Make Your Own Pizza Party!

Make Your Own Pizza Party – perfect for entertaining, guests create their own pizza by choosing their toppings and cooking it on the outdoor bbq.

This make your own pizza party is perfect for entertaining.  Guest can choose their toppings and make their own favourite pizza.  It’s grilled on the bbq so perfect for outdoors, but you could also do it indoors in the oven, or in a pizza oven.  This make your own pizza party is a crowd pleaser that everyone will enjoy.

I had a great week visiting friends and family in cottage country last week. Today I want to share a make your own pizza party that we put together. My sister is the manager of a camp, and they offer a few really fun workshops to their guests each week. One of the workshops is a make your own pizza party, where guests make pizza on the bbq -perfect for the cottage. Since I was coming up, I thought I’d pick up a few things to make it even more fun.  Here’s how I put it all together.

Pizza Party Decorations

We decided to go with a fun orange colour scheme, with some white and kraft paper brown for our make your own-pizza party.  I wanted a fun patterned tablecloth, and this one from Target was perfect. Our other big pop of orange was the fun tissue paper tassels that we strung over the table.  Red and white would a great color scheme for a home pizza party too.

The beach and forest background couldn’t have been prettier.  We set up a few long tables to create our pizza making bar filled with all our favourite pizza toppings.  One long table made it easy for everyone to access and help themselves.

Centrepiece

I wanted to make a fun and reusable centerpiece for the table for our homemade pizza party, so I collected some different letters to spell “Pizza”, and leaned them against a rustic wooden box. I really liked how we added a little orange to a couple letters by adding some orange yarn.

On top of the box, I planted some basil in a little tomato paste tin, and some oregano in a peeled tomatoes tin.  I really liked that it was imported from Italy too.  This was such a fun way to add an easy centerpiece for our pizza party theme.  And guests could help selves to the fresh herbs for their pizzas too.

Food Labels

On top of our pretty tablecloth we layered some simple brown kraft paper, it made clean up easy, and worked great for writing our labels for all the individual toppings.  This was one of the best ideas because made it so easy for guests to know exactly what they were adding to their pizza.  We chopped lots of fun toppings, put them in simple glass bowls, and then wrote what they were right on the paper runner.  If you’re setting up something similar, it’s great to have the pizza toppings in matching bowls, like glass or white to help unify the look.  One of our simple tips is to space things out.  It can get a little congested when everyone is making their pizza, so if you have room space out the toppings a little so it isn’t too crowded.

Chalkboard Instructions

On the table we also placed a fun chalkboard, made from a pretty old picture frame, with some instructions for the guests.  This made it easy for everyone to see exactly what they needed to do to make their pizza, and was a fun addition to the decor too.

Flowers

Another of our fun ideas for the table were these little clear bottles, with orange zinnias in them.  It’s always nice to add some fresh flowers to the table for a party, and these were the perfect color.  The glass bottles tied in well with the glass bowls we used for our toppings too.

 

DIY Pizza Toppings

We had so much fun with all the toppings for the pizza and the party guests loved adding all their favorites to their personal size pizzas.  We did a little prep work ahead of time with all the fresh produce, so we could set out all the toppings in small dishes and have everything ready to go at the beginning of the party.  Here’s what we had for toppings:

• salt and pepper
• olive oil
• pizza sauce
• roasted red peppers
• green olives
• hot peppers
• green peppers
• onion
• tomatoes
• pineapple
• bacon
• pepperoni
• mozzarella cheese

More ideas you could include for the pizzas, or to add to the pizzas after their cooked are:

• ham
• feta cheese
• white sauce
• pesto sauce
• bbq chicken
• sausage
• fresh basil leaves
• fig jam
• prosciutto
• arugula

Be sure to have spoons and tongs available for all the toppings.  And don’t forget a pizza cutter for cutting up the pizza after it’s baked.

Also check with your guest for any dietary restrictions.  You may need some gluten free pizza crusts, low carb pizza crusts, or vegan cheese options, depending on your group.

This is the perfect pizza party for kids of all ages and adults because everyone can make their own personal pizzas to their tastes with their favorite pizza toppings.  The best part was watching everyone make their own delicious pizza with a unique flavor they would love.  Plain pepperoni pizzas were a hit with lots of the kids.  While the adults loved mixing and matching all the toppings at the pizza-making station, trying a little bit of everything.  This is the perfect way to make everyone happy.

How To Make Pizza On The BBQ

1.  Start with the dough.   My sister made the dough earlier in the day, and put individual dough balls in ziplock bags. This makes it easy for everyone to make their pizza with the pre-made dough.  She loves this recipe (just for the dough) and makes it in her stand mixer, if you’re looking for a good one. If you don’t want to make your own dough, you can pick it up at the grocery store, or most pizza stores will sell just the dough for pizza parties if you ask them.  We used paper plates to flatten our dough on with a little all purpose flour dusted on them, then coated both sides of the dough with oil and salt and pepper. 
2. Next you’re ready to grill the dough on the bbq.
3. Grill until it’s golden brown on both sides.
4. Next top your pizza with sauce, cheese, and anything else you like on the make your own pizza bar. Then, turn off one side of the bbq, and place the topped pizza on the other side with the burner turned off, put the lid of your bbq down and leave it until the cheese is melted and the pizza looks done.

It’s really delicious when it’s done, with a nice charred, grilled flavour from the bbq.

Pizza In The Oven

We made our pizza on the bbq for this party.  It was perfect for this outdoor party.  You can easily make your pizza in a regular oven if you’re indoors, or in a pizza oven if you’re lucky enough to have one.  If you’re making it in an oven, you can skip the pre-grill, and go straight to adding your toppings.  For the oven be sure to make your pizza on pizza pans or baking sheets.  We usually make individual pizzas and put two mini pizzas on one baking sheet.  It’s a good idea to spray your baking sheet with some cooking spray so your fresh dough doesn’t stick.  We bake them at 400 in the oven for about 10-15 minutes until their golden and bubbling on top.

We had a great time enjoying our make your own pizza party, it was so much fun and everyone loved all the different toppings they could use to make their own pizzas. This is really a great way to host a pizza party. We had a great time chatting and cooking together, while we waited for the different steps. I really recommend this as a great option for your next backyard bbq party with friends.  Everyone always loves a pizza night.  This DIY pizza station is perfect for a special occasion like your husband’s birthday, a family get together, a dinner party with friends, or kid’s DIY pizza party.

I hope these pizza party ideas inspire you for your next get together. 

With a make your own pizza buffet like this, life really is a party!

More Pizza Inspiration

You might also like our Backyard Pizza Party here.

Also check out our Valentine’s Day Pizza Party here.

You might also like our Butter Chicken Pizza recipe here.