24 Potluck Themes to do in May 2023

As someone that worked in a very potluck friendly office, we did a ton of different themes for potluck lunches and celebrations. It doesn’t take much to come up with a theme, but it’s a bit more fun to have themes for every month.

Some themes are based on holidays, birthdays, special days, and events. The themes can be based on colors, ingredients, or an overall theme. Let’s dive into May’s fun themes to try!

May Potluck Themes

We have formed a list of different food themes that would be great for your next potluck. These will work for pretty much any event that food is brought to enjoy and will work for breakfasts, lunches, and dinners too.

National Mother Goose Day (May 1)

This is a very creative theme where everyone can bring a dish inspired by a nursery rhyme. For example, you can bring an egg dish to represent “Humpty Dumpty”. You can make a dessert with tea to represent “I’m a Little Teapot.” Another example is to bring a pie to represent “Little Jack Horner.” There is lots of fun possibilities with this theme!

National Orange Juice Day (May 4)

To celebrate Orange Juice day you can go with the obvious of dishes and desserts made with oranges or orange juice. Of if you want to make it a little more creative, you can go with an Orange Color Party where everyone brings an orange-colored side dish or orange colored desserts.

Cinco De Mayo (May 5)

Cinco De Mayo is the perfect day to have a Mexican Themed Potluck. This gives you tons of side dishes, main dishes, and even desserts to choose from. I would start with a main dish like “make your own tacos” and then have the sides all compliment tacos like shredded lettuce, Mexican rice, chopped tomatoes, refried beans, and more. For desserts you can do flan, dulce de leche, or even homemade churros.

World Naked Gardening Day (May 6)

Who knew this was a holiday right? To celebrate this very unique day, I would make a potluck with a theme of “Fresh from the Garden” or “Naked Veggies.” Basically all dishes would showcase fruits and vegetables typically found in a garden in simple dishes. This means we will skip the loaded down with cheese casseroles and go with lots of fresh raw vegetables in salads or as dippers for spreads. For desserts, you could have a simple apple crisp or fresh fruit salad.

Mother’s Day (May 7)

Mother’s Day is one of the most popular eating out occasion in the year. Instead of going to a restaurant, stay home and invite friends and family over for a potluck! You can go a couple different ways with this potluck by having each guest bring their favorite dishes their mom makes, their mom’s favorite dishes, or you can have the matriarch of your family write down her 10 favorite foods and everyone has to make a dish based off that list!

National Shrimp Day (May 10)

If you and your friends love Shrimp, this is definitely the day for you! Thankfully just like Bubba Gump says, there are a zillion ways to prepare and eat Shrimp……For example: Shrimp Po’boys, Shrimp Grits, Shrimp Salad, and more! As a precaution make sure none of your guests are allergic to shrimp since it can be a common allergy.

National Eat What You Want Day (May 11)

This is a holiday celebrating the ultimate “cheat day.” Some people can get really restrictive with their food when they are dieting or exercising, so for this potluck theme we want everyone to bring their all-time favorite splurge dish. Say no to celery and bring on the pizza, cookies, and bring on the chips and dips!

Florence Nightingale’s Birthday (May 12)

Florence Nightingale was a famous nurse and helped lay the foundation for professional nursing. To honor her birthday and celebrate her contributions to society, we can totally have a Potluck Party! I would ask all the guests to bring a food dish that has ingredients known for healing. Examples of this would be Chicken Noodle Soup, dishes using leafy greens, lox (Salmon) spread with crackers, or anything with berries, nuts, and seeds.

National Crouton Day (May 13)

Croutons are often a very overlooked food, but they can actually be used a ton of different ways. From mixed salads to casserole toppings to floating on top of soup. You can extend the crouton into stale or old bread and serve bread pudding for dessert too! For an overall theme, you can really just go with “Bread of All Things.” This type of theme really pushes your guests to be creative in their dishes!

National Chocolate Chip Day (May 15)

This could also be another fun ingredient-centric theme where everyone has to bring something using chocolate. There are actually quite a few savory dishes that incorporate chocolate like mole sauce and cocoa powder barbequed pork. I would lean more towards doing a snack or appetizer party with a chocolate theme so your guests can bring cookie dough hummus, chocolate covered pretzels, and even hot chocolate to drink!

Love A Tree Day (May 16)

Similar to “Arbor Day”, Love a Tree Day is begging for a clever potluck theme. I am all about fun and creativity, so I would go with side dishes and desserts that all use part of a tree. Before you start thinking about chewing on some bark, keep in mind that there are many popular foods that come from a tree like cinnamon, ginger, chocolate, coffee, oranges, apples, etc.

National Pizza Party Day (May 19)

Just in case you needed a reason to have pizza, this day is for you! For my potluck theme, I would skip the traditional take-out pizza, and ask my guests to incorporate typically pizza ingredients in a different way. This could be like instead of olives on a pizza bringing an olive and pickle tray. Instead of pepperoni pizza, they bring a pepperoni pasta salad. You could also bring a warm fruit dessert pizza or a cold cookie crust pizza! This one could be a very yummy and fun potluck theme!

