Party food, ideas please

[coldtea]

It's my ds' 5th birthday party on sunday & i have 15 children coming.

For a number of reasons i've decided to put the food straight onto the plates for the children, and have the table ready for when they sit down.

I'm having a mental block as to what to put on them. I don't want it too fussy as i'll be doing the same on each one, then the child can leave what they don't want.

I'm thinking nuggets, sausages & sausage rolls, maybe some cucumber wedges. I wasn't going to put anything sweet on the plate as we'll have Jelly & ice-cream after.

What would your childs ideal party plate have on it?

[GhostofNatt]

small sandwiches (cheese, ham, marmite, egg mayo etc), small pizza slices, cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, humous?

[Lonelymum]

Grapes go down surprisingly well I find.

[RTKangaMummy]

watermelon slices or chunks

popcorn plain or buttered

[Lonelymum]

Also something chocolate. I have read your post and know you are talking about savoury things here, but not all children eat jelly and I am thinking of after they have eaten their plate load of savoury things.

[GhostofNatt]

also celery sticks with cream cheese in (can put raisins on top for ants on a log)...

[Iklboo]

Anything you can clean easily off your carpet/walls/curtains/pets
Last young 'uns party I went to had potato wedges/smily faces, garlic bread, cheese chunks etc as well

[Newbarnsleygirl]

What about Eton Mess as well as Ice cream and Jelly. Always goes down a treat with kids.

Chunks of cheese either on a stick with pineapple or just on its own.

[coldtea]

Good point Lonelymum, last year i had 28 children & made jelly with fruit in the bottom. BIG mistake i spent 1/2hr picking the fruit out as all i kept hearing was 'iiii don't liiike fruit' AARGHH.

[coldtea]

Ants on a log sound great, i'm just a bit worried about the fussiness of the children after the jelly episode!

What is eton mess?

[Lonelymum]

I can only ehco Coldtea, what is eton mess? Does it have another name? I can't believe there is something out there for kids that I have never heard of!

[Lonelymum]

echo

[Gobbledigook]

For ds's 4th birthday party in April I did hotdogs - it was really easy and quick and they loved it! Did a few big bowls of crisps too (twists and hoops) and followed with ice-cream cornets. I also just had a big bowl of celebrations for the choc element!

All the parents were very impressed!

[MarsLady]

Absolutely goobledigook! Perfect choice!

[hunkermunker]

Eton mess is lovely - cream, strawberries and meringue, all squashed up. Yum! Had it last night, in fact!

[Gobbledigook]

Was it your idea Mars? Someone gave me the idea but I can't remember who it was!

[flobbleflobble]

Only crisps - all she ever eats

[coldtea]

That's ok was going to put crisps in the middle

[flobbleflobble]

Hope you all have a great time on Sunday

[RTKangaMummy]

How did it go?

[coldtea]

Fantastic, thanks for asking.

It was a lot better organised than last year(if i do say so myself!) & the children all seemed to have a great time.

The games started well with all joining in but they soon got fed up & wanted to play on all the things in our garden. I just went with the flow & let them play.

The entertainer was a bit disappointing but the children liked him.

Ds loved having it at home & i have to agree it felt like a nice intimate party. Am on a high now!

[RTKangaMummy]

Glad it went well

[MarsLady]

yes gobble it was my idea. I do it every year. Works like a charm

[MarsLady]

sorry coldtea, how rude of me.

Glad the party went well!

[Gobbledigook]

Mars - Jools is offline but she posted a thread for you this morning - did you see it?

Lovely pressie btw - she showed it to me this afternoon. She was quite choked!