No party food or drink provided

[ImaMumtoaboy]

So my ds(11) went to a football party yesterday. The minute we got in the car he asked to go the shop for a drink as he was so thirsty.
Party was at the local astro pitch, party room included that has 2 ovens, hob, 2 toasters, 2 microwaves and 2 fridges. Most parents bring in frozen pizzas and chips and cook them or order in pizzas.
Kids were running around for 2 hours in hot weather they were not offered any drinks during that time.
He said in the "party room" they got 1 small bottle of water (250ml) and a small slice of birthday cake. They only went into the room 10 minutes before I arrived to collect him.
When I went in the mother was packing up the cake which looked like there was about 3/4's left. I thought the kids must have had enough food that they didnt want cake. And parents cleaned up very quickly. Kids were all quiet(14 11/12 yr old boys) who are normally very loud at parties. Kids were just sitting waiting to be collected.Turns out they got a very very skinny slice, described by ds as thinner then a slice of bread.
Ended up bringing him to Mcdonalds as a treat and we seen 2 other parents of kids that were at the same party getting their kids food.

I think that poster is being sarcastic….

Oh my fucking god 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Lol. Parsimonious, how rude! I'm not sure why you feel attitude to food is the only indicator of a person's generosity? I assure you it isnt.
I just don't personally need to be eating to have fun, and from my experience of having to coax children away from activity to the food, neither in the main do they.
I'm also fairly certain a bunch of children can manage a two hour kick around between lunch and tea without keeling over from lack of nourishment.

What's an almond parent?

But they hadn’t had lunch….. that’s the issue!!

One that’s nuts?

Yes, fair point. 12 till 2 is the lunch period. If you're dispensing with food it's not a great time slot for the party.

They can ‘manage’ it - that doesn’t make it a party. If I’m going to a party I can manage to sit and chat for 2 hours - but I’d be a bit ticked off if I wasn’t offered anything to eat or drink. Offering refreshments is part and parcel of hosting - the activity is one part, food and drink is the other.

They hadn’t had lunch btw.

Exactly, it’s totally ridiculous and rude! Glad you’ve seen sense!

Well, some people on this thread must throw the shittest parties ever. Glad I’m not your chums. 😆

Sure I would think it's abit odd but I would have any big dramatic thoughts over it we would have had food afterwards and moved on, I can't see it a something to get worked up over

Who can’t afford to offer drinks though? Could be as cheap as water + ice + lemon juice or squash…

If my kids were invited to a football party, at the very least i'd expect there to be water/squash available for them especially on a hot day. If you can't afford to do the bare minimum for your kids party, you may as well not do a party. It doesn't cost much for a couple packs of shops own brand crisps, a bottle of squash and some finger sarnies or a couple of Asda 90p pizzas. Most kids would be happy with that, they don't need a full buffet of food. At the very least, let the parents of the kids attending know that there isn't any food/drink so they can send their kids with something.

Am assuming this is a joke, given it was an older kid having a kick about with his mates for a couple of hours, not a toddler trekking across the Sahara?

IME most kids look forward to the food aspect. It doesn't take up an hour of the do, they wolf it down! The hosts could have served a couple of supermarket pizzas and homemade ham sandwiches for minimal cost. Water is free.

You can't provide nothing if you're going to host a do over lunchtime, call it a party and accept gifts.

Is it possible there was more food but the child didn't want it, or was too busy playing to see it? My (much younger) child will go and play and then say there wasn't any, or there was no time to eat.

This
That wasn’t a party . If they couldn’t put their hands in their pockets then why bother . They were having a laugh .

I had the birthday boy turn up at my house (not arranged)3 weeks ago at 11.30 1 morning. And i txt the mother to say he was here. She text back will you send him home at 2. Are you going to give him lunch?

Bit of a demanding text.l from her. Either they have money worries or they are tight because she does expect her child to be fed at other people’s houses or events.

Could they have genuinely messed up thinking that the venue would put some food on as part of the party package? Like if it said something about includes use of party room/kitchen to feed the guests, could they have assumed food would be provided ..

When my 11 year olds were at football parties back in the day, they would be much more interested in the football than the food. A crap party would eb if they were dragged from the football pitch in order to eat a curled up cheese sandwich.

So, of course you would expect them to be fed, but they weren't. Maybe they're disorganised. Maybe they're mean. Is it really worth anyone's time to worry about this?

Then in 2+ hours you have time to nip to the shops and buy crisps, pizza, snacks or order a deliveroo/just eat etc...

Last party I hosted I ran to the shop mid way through as we where serving ice cream and there was no where to keep it frozen from before hand... handy as more people showed up than RSVP'd so I grabbed some extra bits too.

That also doesn't explain the tiny amount of cake or no party bags either (yes party 'bags' aren't required but I have never actually been to a party where they gave NOTHING. some might give sweets only in a little bag or a balloon, small bag of haribo/slice of cake or opted for 1 'bigger' item like a book but never has there been nothing at all). Its just strange as more often than not the 'party bag' would include at least sweets or something edible.

darkmodeon · 25/06/2023 16:36
HermioneWeasley · 25/06/2023 16:28

Completely inhospitable. If you can’t afford to host people, don’t have a party

“We aren't all made of money. That kid might have loved his party with his mates.”

This. Lots of people on here who don’t seem to realise how tough life is for some right now.

The child shouldn’t get to celebrate with his friends because his parents are hard up? The football was the main event, surely?

How are people missing the point? football in the park is FREE.

Us genuinely 'poor' folk don't pay to hire expensive private venues especially for something thats entirely free to do.

This is like the people who use to pop up on the wedding forum every now and then who had paid £5k beautiful but DIY wedding venue, bought a £2k dress and hired a £2k band, a £2.5k award winning wedding photographer + £1k+ wedding rings then invite 100 people. Then they ask 'how do I tell guests we aren't actually feeding them because we can't afford it since we have a strict budget?'.

I "I'm not your typical Mumsnetter" the new "I'm not like Other Girls" for our generation?

Which would’ve been free in a park….