Children’s party food with no fruit?

I know. It’s what, 2 hours or so? I don’t think they will combust if they don’t have some berries.

I'm all for party rings, but if there are one year olds, they like fruit! My nephew picked all the berries carefully off his first birthday cake and made a face at the icing (tbf, it was lemon).

What’s the obsession with having fruit at a children’s party - they will prefer chocolate fingers.

I am hosting a party soon, and was thinking of just having a fruit bowl. Bananas can be around 15p each, which isn't too bad, and just get the cheaper apples and tangarines

I wouldn't bother with chicken bites or popcorn for that age group. Popcorn is also an issue with allergens. I'm not even sure it's worth making sandwiches!

I'd be buying cherry tomatoes and grapes cut in half instead. Or blueberries. Don't get strawberries as it's a common allergen in small kids.

Def wouldn't bother..they won't eat it.

This is fine, at that age you’ll be lucky for them to eat one of those things! The rest will get squished into the carpet.

if you feel you must, I like the idea of a watermelon, but honestly you’re good to go.

Its not even about it being a childrens party, parties are celebratory and all cultures use rich/sweet/expensive foodstuffs for parties and gatherings and have done since time began to mark that

Our modern day culture in the UK means that is things like chocolate fingers, party rings, crisps, sweet things etc etc

Some posters seem to have forgotten that this is about a children’s party. It’s meant to be fun, exciting and with a sugar rush and not normal healthy fruit and veggies diet.

My 3-year-old shuns seeds, so we had galia and canteloupe melon at his party. One £2 melon sliced up would be enough for token fruit and most of the toddlers I know would eat it alongside sandwiches, crisps and chocolate fingers. Don't forget if it's 1-4 year olds it'll mostly be the parents putting the food onto plates for their kids, and most will just put a mix of things they know their kids will eat. It's not the same as older kids helping themselves from the middle of the table, in which case obviously they are just gorging themselves on crisps and chocolate fingers and ignoring the fruit platter (once witnessed an 8-year-old eating three packets of hula hoops in a row).

DS also hates strawberries (weirdo) but I got the last large punnet left in the supermarket because I know normal children like them and they all got eaten. Vegetable sticks were put on plates by parents and ignored.

I'm kind of in the mood for gooseberries now.

The trouble with the concept of a continuous stream of fruit is that it is very acidic, in addition compared to veg it is not very nutrient dense. It will also fill a child up which leaves little room for protein, dairy, grains, fat, veg etc

And the problem with chocolate fingers is that they in fact cause chocolate fingers. Too messy to be honest.

@SouthLondonMum22 absolutely agree. Yes you wouldn't be healthy if all you ever ate was sweet stuff but nor would u be healthy if you only ever ate fruit and veg. Variety is key

It’s ridiculous and is too far extreme on the other end.

It will cause issues in the future for sure.

Cheese & pineapple hedgehog !

Not on mumsnet!!!🤣

Eh. Occasionally at parties isn’t going to do any harm.

I think moderation is key.

It's pretty much universally recommended by health and nutrition advisory boards that you don't give sugar-sweetened foods or foods with added sugar to under 2s. There's lots of reasons to this, including allowing the taste buds to develop without the influence of processed sweet foods - babies are already introduced to sweet flavours from breast milk in particular, but need time for the palate to adjust to really liking other flavours (like the bitterness from vegetables). There is growing evidence that this can lead to reductions in obesity, type-2 diabetes, heart disease and cholesterol for life. Promoting good dental hygiene before introducing sugar also leads to less lifelong tooth decay. Practically, it also leaves more room for nutrient-rich food where you have a fussy toddler going through the stage that they will only take 2 bites of anything.

Just going to the totally opposite end of the spectrum, this thread reminded me of this recent Youtube channel that baked a number of children's birthday cakes from the 1980s.

At the end of the day, it's a kids party, not a restaurant. Have plenty of the beige basics plus sweet stuff and you're fine. No parent takes their kid to a party expecting them to have a healthy, balanced meal full of fresh produce unless they're completely mental.

I think I agree with this. I knew 2 children when I was growing up who had a parent who tightly controlled their food. One a friend at school. Everyone felt sorry for her because she was not allowed any treats and would share theirs with her or she would give us her pocket money and we would buy things for her. She became morbidly obese through secret eating. I lost track of her when we all went off to university.

The second was / is my cousin. My aunt is absolutely food obsessed and has had an array of eating disorders herself under the guise of 'eating healthily'. She would pack a food bag for my cousin to eat at parties and monitored her very closely. My cousin is 45 now and bulimic. She never developed a comfortable relationship with food. Even now my aunt will see her eating something like a creamy risotto [at my house which is what I was serving] and warn her she will become a fat pig.

My mother OTOH was obese all her life and certainly monitored my food intake and weight. Even now before she visits I cut off the tags on my clothes because she looks to see what size I am. I am heavier than I ought to be, but as a teen her behaviour also made me a secret eater. I'd go and buy family blocks of chocolate and scoff them until I threw up then go home for dinner.

There has to be a balance. By all means strive for a healthy balance 95% of the time- but let the child eat cake at a party!

Cold pizza will be fine. Maybe sausage rolls too.

But you aren't giving him healthy habits... You're restricting foods under the false impression that somehow the sugar in the copious amounts of fruit he has is somehow magically healthy for him, but the sugar in a cake or biscuit is somehow poison or something ...

You're setting yourself up for a child with hugely disordered eating and are going to have a huge fucking problem when he gets to 3/4 when he starts realising he has more control/choice and will express his dislikes a lot more at the dinner table. And when he is presented with a table with cakes, biscuits and sweets etc at a party, he's going to be either upset or confused because you will literally have to hover over him to stop.him reaching for these foods, and single him out as different.

And for what? So you can snugly look around at the 30 other kids merrily eating a sausage, a few bits if cucumber and handful of crisps and go 'oh well my boy is soooooo much healthier by having all the fruit I brought along'

One of those genetic things apparently- like coriander which tastes delicious to some but like strong soap to others. Melon and cucumber are in the same family so if you dislike one it's common to dislike the other as well!

Good for you. I was at my local Aldi yesterday and there were certainly no watermelons for sale. I was at my local Tesco on Saturday and also had to pop into Morrisons as Tesco didn't have everything I needed (I was desperately in need of fennel) and neither of those stores had watermelons either.

Must be lots of parties afoot in your area - token watermelons required! In general they are very easy to source. Not exactly a rare exotic fruit 😆