To serve a baby led weaning buffet at my daughters party?

[PignutSalamander]

Dd is turning 1, I am planning to do a buffet based on the very hungry caterpillar. The plan as stands is to set it all up on a trestle table and when it's time to serve it put the legs down and let them at it.
Consideration has obviously been given to making it safe and easy for kids to feed themselves and the first few people I mentioned it to said they thought it was a great idea
I mentioned it to a mum who will be bringing her dd and she said " err! What about germs? How will we stop them taking a bite and dropping it, then another baby eating it?"
I basically feel that they will be spending the whole party sharing toys, touching each other etc and that germs are just going to be shared.
Obviously I will ensure that hands are washed before they eat and have also checked for allergys and warned mums not to put them in there best clothes. Also seperate snacks for adults
So what's the consensus mn? Aibu?

Wow Janey you nearly goaded me enough to enter a slanging match with you. Not quite though sorry.

So to recap (minus bunfight)

Clean hall floor myself first ( obviously)
Plates for those who chose to use them ( after all it gives them something to tip all their food off onto the floor)
Cover floor for ease of cleaning ( obviously)
Low table
Provide cleaning materials
Provide adequate warning

why dont you make a big tray of gloop (cornflour and water) and let the babies play with that why let them waste food and get it all over themselves you are a bit bonkers and a wee bit show offy,

I didn't see any goading.

YABU. It sounds like a recipe for complete disaster, tbh. Not because of germs but because of the enormous amount of work necessary to produce something that is way beyond necessary for a first birthday and which will result in complete chaos. Blw doesn't necessarily mean a free for all and many (if not all) of the parents will want to make an informed selection what their one year olds eat.

I did a similar (but not so preciously titled) sort of party for ds2's second birthday. It took forever to get the food off the children, carpets and furniture afterwards and the squashy muddle that ensued when tea was served did nothing to improve the party.

I like the sound of a Very Hungry Caterpillar but not for anyone under 3 and even then I think you'd have unreal expectations if you thought that parents wouldn't play some (albeit minor) role in the selection of what their child ate.

Seriously, OP - it wasn't my idea, but upthread, someone posted to suggest having just a normal buffet, nice healthy snacks, plates etc -

Then having a messy play separate to the food.

What on earth is wrong with that? If it's the exploring and play and mess you want to see, this ticks all the boxes.

When my ds was 1 year old, he was a timid child and not a very explorey crawler at all. I did blw and he was a competent eater - but something like this would have scared him off eating at a party.

How can that be nice for kids? I would have to wade into the mess, upset ds under arm, try and retrieve a few snacks, put them on a plate and then sit at the side while ds picked through it all.

Oh - except I couldn't do that because there won't be any plates. Because you don't wanna. This ain't about the party, this is one-up-mum-ship, and it's not pretty.

What is so wrong with plates?

Sounds lovely to me. Great stuff.

one-up-mum-ship

I like what you did there!

I do think this isn't the greatest idea ever but some of you are being unnecessarily rude - have you not considered the possibility that OP just wants to make a lovely day for her DD's first birthday and isn't just trying to show off?

overthinking it much?

Oh, and I like your revised idea

So you WANT them to smush the food up and in your own words are looking forward to watching them destroy the food instead of eating it.
What a waste of perfectly good food.
If you're so intent on having mesys play, why not have a messy play corner? Wanting the babies to smash food up rather than actually have something to eat is crackers.

Do you REALLY believe you can get the hall floor so pristine you could eat off it? Really? I'm not too fussed about germs but even I draw a line at letting babies eat off a floor that may well have traces of dog shit on it. A bit of dettol won't quite cut it.

cross post - OP, I can't tell you how relieved I am you have recanted over the plates issue.

Not all the plates will be tipped onto the hall floor. They won't. And anyway, mess isn't an issue for you, so no problems there.

messy gah

I've not read this thread but I don't think I'd like the idea of this. I would want to know exactly what was going into my 1 year old's mouth. Foodwise that is! So it's OK if the parents plate up the food but not OK if one year olds's dig in and throw stuff and trod on stuff and play with it all. the very thought!!

Tbh it's not something I would do, too lazy but it does sound like fun why not! No its not BLW Mabey op used te term in the wrong context but hey go for it

it is the standing on it and mushing up of it oh and the sharing makes me heave a little tbh will be in hair and everything and unless there is shoe covers for the adults then you can't say it would be clean, so glad you relented to plates and low tables, bet the idea sounded fab in your head but in reality it will be chaos and filthy baby saliva is not angel tears it is germy and urgh

So what's the consensus mn? Aibu?

So, this line of your OP was total bollocks then? You surely meant to say I am not being unreasonable and don't give a damn what the MN consensus is.

1 year olds will not be able to help themselves from a buffet.

TBH, if I'd gone to a first birthday party like this I would think the host was a bit of an idiot. And I say that having gone through 3 children's worth of first birthday parties. Their own personal box of Caterpillar Buffet so they can pick it out of the box is far more sensible. A table for them to feed at like a pig trough is daft.

OP can I just ask- why did you bring this to AIBU- really?

I can see a number of reasons parents might not like this (apart from the 'BLW buffet' wankery)

1. No control over what kids eat
2. Teaching poor table manners
3. Germy x contamination
4. Upthread someone talekd of their son, who eats normal food (like all other 12 month olds surely?) but would be frightened of this situation. You might find some cross parents afterwards who blame you for their child's change in attitude to food.

OP, I agree with the posters who think it's a lovely idea for slightly older children.

It doesn't matter that it's a lot of work - if you enjoy it, why not?

But, it seems a bit wanton to revel in seeing food wasted and smeared around the place for the sake of it. 'Exploring food' means trying different foods and experiencing tastes, smells and textures. It's not appropriate to crawl through it or attempt to eat all the plums yourself because they're shiny and feel nice then cry when a lady takes the plate away from you and have a sore tummy, followed by diarrhoea and a sore bottom. Or be sick because you've eaten too much cake etc etc.

Please don't give lollipops. They are dangerous.