drinks for kids party

[Clearinguptheclutter]

really boring question but I have been put in charge of drinks for the y6 leavers party. To be clear, school are organising a disco but some parents are organising a party on their actual last day .I have been put in charge of drinks.
there are about 25 coming but I expect possibly a handful of siblings so lets say 30.

a. how many bottles of pop?
b. Are aldi "fakes" (what I usually buy) ok or should I be gettnig the branded stuff. Not particularly worried about cost personally but obviously getting branded stuff will push up the "ticket price" for each kid.

I’m going to hold your hand gently when I say this.. your child will soon be in secondary school with free will to pop to the shop and buy any drink of their choosing. It’s caffeine, not cocaine.

DD was allowed a can of full fat Coke a few times per week (full sugar - we don’t do artificial sweeteners in our house). Also drank single shot iced lattes on occasion. She never went mad over energy drinks etc once in secondary school like many of her peers did - I believe the everything in moderation from a young age technique did work.

I'm really surprised. Obviously at secondary school kids can shovel whatever crap they want into their bodies, but when we do have the chance, why not make better choices for our kids?

The person who suggested pineapple juice and fizzy water - that sounds like fun.

I think this is a parenting difference. My kids have water or milk generally to drink I think it’s better for teeth / general health. The odd fizzy water as that’s what I have sometimes. Eldest is 15 and chooses to buy milk with lunch , he drinks about 3 pints a day.

Like a pp they go wild with Coke Zero at parties if its an option

OP I’d stick up a poll in WhatsApp and just check whether they are happy to have caffiene/ carbonated drinks.

Lots of good suggestions here, just to add I wouldn't go overboard on trying to cater to every taste. (Based on doing some school events where we went too broad and had random stuff left over.)

From doing those school events and weekend away with lots of Y7s recently, the following went down well.

• Coca Cola - would offer full fat and coke zero as different prefences.
• Lemonade - generic
• Fruity option - Rio a surprise hit and was cheap at Costco!
• Healthier fizzy e.g..juice and fizzy water
• squash for thirst - blackcurrant based was notably more popular than orange.
• water

We don't do soda at home, but I think fair enough at a party. My Y7 only drinks water. My younger DS would drink all the flavours if he could!

For KS2 school discos we do branded cans of sugar free pop - Coke Zero, sprite or 7up and something fruity like tango or Fanta. We also have bottles or plain water and flavoured water available for the non fizzy drinkers.

If you’re doing bottles then I’d be less bothered about branded for lemonade and fruity but do think Coke or Pepsi is best for a cola option.

mocktails do sound fun and would be special for a leavers party!

If budget allows I’d do cans - personally I’d do 1/2 trays of coke, Coke Zero, Fanta, sprite… or whatever is on offer. We don’t have fake sugar in the house so my kids don’t like it - apparently quite against the grain as I’m not bothered by a bit of sugar and caffeine but really don’t like them having the fake stuff! You can’t please everyone though and I wouldn’t care what they had at a party.

Then I’d do jugs of water and squash for whenever the cans run out.

I have a year 6 and wouldn’t give a flying fig what he drank at a party, and not would any other parent I know.

That said, some kids prefer water or squash so I’d make sure that was an option.

Take a sharpie so you can scribble initials on cups or cans so the kids can identify their own drink.

I would get cans, Iceland/Food warehouse do 4 trays for £34, that's 96 cans so more than enough. Then 2 big bottles of squash.

If you have Costco they do 48 bottles of water for £3.49.

One of mine can't have anything fizzy or blackcurrant because of medical issues but as long as there was orange squash he would be happy.

I also wouldn’t like that to be the only option. We do not allow caffeinated drinks at home for the children regardless of whether it’s a party - it’s odd to be that people have the attitude of lightening up because it’s a party. My daughter cannot sleep if she has Coke Zero (found out the hard way) It’s something you put into your body for goodness sake. You wouldn’t tell someone to have a line of coke because you’re on a night out for example.

I wouldn’t judge OP for providing it alongside squash though.

love the idea of a mocktails station!

otherwise, Coke Zero, lemonade and maybe orangeade and plenty of water and squash.

We don’t have much in the way of fizzy drinks in the house, but they are treat drinks when out for meals etc so wouldn’t be bothered if they were on offer at a party.

soon as they are in secondary you’re trying to stop them from buying all the horrible energy drinks for themselves!

My DNephew who’s just turned 8 likes, slushies, Pepsi max, Diet Coke, sprite. Fresh orange juice (from freshly squeezed oranges you see them being squeezed). Robinsons orange juice. Apple juice. He doesn’t like (tried him with this) ginger beer, and it was a posh one too.

At that age I wasn’t bothered by fizzy drinks apart from Tizer and soda stream. Preferred Ribena or robinsons orange lemon and pineapple squash.

From experience, I’d go with bottles and cartons rather than cans and cups. Spilled drinks are a nightmare to deal with.

Please please no pineapple unless you have carefully requested allergy derails first!