5 year old birthday party, confused about food per head!

[wejammin]

I've booked a venue for my daughter's 5th birthday party in a couple of weeks, usually I would hire a hall and cater myself but between selling our house and baby DC3 I thought getting a venue with a bouncy castle and catering would just be easier.

DD wants hot dog and chips, it's £3.50 a head, seems reasonable. However lots of the kids coming are halal/veggie/vegan so the other options are fish fingers or veggie fingers. The man at the venue said he needs to know by Saturday how many of each option we're having.

The question is, how do I know that a week in advance? It's impossible enough getting RSVPs let alone what they will want to eat. On the RSVP point, in the knowledge that I wont get half of them, I'm not sure how many heads to over-cater for. I would be mortified if we ran out of food but equally don't want to pay over the odds.

The other thing is, there is a charge of £5 per jug of cordial, or alternatively I can buy drinks from the bar at bar prices. This all tips the costs into the red a bit for me, do you think kids would mind having jugs of water? I was contemplating bringing those little squeeze pouches of cordial but that seems a bit cheeky.

Gah! This was meant to be the easy option. I can't cancel now as I've paid for the venue and bouncy castle but I've got The Regrets.

[HennyPennyHorror]

I'd have asked for food preferences WITH the invitations. Alternatively....take a risk and book half hotdogs and half veggie fingers. Forget the fish/ At least the Halal and the Veggies are taken care of at the same time with the veggie fingers.

Only problem is that you may have more people wanting one option than will go around.

Do you have to have the place cater? I'd make my own picnic style buffet if not.

[wejammin]

Yeah I should have asked one the invites, I've definitely dropped the ball here.

I think I'll change it to a standard kids sandwich buffet which is more per head but with a lot more options so I reckon I'll get away with less "heads", there's always loads left anyway!

[itsallafiddle]

£5 for a jug of bloody cordial?! Tell them you'll have tap water then pop your own bottle of squash in your bag. Robdogs.

[wejammin]

Yep @itsallafiddle it is properly cheeky! There is a cash bar for adults but I'm not buying all the kids separate drinks.