Easy & Affordable Pizza Party Menu for Any Size Group

I remember growing up that pizza parties were all the rage. Maybe the pizza party trend never went away, but I definitely out grew it for a period of my life. This past Christmas, I received an Ooni Frya Pizza Oven and it reignited my love of pizza parties. We even hosted friends and family to celebrate my birthday with an outdoor pizza party with the perfect pizza party menu. To date, it was one of the best birthday celebrations I have had.

This simple celebration didn’t take a lot of time to plan and execute. I skipped decor all together and we set-up in our driveway. Since my birthday is in January, my husband turned one of his barrel smokers into a fire pit to keep us warm. I tossed a blue and white stripped tablecloth over a folding table, set out the toppings and that was it. I utilized the tips from this post and everyone truly had the best time!

I kept the decor simple (read - nonexistent) for this pizza party and I did the same for the menu. For my gathering, we focused on a selection of toppings instead of an expansive menu and it worked out well. It meant relatively little prep time in the kitchen and very few dishes - both wins when hosting a larger group of people. With that being said, you could easily incorporate some easy no-cook appetizers or simple salads to enhance the pizza bar. Here are three easy and affordable pizza party food menus for your next pizza party.

Pizza Party Menu #1

This first menu is the most simple of the three. For appetizers, I opted for sliced ciabatta bread with Trader Joe’s pre-made bruschetta and vegan pesto with a wedge of aged parmesan cheese. Next up, I created a build your own pizza bar sticking with classic toppings that could be combined to create a variety of different pizzas. To finish out this first menu, I suggest picking up a quart (or more depending on the size of your group) of ice cream from your favorite local ice cream shop. For us, it’s Whit’s Frozen Custard. They’re standard flavors and flavor of the day are always a hit so having this on hand for dessert is a no brainer. Plus - I didn’t have to make anything so it’s a double win!

Pizza Party Menu #2

For the second easy and affordable pizza party menu, I simply expanded on the first. I added fresh burrata on a bed of arugula to the appetizer list. This is one of my favorite no-cook appetizers as it’s fast, delicious and looks way fancier than it is. If you’ve never had burrata before, the outer casing is fresh mozzarella while the inside is made from stracciatella and cream. It’s creaminess pairs will with the pepper in the arugula and the combo is great on a crostini. I added a few more toppings to the pizza bar giving you the option to make white pizzas (one of my favorites) and included some fresh chocolate chip cookies to accompany the ice cream. While this menu has a few more options, it’s just as easy and affordable as menu number one.

Pizza Party Menu #3

While each menu is great for a group of any size, I would suggest this third menu if you have an especially large group. I added a Caesar salad to this menu as well as expanded the pizza bar toppings again. Keep in mind that these are just toppings I suggest because they are what we prefer. One thing you could do would be to ask guests what their favorite pizza topping is or even ask them to bring a topping of choice. It’s always fun to see what people love on their pizza. To finish this menu out, I opted to switch up dessert in favor of limoncello and cannolis. However, you could easily keep the ice cream, chocolate chip cookies and maybe pick up a tiramisu from a local bakery.