To give all the children a happy meal at ds's 5th party?

[Hangingwiththeraisingirls]

27 children coming. We are on holiday until the day before and will be back late (bad planning on my part).

Wibu to take orders when the children arrive and go and get them all a happy meal and then they can have some birthday cake. Dh says parents will judge me. However I say it will probably be no less healthy than normal type party food and it won't be any more expensive and the kids will love it. The McDonald's is only over the road and I wouldn't then give a load of biscuits and sweets. Just the happy meal and the birthday cake.

Would you judge me?

The free fruit isn't ever Friday it's only once a month.

You can get milk or fresh orange juice with the happy meals as well as fruit shoots or water. Sounds like a good idea to me.

I don't take DS to McDs, but he has gone with holiday club a few times so it's OK as an occasional thing and as such not a problem at a party. Definitely pre-order if possible (not sure if then you'll be able to get a preference from all the kids though?) But as a few pp have said, it's still over 50 quid and I would think pizza would be as easy and cheaper. However, if that's OK for your budget then I'd go ahead.

fine

Don't do orders. The kids won't remember what the parents ordered them or they will want the same as their friend or will sneakily change their mind etc.

Nuggets and chips and they can choose the sauce. Water for all.

You'll probably find they are a lot less hyper on that than fruit shoots/fruit/the usual birthday party fare.

Yuk to macadees!
Sorry, I wouldn't be happy for my kids to eat that crap.i know
Loads would be fine with it though.

Have you seen Jamie Oliver v McDonald's? Can't link, but "u fit for human human consumption" isn't what I want to feed my children.

If you do, tell McDonalds.

Pizza - they'll deliver it hot & sliced & no effort.

But angrybeaver most party food is rubbish. If OP gets party food from supermarket the chicken nuggets there are just as likely to be made from processed bits as the McDonald's ones. OP has already explained the time constraints. Most DCs don't eat that much of it anyway, they open the toy, munch a few chips,then go back to whatever they were doing before.

The kids don't need to remember what they ordered, you have it on a list, we've always done this for soft play type parties and no child has ever said they want something different instead. I think only one food choice (eg nuggets and fries) is a bit mean, neither of my two would eat that.

When we did ours with Dominos, if any parent had said their DC didn't like pizza we would have organised an alternative.

I think the logistics of trying to organise it all and serve it hot , coupled with possible toy angst, might be trickier than anticiptated.

Think I would go with pre-ordering a tray of sandwiches and fruit or salad from a supermarket, and before you go on holiday buy some bags of crisps , jaffa cakes , bottles of water and cartons of juice which you can leave packed in a bag ready to go.

Order it in advance and ask for chips made with no salt. I'm mean and always make the DCs get milk as their drink if we go to McDs but it's a party so I guess most parents will be fine with the juice options?

I think it's a great idea my only issue would be my ds wouldn't be able to go to a party like that as he has a milk allergy and something in the fish fingers causes a reaction, so check none of the children have milkallergy's or are lactose intolerant.

I wouldn't judge at all, the kids would love it. Sounds possibly stressful for you though.

You could always set up a lunch box for each child before you go away with crisps, carton of juice and small chocolate bar. Then on the morning of the party add a sandwich to each box.

zipzap McDonald's lemonade is Sprite Zero:
Carbonated Water, Citric Acid, Flavourings, Sweeteners (Aspartame*, Acesulfame K), Preservative (Sodium Benzoate), Acidity Regulator (Sodium Citrate).

Fruit Shoot:
Water, Fruit Juices from Concentrate (Apple 6%, Blackcurrant 2%, Plum), Citric Acid, Acidity Regulator (Sodium Citrate), Natural Colour (Anthocyanins), Natural Flavouring, Preservatives (Potassium Sorbate, Dimethyl Dicarbonate), Sweeteners (Acesulfame K, Sucralose), Antioxidant (Ascorbic Acid).

Neither is exactly perfect nutritionally but I fail to see how one is full of crap and the other isn't!

OP I'd go for burger, fries and Fruit Shoot all round. The ones who don't like the burger will eat the fries.

No judgement here.

I'd probably go for bottled drinks and only offer milk or orange. Water is free from the tap and you could provide cordial for extras in case the DC don't like or are thirsty.

Have a great time.

Jonny I know! I'm hypocritical but I guess I'm old enough that lemonade had less of the bad stuff and no colourings so it always seemed the lesser of the two evils.

Having said that - I hadn't ever twigged that they served sprite zero rather than sprite! I know with coke you can have diet or regular there - and when I've asked for lemonade they usually say 'it's sprite' rather than 'it's sprite zero'. I don't go much - and if I do it's usually through a drive through and I'm getting it for the dc so I don't focus on the drinks as I know what they will choose. Will have to have a closer look next time!

27children??? If you can afford it...

You can get Tropicana orange juice with a MacDonalds Happy Meal. Just to let you know! I wouldn't judge but I have to say that the parents at my daughters' school would.

Great idea! I wouldn't be bothered by this at all.

I went to a brilliant party a few weeks ago with DS1 (it was a 6th), they had McDonalds deliver (we aren't in UK) then afterwards an ice cream van came round including ones for adults!! Was brilliant