To get outside catering in for a 5 year olds party?

[BakerBear]

Or am i being lazy?

Dd will be 5 soon and is begging me for a party. We have never done her a party before so have decided that when she starts school we will invite the whole class and hire out a room.

The room doesnt do food so we would have to provide our own.

I have a 4 month old and i really dont want the hassle of a buffet for 30 kids. There is no kitchen there so i would have to prepare the food at home and bring it all in.

The party is a dance party which dd will love.

Would you get catering in? Is it extravagant for a 5 year olds party? Its £4.50 a head.

Or am i being lazy?

£150 cos you can't be arsed to make ham sandwiches or open some packets of crisps Blimey! Well if you have money to burn go for it....

I would do lunchboxes with a butty, crisps, cake and fruit. You could either include a carton of juice or do big jugs of squash.
Kids really aren't that interested in food at parties IME.

Can't you just time the party to not obviously include a meal? Piece of birthday cake, plenty of drinks available, job done? If you can afford £4.50 x 30 on top of other party costs go for it. Whether it's extravagant depends on your finances.

Doing lunch boxes/bags is quite easy. Packet of crisps, biscuit, fruit in each one, plus a sandwich. The sandwich is the only thing that takes time. They're also easy to transport.

For five year olds you could do individual snack boxes rather than a buffet. You can buy cardboard "party food" boxes in multi packs, then you just put a carton of juice, bag of crisps, tube of yoghurt, sandwich (keep it simple with either jam or soft cheese) and a shop bought fairy cake or mini bar of chocolate. There's not much food prep involved, just assembly.

I think you could arrange food for less than that - Waitrose do party platters of things. If you don't want the hassle of catering and you can afford to get someone in then do it!

Supermarkets do platters of sandwiches/cakes/fruit. Plastic jugs of squash. Paper plates/cups. Take bin liners to the party. Tip everything in the bin liners at the end.

I've done it several times for my kids' parties. I invited adults too and got a great deal from our favourite restaurant.

If you have the £ why not?! For my DS's birthday last year I ordered M&S kids food (sandwiches, fruit etc) on platters, then bought crisps and party rings and choc fingers from a supermarket. So not full on outside catering but meant I didn't need to do everything. I've never done it before and always painstakingly made all the party food but last year I just couldn't be bothered!

I ordered in pizza for my daughters party this year. So much easier!

It's just sandwiches to make. The rest you can get straight from the supermarket - crisps, fruit, chocolate fingers, sausage rolls. They don't expect gourmet at 5.

I'm sure you could get a platter of sandwiches for better than you've been quoted too but if you can afford it and you want to, why not.

Yes get catering if you can afford it and enjoy the party!

Why not? If you can afford it and it makes life easier, there's no reason not to.

If you can afford it and you want it stress free, go for it.

However, if you're on a budget it takes no time to throw some simple sandwiches together, and open packets of crisps, biscuits, cakes etc

If you have the money, but unless this is a private school the parents may be a bit if they are the type to do some butties, cordial, crisps and Mr Kipling cake.

Have you seen the little boxes that you fill yourself?
You could buy packs and split into the boxes.

Mind you, if you've an M&S near you they do party platters/kids sandwiches/wraps that might work out cheaper?

If you can afford it why not?

Fuck it, if you can afford it do it. Kids parties are shit and sorting it all out yourself is stressful. If I had the cash I wouldn't be standing in my kitchen making a load of shitty jam sandwiches that may or may not get eaten. The rather large and delicious cocktails I've consumed this afternoon may be responsible for may be making me a bit fanciful and care free with regards to sandwiches, I say chuck your shitty sandwiches in the fuck it bucket and let someone else deal with them!

They don't each much as well, you could end up with most of it to eat yourselves.

Greggs sandwich platters are your friend! I think they are £11 for 20 sandwiches and they make to order so you can just have ham and cheese. A giant multipack of crisps so they have a bag each, a carton of juice, some cucumber, cherry tomatoes and a babybel. Very simple and cheap.

Of course yanbu, I have done the same for parties at home. I'm not fucking about making sandwiches that may or may not be eaten!

Well if you've got money to burn, go ahead, but really there isn't that much effort involved in a buffet for 30 5 year olds.

It's not that hard to do the catering yourself tbh. For 30, 2-3 loaves of sandwiches, split between ham, jam and chocolate spread. A few big bags of crisps tipped into bowls, some little cocktail sausages, maybe a couple of bags of pre cooked chicken nuggets, mini rolls, party rings, chocolate fingers, little cake things, some grapes/cherry tomatoes/salad sticks if you feel you need to provide anything heathy and big jugs of squash. Paper plates and cups, big chuckaway table cloths. At the end wrap it all up on the tables and straight into bin bags.
£150 for that is a massive amount of money.

Go for it! When my dds were that young, their friends were basically the kids of our friends. So their bdays were basically excuses for the adults to party! Entertainers for the kids, catered food, juice boxes for kids and wine for parents!

One of the football parties parties nearby always order Pizza Hut for the children which seems to be enjoyed particularly by the parents as there is always some left.