Food for a teenage party

Another vote for the cheaper supermarket pizzas. We’ve also got the Costco ones a few times, also the cookies that come in a box of 20 or something always get eaten. If you have Costco card.

I would always go for large bottles of soft drink with plenty of paper cups and access to water. My teens asked for those large red cups recently, seem to be the in thing. I rinsed and recycled after.
if you get cans they’re expensive and people take one and leave them around so there is a lot of waste.

if you have leftover drink in bottles the next day I’ve found that if you put them on a recycling app like Olio they usually get taken as only open for a day or so, which means we don’t have to keep drinking fizzy for a week and they get used somewhere.

Get lots of napkins, crisps, birthday cake etc.

Over the summer my DS hosted a World Cup party and i did hot dogs that time and got those red and white hot dog boxes, I think from home bargains, DS said his friends really liked those.

for a 16th we made a non alcoholic punch which no one really drank! Possibly a bit old fashioned 😂

We’ve hosted a LOT of teenage parties.

Lidl, cheapest pizza (£1, and garlic bread. Put some extra cheese on. Teens will demolish it.
You could get a big box of doughnuts too (if you go in a few days before the party you can usually ask them to make you a load of doughnuts for collection) -can't go wrong for 40p each.

M and S do a pizza meal deal - two large pizzas and two sides for £12. The sides include chicken nuggets, garlic bread, halloumi fries, chips, so it’s really good value.
I’d get five deals for 20 people.

Why you bringing up sex now? This is a thread about what FOOD to serve up to a gathering of young teens and so far you've mentioned alcohol, sex and mystical 'brownies'.. quite the achievement and you have gall to call me a HTT?

I did not insinuate hash brownies any more than I insinuated giving alcohol to 13 year olds. Have a word with yourself...

It's usually the sex threads that pick up the half term trolls, not the food threads!

Oh to be so naive and wholesome. I'm.so pleased there are still folk like you around in this cesspit of a world. Keep on being you.

I think you need to pick your mind up out of the gutter @HumbleHun. No way did the poster insinuate hash brownies.

Apologies you didn't explicitly say hash but with the alcohol for teens comment it was insinuated it was hash brownies your daughter and her friends fondly remember.

Pardon? Please show me where I said hash brownies?

I also said 'when they are older' in relation to alcohol. Kids to have a tendency to get older, and sixth form parties tend to have alcohol involved.

Pizza (add some extra toppings to supermarket ones), garlic bread, crisps and dips.

When my kids were teens, I used to make a couple of trays of brownie batter in advance then throw it in the oven about half way through, the smell of baking brownies was magnetic to teenagers and it was a cooler (and cheaper) option than birthday cake. No nuts, and I'd do some with mini marshmallows and some without to accommodate the veggies. My daughter is mid 20's, her friends still talk about the smell of the brownies in the oven at parties (also works well if they're a bit older and you want to soak up the alcohol...)

Ask your daughter what is usual amongst her friends?
Normally just pizza, some meat some veggie, ask you DD to find out about allergies. Dr Oetka gluten free is fine and there are cheese free and tomato free pizzas around.
Don't buy the cheapest pizza, she may be embarrassed - most supermarkets do slightly better ones and you can add mozzarella. Definitely not alcho pops, just get some 3L bottles of various Cokes, Dr Pepper and others - she will tell you.
Not sure if you are having a cake, there are "push the boat out" options at Paul-UK (fraisier or framboisier) or Lolas, but most supermarkets do big cheaper ones. Prepared fruit such as watermelon slices are good, but most will eat ice cream, profiteroles/eclairs or similar.
Use real plates if you can, paper plates usually deposit food on the floor.

Hot dogs? Are you trying to recreate your own 13th birthday party for your daughter 30 years later?

I’d go to Iceland and buy a load of pizzas and garlic breads. They do desserts too.

Do you have a slow cooker? Hot dog sausages in water in there on the “warm” setting stay warm for ages!!

If you have a Costco membership- their pizzas are the best value . From the food court they are about £9 - with the number of kids you’re feeding I would suggest buying 5. The slices are massive and then you don’t need nuggets and hot dogs. If you want to make take them home and bake them - you will need a big oven they about £1 to £2 cheaper.

You don’t have to be a member to go to the food court only to the deli.

Crosta and Mollica pizza

Hot dogs in a slow cooker (I used the ones in jars) and pre cut rolls with a sauce station. Food stays warm, rolls are ready and they can add whatever sauce they want. Did this for 40 x 8 year olds and was an absolute hit. We also had a smaller slow cooker with veggie hot dogs in.

It takes a while to cook pizza for 20. Do you have an air fryer. If so, cook nuggets in there freeing up oven space for pizza, might be worth seeing if you can borrow an extra couple of oven shelves from a friend or family (they aren’t one size fits all but there are lots that fit many). Loads of bowls of crisps, a couple of buttered french sticks will keep them full if pizza needs to be cooked in stages. Do not underestimate the amount of pizza teenagers can put away!

Are your guests 13, or 18? Big difference!

Big kid is 18 now so I’ve been doing this for a while! Make sure you know of any allergies, then we do pizza, garlic bread, nuggets and sometimes loaded wedges/potato skins. Crisps, dips, popcorn and sweets. Fizzy pop I buy in bottles and all kids are welcome to have an alchopop so long as I’ve spoken to their parents. Birthday cake (if it is a birthday, many of big kids gatherings have been “just because”). Me and small kid tend to retreat to my room and let the teens have the front room for the afternoon/evening and they know where I am if anything is needed!

Aldi's "fancy" pizzas are great. I'd do chips and nuggets and wouldn't worry about hot dogs.

I wouldn't leave a sharpie with a bunch of teenagers at a party!😂

Pizza - and for that amount, if you cook some at a time (as I’m assuming you won’t get 10 in your oven!) it will mean there will be warm pizza available for a good period of time.
just check for allergies and GF.
Sainsburys sell the Dr Otker gluten free pizza - and they are pretty good.

The more expensive (but still cheap) Aldi pizzas are great, you can get a variety of toppings and stuffed crusts etc - so something for most people.

Id be tempted to buy cans of fizz - teens tend to remember they’ve put a drink down if it’s in a can, but memory fails them if using glasses or a cup 🤣

Have plenty of kitchen roll to hand to save greasy hands on, well, everything.