Birthday party - lunch boxes yay or nay?

[YummJeelyPiece]

Hello, my son's birthday is coming up and I have a couple of questions.

I'm thinking of doing the kiddies food in lunch boxes rather than buffet. I was thinking I would still do a wee table with sweeties (for the kids, instead of portioning then in the lunch box), water and a few bits for the adults to pick at too. Is that a bit odd to have a mix? It's just that last year the kids barely touched the food, they were so busy running around! But on the other hand, I don't know if prepacked boxes go down well (kids are between 4 and 5 years old) or if they are welcome as they take away the "extra task" of having to step away from their play to grab food from the buffet table.

Another question- if you do lunch boxes do they double as party bags (so you put the wee sweeties and favours in the lunch box as well as the kids party food), or do you still do separate party bags at the end?

Last question is, if you're doing lunch boxes would you ask parents what kids want (ie, cheese or ham sandwich, etc), or would you just do a mix and on the fay let the parents choose one that suits their kid?

Thanks!

You could always do a buffet and put leftovers in a lunchbox for the kids to take away with a sweetie cone or whatever else. That way you wouldn't need separate parts bags. If you do lunch boxes the kids are still going to run about and you'll lose track of which one belongs to each kid and have a lot of food leftover anyway. Totally depends on how many kids you invite too.

I used to do a lunch box with a mix of sandwiches. I did separate party bags. Worked well.

We went to a party with lunch boxes, it worked really well. And yes, they git sweets/toy to take home

I'd avoid a lunchtime party tbh.

But if you can't/don't want to, I'd ask the parents what sandwiches their kids would want.

We've always asked parents in advance and offered sausage rolls as a sandwich alternative

I did lunch boxes a few times and they always seem to work well. Sometimes I asked parents which sandwich as part of the RSVP, other times I did three triangles cheese, ham, jam once I knew the kids well enough to know if any were vege.
I didn’t have them as party bags though as some kids put all their rubbish inside them. I much prefer them to seeing kids filling plates then being too over whelmed to eat.

Lunch boxes can be hit or miss but easier to accommodate dietary preferences etc.

Separate party bags.

Depends on the age. We did sandwich, cake, yoghurt, drink and fruit in each for a number of years over 3 different children.

We found at the 3-5yo they went "goodie" and ate the lot.
At 6+ they tended to go "I don't like this," "I don't like that", "can't I have...?" and didn't eat anything like as much as a buffet where they could choose their own.

We did little brown lunch bags one year.
Dc chose their sandwich had a fruit shoot and a small sweet and crisp bag.
It worked really well. Much less mess than a buffet.

To be honest I found things like sausage rolls, pizza slices (even cold), bowls of crisps and carrot/cucumber sticks get eaten. Sandwiches don't.

Yeah, I did them and they worked brilliantly.

Each child got:-

Box of Raisins
Mini Cheddars
Wrapped Biscuit like the complimentary ones you get in a hotel.
Cheese Spread Sandwich and a Jam Sandwich (2 squares of each)
Drink

I also got some party hats for the tables, a pack of glow sticks for each child. Home Bargains was cheapest for glow sticks, and then a like plastic toy each like you would normally put in party bags. The party boxes doubled up as party bags

Instead of a birthday cake, I got 4 lots of doughnut trays from Asds. They were about £2.99 for a tray of 12 doughnuts. I got a mixture of different icing. So much easier that cutting a cake.

The cheapest place I Found for the boxes themselves was Wilkos.

To be honest, I was trying to do a class party on a budget in the most straightforward stress-free way possible. I didn't bother asking what food everyone would eat. I thought no child had ever starved through not eating for 2 hours.

It went really well. I would do the same again.

Good luck with your party.

I did party food boxes for my 5 year olds party a couple of weeks ago. Worked really well! Each box had a mini cheese pizza, either cheese and onion rolls or sausage rolls depending on dietary requirements, quavers, mini roll and party rings with a knock off fruit shoot on the side. There were fruit and veg platters on the tables so they could help themselves to whatever fruit they liked.

Also, you can buy prefilled party bags for cost effective convenience. I got 30 jungle themed party bags for £37 on Amazon and added a pack of maltesers and a slice of the birthday cake to each bag

We did this for dd's fifth birthday. It worked well. We did ask what they'd like in their sandwich. It was good as they didn't just demolish the sausage rolls and sweets leaving me with a table full of crudités and sandwiches 😂, as happens at all the buffets we've had.

We did sandwich, yoghurt, banana, crisps and then they had sweets and cake in their part bags.

I did this once and wouldn't bother again. Kids eat so little at parties usually; they just want to hare around. I think I'd save the work and food waste and just do a simple sandwich buffet and some fruit and veg sticks with popcorn/crisps.

I think buffet or lunch boxes are equally fine. I’d do whatever is easier and cheaper.

I’d ask parents what sandwich in advance so you have the right number.

And party bags/favours at the end if you’re doing them. It’s the official signal that it’s time to leave.

I don’t think you need to have sweeties as extra. The parties we’ve been to with lunch boxes just had cake. No one missed extra sweet stuff. Do coffee/tea/biscuits for grown ups.

Or avoid parties at mealtimes.

I think say between 2pm and 4pm is a good time. That way you can just provide nibbles.

Thanks everyone, to clarify. Party will be in the afternoon 2pm-5pm, I called them lunch boxes, but really is snacks not a meal that I will provide 😊 great suggestions all, thank you!