Good snacks to take for children to eat at a wedding (bonus points for vegan + no need for keeping cold!)

[mummabubs]

We have a family wedding coming up in the UK in a few weeks. All catering is vegan and our children are the only children invited. Bride has reached out to me as it's a morning ceremony and then wedding breakfast isn't until 4pm. She's worried the kids will be very hungry (I agree!) and has suggested I bring some snacks for them. Obviously I'm more than happy to do this, but I just find I'm drawing a blank beyond a couple of ideas. I guess ideally we're looking for meat-free finger foods that aren't too messy given they'll be in smart clothes.

Please feel free to pop your suggestions here as I'm confident Mumsnet will broaden my idea horizons!

Thanks all 😊

Oh! Won't the kids eat canapés? My kids used to love them!

It's my family, trust me they won't 🤣🤣 everyone will stand politely whilst silently starving on the inside. 🤣

Genius! This has merit 😁

Falafels that aren't greasy or too spicy
Energy balls

I too would do a proper packed lunch for the children and slope off into the grounds or the car to eat it. If the children aren't vegan I would do them normal packed lunch but stay away from meat as it never keeps well in the heat.

Hopefully there will be lots of canapes. There are never enough canapés, especially if everyone is starving and the gannet guests scoff them all before they work their way round everyone. A work collegue did this, morning ceremony, canapes at 1.30 and meal at 4 to try and reduce on the evening food. There were a lot of packups brought by the bride and grooms family, even though the venue said no outside food, everyone just sloped off into the carpark and grounds. There were also lots hungry guests who hadn't had advance warning so quite a few sloped off to McDonald's/ KFC/ greggs that was in the nearby town which meant she was short quite a few guests at the photos.

I make peanut butter sarnies when I can't fridge
Then I'd package loads of individual sized bags of things like mini breadsticks, dried mango, crisps. I'm a rebel so probably some cheese and pepperami

Cook up a 6 pack of Linda McCartney sausage rolls. Totally vegan. My non-vegan kids won’t eat any other sausage rolls but they love these! Good on you for being so respectful, it’s just one day!

Why won't the children be included in that? That seems particularly shitty, especially having been told you bring your own food for the kids at the risk of being bollocked by the venue staff.

I can’t understand why your children need vegan food just because the food provided at the wedding is vegan.

What do you take on a day trip or picnic or school packed lunch? Take same stuff.

Ok so I am coming at this from the my own perspective which does include having a child with Autism , but a wedding day is going to be very stressful and boring for children , lots of people they don’t know, lots of different expectations and rules for the day , and lots of time with nothing to do …. You want to make this as easy as possible for them , pack food you know they will eat , don’t worry about it being vegan, adults can follow dietary requests for the day but it’s folly to expect small children who will be overexcited and overwhelmed to eat new foods for the day.

Samosas? Spring rolls?

sandwich or wrap, veggie sticks, hummus, raisins, fruit, carton of juice, bottle of water, flapjack … all can be vegan if you wish. Keep it fairly beige to avoid mess on clothes.

id be tempted to take a home baked focaccia with a couple of pots of hummus to be honest as I’d be hungry too. Unless baking hot all is fine for a few hours out of the fridge especially if vegan

As well as the box of crisps, take an insulated cooler bag stuffed full of deliciousness for the starving hordes @mummabubs 😉

eta; vegan snacks

@StepawayfromtheLindors, It's out of respect to the bride and groom. It's a vegan wedding.
It's being decent basically.

Hard boiled eggs, cheese cubes, chicken legs.
Cold pizza slices

Hard boiled eggs, cheese cubes, chicken legs.
Cold pizza slices, scotch eggs, mini pork pies

At a vegan wedding?

Chicken legs and cheese that you can’t keep chilled? Sounds like a recipe for disaster, literally!

Breadsticks, carrot sticks, peanut butter. Fruit, nuts, raisins, those fruit leather things you unroll for kids. Healthy sweets/mini bars/biscuits/muesli bars if they like that kind of thing.

Mine used to love apples with peanut butter

It isn't disrespectful to anyone. They're not slipping chicken nuggets into the buffet for laughs.

What's a vegan wedding anyway? It's a wedding like any other. I'm sure there's no expectation for guests to be vegan for the day. Particularly when they're not being fully catered for, as it seems these kids aren't.

@PhilosophicalCheeseSandwich , I think otherwise.

Before the reception

I'd take a packed lunch for them, whatever you'd usually pack.

I'd also at least pack some nuts for me! Surely she's going to offer something for guests to eat before 4pm?

Any dry cereals they'll eat, something like shreddies if that's vegan?