daughter's 3rd birthday party - advice/ suggestions please!

[LetThemEatCake]

Party is from 2.30-5pm so I'm assuming that the kids will have eaten beforehand (plus they never seem to be bothered about the food anyway, right?)

So I'm thinking to mainly focus on food for the adults (salads etc) plus a big platter of chicken and one of sausages, plus bread rolls - and then the kids can have these too, does that sound okay?

plus crisps and whatnot, and the cake of course.

Ice cream cones if it's warm enough?

Party bags - what to put in them? So far I've bought some fake tattoos, haven't made it any further than that. Don't want to stuff them with sweets etc, so any other ideas?

TIA

[pointydog]

two and a half hours is long

[twinklytoes]

balloon, bubbles, mini haribo bag and cake in bag is sufficient for a 3yrold. if you need to cater for older children head to a pound shop and pick up anything that can be split like mini notepads and mini pens, sticker sheets, hairbands, clips.

[misshardbroom]

I agree with pointydog that 2.5 hours for a 3 y.o's party is pretty long.

If it is really & truly a children's party, I would make it 2 hours max (and there's a lot to be said for 1.5 hours ), and do a 'birthday tea' even if the actual sandwich & savoury element is minimal.

If it's more that in honour of your DD's birthday you are having a party with lots of family friends, then you can get into all the catering for adults, but otherwise adults won't expect to be fed.

Party bags - I'd go for balloon (and if you blow them up beforehand and put them on a stick it looks way more exciting), bubbles, cake & maybe 1 other thing such as glittery pencil, hairband, sticker sheet, little bead bracelet.

[LetThemEatCake]

ended up being 3 hours. Was awesome, everyone had a great time and I didn't witness a single melt-down apart from one kid who didn't want to leave at the end.

Had bouncy castle, plus all the stuff we usually have in our back garden (teepee, tents, slides etc) Picnic rugs dotted about the garden and 15-yo niece doing face-painting and temporary tattoos.

Did a bunch of buffet-style salads, plus Doritos, salsa, hummus, sausages, bread rolls - so plenty for adults and kids. Hardly anything left over.

didn't bother with party bags in the end. Made a cake in the shape of a peacock with the 'eyes' of the peacock's tail made up of mini muffins and cupcakes, so there was a cake for each guest and one to take home if they wanted.