Catering for adults at kids parties

[Notmycircusnotmyotter]

What's normal in your area?

Today's party was in a hall. For adults, there was assorted soft drinks, crisps, chocolate brownies and takeaway pizzas.

Last weekend there was crisps, cake, soft drinks and a lot of canned cocktails / cava / beers. This is the usual (kid in reception so we've had around 15 parties).

Tomorrow is a soft play party so the host - if same as others - will put a card behind the cafe for adults to order whatever hot or cold drinks they want.

Im planning my child's party. What goes down well for adults in your area? I'll definitely provide alcohol - would be an outlier to not do so at an afternoon party round here.

What you described would be unusual here. My daughter went to a private school nursery and they sometimes put out sandwiches and provided drinks but never a card behind the counter at soft play. At her state primary it’s usually tea/coffee or some cans of drinks, maybe some biscuits.

actually annoys me when there’s biscuits out for the parents (usually nicer than what’s offered to the kids!) before the kids food. Meant I spent the first hour directing my child to go and engage in the party rather than hanging round me trying to get biscuits which aren’t really intended for her.

Coffee, tea and passing around some cake at the end. Parents will nibble on leftovers of kids food. If at an actual venue, there will be a cafe on site and parents just buy their own.

I did years of catering kids parties with really nice food and drinks and barely any of it got touched. Parents are super awkward. They will accept a cup of tea, but god forbid you try to press a sandwich or pizza on them. They won’t touch it around here. It’s very tea and biscuits only.

Never in my 13 years of hosting parties and attending them has anyone put a card behind the cafe so parents could order drinks. That would be considered very ostentatious and flashy. We all can manage to buy a coffee, no need to flash the cash.

50:50 around here or booze vs no booze. State school nice area. 90% cater for parents with finger food of some capacity. Those who don’t are remembered! No open bars…

I'd provide wine or beer, wouldn't do separate food for adults, just enough buffet for them to tuck in once the kids have been served. If it's an outside party in the garden, we'd probably do a bbq just burgers & sausages and buns with big bowls of homemade coleslaw and potato salad.

Parties here sound similar to yours, there is normally a selection of soft drinks and alcohol. I don’t think people expect a lot of food but there are generally crisps/veggies + hummus/olives. The kids will often eat some too. Adults normally get a slice of birthday cake too.

I've never known booze at a kids' party. Does no one need to drive home? Or do both parents come and one is the designated driver?

Usually a party is walkable or easy in an uber. Often both parents come and make it a social event.

That's sounds crazy to me

I just do sandwiches, fruit, crisps etc and adults can have any leftovers.

Not a chance I would be buying every adult a drink I'd be broke.

At a party in a hall - nothing usually provided except cup of tea, and then birthday cake if (when) there is plenty left over.

At a party somewhere with a cafe - quite usual to say please get a tea or coffee and parents pay for it all at the end.

To be fair most parties were not held over a standard mealtime so adults wouldn’t be hungry.

I've only ever provided food for adults if it was a families party i.e. we were inviting families specifically and not just having adults stay around because they didn't want to drop and run.

At a standard children's party, the most I would run to would be tea and coffee if in my own home/booked hall; but I'd expect the adults to graze on any leftover party food when the children were finished.

Usually soft drinks in a hall, or the soft plays all have cafes. Some hosts offer parents a drink as they arrive, others expect you to buy your own. No food but normally plenty left over from the kids. Round here alcohol would be really unusual, possibly because 90% of halls are church owned and don’t allow it. Also despite living in London, unless it’s the hall really near the school, most people will be driving.

Don’t worry we can eat some leftover spaghetti from the bin 😁

….(motherland reference)

Our favourite soft play let you do self catering so I always got trays of Costco sandwiches/cookies etc for the parents but they bought their own coffee.

When my kids were little and we lived in France, kids parties were either drop-and-run or they had beers, wine etc and nibbles for the adults.

Since I moved to England ive never seen alcohol at a kid’s birthday party (as opposed to a family Xmas party). Clearly I’m at the wrong school!!!

I usually provide tea and coffee at a church-hall party or buy a round of teas/coffees at a soft play party. Some parents offer, some don’t.

This year, for the first time ever, all parents dropped and ran, which simplified things enormously!