To think you cater for kids at a kids party?

[FairfaxAikman]

Was at a party for one of DS's nursery friends.
Parents are well off so I don't think it was a money issue.
Party in a leisure centre hall with a bouncy castle and proper paid entertainment for the kids - but no food! (Unless you count a single packet of crisps).
DS had only had a very light lunch as he'd fallen asleep for an hour before we went and I was expecting him to fill up on party food anyway.
All the kids were bombing about and clearly a lot of other parents had thought there would be food as their kids were obviously hungry.
No place near that we could have snuck out for a supermarket sandwich for them.
AIBU to think you feed the kids at a birthday party?

How wired and in my experience food is always provided at parties. Timings don’t matter. Little kids need fuelling after charging round for a couple of hours.

Best part of a party is the party food. YANBU.

Was there drink for them?

Wonder if it was their first party and they didn't know the etiquette?

Yes, I would generally expect food to be provided, but if the party was at 1 PM, perhaps they assumed that people would have an early lunch first? Maybe they didn't want children to be sick if they were running around? Or perhaps haven't previously hosted a children's party, so didn't think to provide food

I'd have expected food at that time.

That's bonkers!

What are the parents like?

Have they never been to a kids partu before!

I have never been to a children’s party without food and would absolutely expect there to be food unless specifically told there would not be. (Which is something I have never experienced).

Kids expect it and they learn the drill so early. I was at a party this weekend with 3 year olds and they were all asking what the food would be, when will the cake come out. If they were that conditioned as pre schoolers then older kids will definitely ve expecting party food.

It's definitely not their first party. Not only do they have an older child but we were at this child's one last year and there was food then - another reason I didn't think I needed to give DS a massive lunch (sorry I realised that's a drip feed)

Zero excuse for not providing food, regardless of the time of day.

It's absolutely rude and stingy not to.

Actually AfterSchoolWorry’s answer is far better and I can only second it.

Parties need food

1.00pm is an odd time for a party to begin! If I had received the invitation I would be wondering whether the first thing on the agenda would be lunch!

They should have started it at 2.00pm instead, which would have made it obvious that attendees should have eaten lunch before arriving.

It’s not rude to not provide food, timing of the party dependent.

It is useful however to make it clear on the invitation that there will be no food.

Where I live (not in the UK) there is normally only cake and drinks. However for a party starting at 1 I would definitely expect food as that's obviously a mealtime!

I have never been to a party without food! DD had a swim party a few years ago and I provided food at the end to take away.

Round here we often hire the local leisure centre for an hour and there is a large bouncy castle and face painters - no time for food so just cake 45 mins in, sing happy birthday and back on the castle till the end. But if the party was 2 hrs or more I think most people would expect food.

Food should absolutely be provided at a young childs party. They get hyper, over excited and often fractious, and food provides a chance for a break even if some of them don't eat much. (I have the lean type that burns it off and needs replenishing and takes their party teas very seriously)

Food is an expression of hospitality in all cultures. That doesn't mean it has to be a massive feast if it's an odd time, but a party at 1pm is not an odd time anyway and there's lots of circumstances such as OP's with the naps that could cause someone not to have eaten first. With a reasonable expectation of a 1pm party serving food at 2pm, I would have given my DCs a brunch at late morning anyway, and adjust their dinner portion afterwards.

For me children’s party food is such a waste.

We quickly moved from the traditional party food to a sit down with a drink and a piece of birthday cake.

Far less wasteful and several parents in the class followed suit

People plan parties outside of meal times to avoid the waste they see at other parties??? That's the greatest load of horse shit I have ever read, those people plan outside mealtimes and use that excuse to avoid the expense, tight bastards

No matter what the time you simply DO NOT invite people to a party and cater for them, it doesn't need to be a crazy hot food buffet but to give no food, regardless of time, is monumentally rude and a total shameless attempt at just getting gifts

*not cater for them

People plan parties outside of meal times to avoid the waste they see at other parties???

I don’t know about you Janet (other than you do, absolutely, need to calm down) but we planned parties when the activity DD wanted was available.

They were too mean to provide food so booked it for 1 as that's after lunch. Outrageous!

I think what some people actually mean by rude is “bollocks, now I have to cater for my kids rather than someone else doing it for me”

But actually in the OP’s case, I think it wasn’t a sensible choice to provide only a bag of crisps given the timing of the party.