How much pizza?

[fgjhb]

Party for 4 year olds. 15 children and I'm not sure how many adults - could potentially be 30 if both sets of parents for each child come. Plus a few of my (adult) family.
We've got crudités & dips, plus crisps and a few snack things but the main food is going to be pizza.
We're doing food for everyone - grown ups included. I don't think we have enough, my husband does.
3 vegan / gluten free pizzas and 10 normal ones.
I think I should buy more pizzas - AIBU?

Kids of that age are notoriously fussy and much more so at parties and other people's houses. If the pizza doesn't taste exactly like the one they have at home, they'll probably take two bites and leave the rest. Not to mention they'll be over excited and want to rush about and have fun.

If you buy 20 pizzas I expect you would have most left over. You'd also be slaving over the oven for ages instead of enjoying the party.

The adults only need a few snacks. No one is going to expect half a pizza to themselves at a kid's party.

Cold pizzas are the best and you can never have too many (you might just be eating pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a while).

I do like the PPs suggestions of hotdogs, frozen sausage rolls, crisps, biscuits etc.
and a couple bottles of pop and jugs of squash.

Just get supermarket own brand stuff.

I doubt both sets of parents will come and parents don’t usually eat at the parties (you do get some cheeky ones though).

If you are cooking 3 at a time, if they take 10 mins each you can only cook 18 pizzas an hour maximum. If they take 15 minutes that reduces to 12 an hour.

All you will be doing is cooking pizza!

You need more, maybe 15?, and if you can only cook 3 pizzas at a time it will take a long time. I would do something as well as pizzas, like others have said hotdogs, or a few sandwiches.

Why don't you provide a cheeseboard with French sticks and a pot of chutney for the adults?

OP said she was doing gluten free ones. Which are widely availible.

Yes, if you can do cheeseboard for the adults, that is much easier than pizza. Plus tea and biscuits.

On the numbers of guests, if you have not invited siblings then definitely I'd rule out one parent of any child who isn't an only - it's rare for two kids to turn up.

I'd do hot dogs / plain ham or cheese sandwiches / crisps / cucumber slices rather than more pizza's.

You can probably make the pizza for the 4 YOs go a lot further if you cut it really small - so cut into 6 triangles then cut each triangle into 4 more triangles.

So they can all take a couple of pieces each and have some more if they want it when it's ready. And if you have any that take a bite and leave the rest, the amount wasted is smaller.

How many vegans are coming and how many gluten free? If your crisps are gluten free, everyone can have those too and oreos and party rings I think are vegan, but not gluten free. You could do vegan and standard ice cream - that should be gluten free as long as it doesn't have cookie dough or similar in.

I'd plan to cater fairly generously but cook in batches and be prepared to take leftovers home to eat over the next couple of days or freeze.

Loads more than you think !

How long is the party?

Parents surely aren't expecting to be properly catered at a kiddies party?

Is it school friends? Unless I was very good friends with other parents, neither me nor DH would be chomping at the bit to attend a kids party, so you'd definitely only get one of us. 2 or 3 slices per adult I'd say.

Please don’t shove the gluten free and vegan pizzas together, most gluten free people eat meat and lots of vegans don’t want a gluten free base, one of each would be a better idea, I’d say 11pizzas altogether

At a children's party, even the greediest adult is likely to be too busy supervising their child and ensuring proper party etiquette is observed to chomp though more than 3-4 slices of pizza.

If you plan for 3 small slices per child and the same per adult, that should be more than enough especially if you have other food as well.

Also, I would try to rope in help and allocate one adult purely to pizza cooking and cutting. Otherwise, you'll spend the whole party cooking, cutting and serving pizza.

For kids aged 4 I would do like 1 slice, non of mine at much at that age especially when hyped from playing.

Adults are harder, I can usually easily eat an entire pizza to myself. Depends if you plan to 'feed' your adult guest (you said some are family, my family would have expect a full meal but a guest a their kids friends party likely wont) or just let them pick and snack. Some parents might not even want to eat at all.

I would say 1 slice per child = 2 pizzas
2-3 slices per adult = 11 pizzas (based off 30 adults)

Maybe have some crisps and garlic bread for the kids in case any don't like pizza or if you do somehow run out.

I wouldn't get any more. At a children's party I would probably eat 1 slice or none at all. I'd have traybakes and coffee and tea available as well.

Op that’s a really bad plan, how long is it going to take you to cook 20 pizzas, which is the min uou will need. 10 mins easy, three at a time, that’s and hour and ten mins just in cooking time.

make a one pot wonder, or sandwiches,but you need to scrub round pizza if you’re heating them up yourself.

No way will both sets of adults come per child unless you're also inviting siblings as well. (Even then it's unlikely)

I wouldn't normally expect adults to be catered for at a kids party, but if I'd been specifically told adults were catered for and the party was over lunchtime then I would expect enough for lunch (half a pizza per adult, if pizza is the main food). If it's between mealtimes then nibbles and tea/coffee are fine. My 3 year old would probably eat 1/3 to 1/2 a pizza if we let him! But actually 1/4 pizza per child would probably be fine (especially if there is some other food - are they having birthday cake while they are at the party?). But as several people have said that much pizza will take a long time to make! If it's lunchtime can you add something like a big pasta salad? Normal salad? Potato salad? All can be made in advance and will reduce how much pizza you need particularly for the adults!

What? You feel it should be based on your appetite and everyone should be told they can have one slice each?

Big bowl of pasta salad and bread sticks with dips to bulk it out and save your oven space

Iceland are doing 8 pizzas for £10

Adults won't eat as much as if they were relaxing pigging in their own homes. I'm definitely a whole pizza person at home... at parties, even where parents are catered for, I usually only manage a couple of slices as it's so busy and chaotic. And I'm not holding back to look polite 😂!

Do NOT bulk it out, that's just a weird MN thing.

4-yr olds and dips?! A MNy 'Eewwww!'.