Vegan party food?

[VeganQuery]

Hosting a birthday party soon and two of the guests are vegans. We're catering ourselves doing lunchboxes for the kids and I'd ideally like them all to be the same so that it doesn't matter where the children sit.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what sort of stuff would work well in a party lunch box. I was going to put in bags of party rings or Oreos because I thought both of them were suitable but when shopping tonight the packets said suitable for vegetarians which gave me pause for thought on buying them?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Look in the free-from aisle in the supermarket, you can buy small packets of cupcakes etc.

Not sure about that specific labelling, but I know sometimes even if it doesn't contain meat/dairy/eggs they say 'vegan-friendly' rather than 'suitable for vegans' (or similar) because it's not made in an egg-free/dairy-free etc factory so might trigger an allergy but not 'containing' non-vegan ingredients, iyswim!

Edit: sorry I missed that you want them all to be the same. That could cost you ££ if you get special cakes. Tbh I'd just work out who the vegans are and hand them their own lunch boxes. We do that at school events.

My kids loved hummus, with carrot, pepper and cucumber strips to dip into it.

Pom Bears or popcorn might be good too depending on age (you have to watch out for milk powder in crisps!)

How old are the kids? If you use any meat replacement options be careful of soy allergies.

You be safest with something like hummous and crudités, olives, fruit kebabs, Pom bears, most haribos are vegan.

My nephew used to love rice cakes with avo but it'd be a pita to prep for a party.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. The kids are 4 and 5 and as much as mine loves a good veg stick I generally know that lots won't eat them so it's pointless putting them into the boxes.

There will be sandwiches available too but in the main I just want stuff I can buy and chuck in if that makes sense. So stuff like pom bears is a brilliant shout.

Thanks also for the info about labels not stating it's vegan because of the factory it's made in. It's a minefield for sure.

Peanut butter sandwiches if no nut allegies, flap jacks can be vegan if made with vegan butter ( I think the flora one is very good). Cherry tomatoes might be more popular than veg sticks although most will eat cucumber.

Unfortunately peanut sandwiches are a no go as the venue is nut free but we have other sandwich options which are suitable so that's not an concern.

Really don't want to do just veg on their boxes as that's not fair on the kids when others are eating snacky bits like party rings if that makes sense? I figured there must be something that was vegan even if accidentally vegan that would be suitable.

Depends how strict they are. I'm vegan and I would eat oreos because they don't contain animal products. However because they're made in a factory that uses animal products the risk of cross contamination might put off strict vegans. The things labelled vegan are free from risk so you could stick to those, or of it was OK with the parents also check ingredients and include those with no animal products. Jammy dodgers and bourbons are vegan as are some brands if dark chocolate digestive. Sandwiches, jam, peanut butter, hummus, or you could use vegan 'tuna' or 'chicken' with sweetcorn and vegan mayo. You can get vegan onion bajis spring rolls and samosas if they like that sort of thing. Alpros vegan mousse in individual pots are a hit with the non vegans in my house.

Go to the vegan section in supermarket. There is all sorts of bits in there.

Party rings, jammy dodgers and Oreo’s are all ‘accidentally vegan’ which means they aren’t labelled vegan but they are.

skittles are my easy vegan sweets in a packet go to. I’d just do jam or chocolate spread (Asda & M&S do vegan ones) for sandwiches.

hula hoops, Pom bears etc are vegan (although not labelled so!)

packets of raisins, some fruit and I think you’d be grand!

so lovely to include the vegan kids by making it vegan as standard

Sandwiches can be ham or vegan ham, chicken or vegan chicken. Mini vegan sausage rolls. Lots of crisps are vegan. You can get vegan Percy Pigs from M&S and lots of vegan own-brand sweets from Sainsbury's.

This is brilliant!

I'll check with the parents about them eating stuff that's made in a factory that's not wholly vegan like jammy dodgers or party rings as that would be so much easier and less othering. I just want them all to have the same where possible. 😊

Also M&S do mini vegan cupcakes

You can make wraps with vegan sausages and fried onions inside, and a little mustard or ketchup. Or do vegan sausage in a hotdog bun. Some buns have egg or dairy so might need to check. The vegan tofu hotdogs go down well with kids, but they're quite expensive.

Unfortunately it's got to be cold food only.

@VeganQuery the wraps might still work, minus the onion? Or if you get egg free pastry you could make sausage rolls with the tofu/vegan sausages? I've done that before for a party and they are very popular.

Oreos and pom bears are vegan.

Tesco sell mini vegan sausages rolls which taste basically identical to meat ones. Or use Linda's sausage rolls, defrost and cut into smaller ones before cooking.

I'd do some sausage rolls, pack of pom bears, mini Oreos (home bargains have multipacks of them), cucumber sticks, cherry tomatoes, and a slice of bought vegan cake. Familiar, inexpensive, vegan.

Oreos
Party rings
Jammie dodgers
Meat free sausage rolls (I use the sainsburys plant pioneers ones, no meat eater has ever noticed!)
Plant based dairylea dunkers (these are AH-MAZING)
jam sandwiches
Hartleys ready made jelly pots
Pom bears - salted, cheese, bbq, salt and vinegar flavours (NOT cheese & onion though)
Skips
Hula hoops puft all flavours Inc. Cheese & onion
A lot of supermarket brand onion ring crisps & some of the supermarket own frazzles things
Skittles
Jelly tots
Fruit pastilles
Can get mini caterpillar cakes in the free from section of a lot of supermarkets, just double check they don't have egg in (lots of free from cakes have egg!)

Can't think what else we serve off the top of my head!

This list is so helpful thank you! Are all the heartley jellies vegan suitable?

Also I really appreciate the heads up about the pom bears not all being suitable and I didn't know they made dairylea dunkers that were plant based I could definitely do those.

You can get plant based Babybel now, too.

And these are nice

https://groceries.asda.com/product/vegan-pies-salads-dips/pork-farms-2-vegan-porkless-pies/1000214483371

Oh that's also handy to know. Little bits like that are perfect for the lunchboxes so I'll definitely take a look.

Thanks all I'm so pleased I asked. 😊

You can get frozen Gregg's vegan sausage rolls in Asda (I think it's Asda).

JusRol frozen pastry is "accidentally" vegan, if you wanted to do make some sausage rolls with vegan sausages.

Check bread for animal fat and milk, butter.

Oreos are definitely vegan.
Party rings are too.
Nomo chocolate bars are lovely too.
There'll be loads of party food stuff out in the shops for Christmas now - Asda's OMV range is a great one.
I love the mini "scotch eggs".

Pretzels
onion badjis
falafels
spring rolls
vegan sausage rolls ( you could even cut into pieces some from Greggs )
popcorn
dark chocolate
lolly pops
candy canes
skittles ( be careful as special editions containing blue skittles are not vegan )
Foxes chunky cookies
McVities hobnobs
Lotus biscoff

@TofuTart is quite right about those mini scotch eggs ….yum!