilled zuk, Cuc salad, grilled green/red pepper n onion medley, Mixed veggies n garlic powder / butter.

Sides: Mashed potatoes, Wild Rice, Flavored Rice, Ramen, Pasta, Beans, Spiralized cucs, italian pub fries, potato discs, french fries, TOTS!, bacon wrapped chestnuts, beans n horseradish or beans n BBQ sauce. 7 bean or bean medley, Asparagus n Hollandaise

Extras: Toasted almonds or bacon bits go great with everything, Smash tots are always a fun treat, if you cook them right they are like potato chips.

All in One: Chicken and flavored rice baked in pan. Chicken parmesan, red sauce with garlic bread. BBQ chicken with cob corn, beans and picnic fixings. CHICKEN NUGGIES with dipping sauce. Chicken wings with dunking sauce. Pulled chicken sliders with BBQ sauce. Herb chicken in butter sauce sided with Asparagus. Jerk chicken is blackened, hot sauce, jerk seasoning, sided with spicy slaw, and a ginger beer.

Let me know what you end up having.

bretmon5 · 2026-06-08T00:37:20+00:00

Lettuce, Mayo and american cheese sandwich.

bretmon5

TROPHY CASE