National Pick Strawberries Day (May 20)/ Strawberry Month (May)

May is actually known for being Strawberry Month and May 20th is the day to pick to strawberries. So for an easy potluck theme we can go with a red party theme, where all the guests from red side dishes and red colored desserts. We can also go with a just strawberry theme. There are plenty of salads and appetizers that include the sweet red berries. Of course the strawberry desserts will be just amazing and yummy too!

Mr. T’s Birthday (May 21)

Mr. T is a famous actor best known for roles in the A Team and Rocky III movies. To celebrate his birthday, we can definitely throw a potluck party with a T theme. This means all food items will need to start with the Letter T. Examples of T dishes would include Tuna Salad, Tomato Tart, Tapenade with Crackers, and anything using Taters!

Harvey Milk Day (May 22)

Harvey Milk was a leader in gay rights and this day is to celebrate his accomplishments. What better way to celebrate than with a Rainbow Themed potluck! We can have every guest draw a color out of a hat and they need to bring a dish that color or we can assign colors to each guest. Another fun potluck theme would be to make sure that every side dish and dessert includes milk! There are so many savory and sweet dishes that include milk as an ingredient.

World Turtle Day (May 23)

Before you jump to the conclusion that I want you to make dishes out of turtles, I was actually thinking about using foods with a shell! This could be bringing a dish that has nuts, beans, shellfish like shrimp, or taco shells. The more I think on this there are tons of options here! You can make a dessert with the chocolate shell sauce or just go with chocolate covered turtles (typically pecans).

Tommy Chong’s Birthday (May 24)

Our favorite comedian with a flair for the munchies was born on May 24th! What better way to celebrate Tommy Chong’s birthday than to have a Potluck Appetizer/Snack Party. Basically everyone would bring their favorite munchable dishes! Another popular theme would be to have an all Green party with green colored side dishes and green desserts!

National Sing Out Day (May 25)

If you haven’t noticed, I love to make my potluck party guests think outside the box for their dishes. Sing out Day is no different! I would ask all my guests to bring a dish inspired by a song or musical artist. For example: “Strawberry Fields Forever” for a dish including strawberries, “Sugar” (song by Marron 5) would cover almost every dessert, and “Peaches (song by the Presidents of the United States) could cover a salsa made with peaches. There are tons of savory songs out there too like the hit “Bacon” (by Nick Jonas and Ty Dolla $ign), “Egg Man” (by Beastie Boys), “Buttered Popcorn” (by The Supremes), and “Biscuits” (by Kacey Musgraves).

National Grape Popsicle Day (May 27)

This kind of day reminds me of summer, so I would totally kick off the end of the school year with a Favorite Summertime Dishes. You can also go with dishes inspired by a popsicle flavor. You can go bold with a potluck theme all around foods that are Purple. Another option is to make dishes including grapes and raisins. This could be a really great and fun potluck party!

National Hamburger Day (May 28)

Hamburgers are a great main dish for a potluck because they go so well with so many dishes. Especially if you want to host an outdoor picnic with burgers on the grill. Your guests can bring items to go on top of burgers like assorted cheeses, bacon slices, avocado, sliced tomato, sauteed onions, peppers, and mushrooms. Side Dishes could be classics like potato salad, chips, and baked beans. This is a classic theme for a reason, because who doesn’t love a great hamburger?

Water a Flower Day (May 30)

Similar to our potluck themes surrounding trees, it is now time to celebrate flowers. Did you know that a lot of very common foods are actually flowers or come from flowers? I would love to do a Floral Themed potluck where everyone brings dish utilizing a flower. For example, you can bring dishes that use vanilla, broccoli, artichoke, cauliflower, and bananas!

National Barbeque Month (May)

As May starts to signal the beginning of Summer, it is the perfect month to celebrate All things Barbeque. Your guests can bring any foods that go well with barbeque like corn on the cobb, pasta salad, or even smoked cheese pinwheels. If the weather is nice, make sure to take this potluck outside to enjoy picnic style!

National Salad Month (May)

Most people think of salads and think of a bowl of green lettuce, but there are actually tons of different varieties of salad. This makes the perfect potluck theme where everyone can bring a “salad” dish. Examples of dishes could be chicken salad sandwiches, fruit salad, ambrosia, pretzel salad, and so much more! This would be a great potluck for a work lunch where people may take their lunch at different times.

Asian Pacific Heritage Month (May)

The month of May is an appreciation month for all Asian and Pacific Islander Americans and what better way to celebrate than with a potluck of your favorite Asian and Pacific Islanders dishes! You can bring lots of different soups, noodle dishes, different meats served over rice, egg rolls/ spring rolls, and there are tons of super yummy Asian & Pacific Island fruits and vegetables to try!

Potluck Themes to Celebrate in May

Hopefully this fun list of appreciation days and celebrations will inspire your next potluck party in May! Some of these themes are pretty mild and basic, while some will require some creative thinking.

For more information about throwing a potluck party, check out “How Much to Spend on Food for a Potluck: A Quick Guide” and “How Much Food to Bring to a Potluck: A Simple Guide.”