Kids party no food

[Thebabewiththepowerof]

Quick one

Aibu to think the recent move towards not providing party food at kids parties is a bit odd?

Just picked up DS from yet another party where no food was provided (and no it’s not a cost thing, not in this case anyway) just a doughnut 🍩.

The kids don’t care I’m sure but I wasn’t planning on doing a “dinner” tonight so had to come home and produce something from nothing because he was hungry. If you aren’t providing food then at least tell us in advance so we know!

Anyway, am I?

ps for context he is 8, appreciate if he were 16 this would all be a bit weird 🤪

You’ve been to some pretty rubbish parties! 😂

DD has been to two types of party where a snack and a drink was provided instead of a proper party tea. One was at a forest school and was 10-12 so I suspected nothing of substance would be provided and had planned a lunch after. The other was at a very small Princess type place where the parties are always in the mid-afternoon for an hour and a half. Again, I planned a meal for before and after.

I think you can often predict these things and should never assume anything. To me it’s just another reason why we always have fish fingers, chips and peas in the freezer. No big deal.

Then you don’t invite 40 kids!

I have always provided food for the parties I have done for my son. Well, the venue have!

We've done different types of parties - soft play/bowling/trampoline place/clip and climb, so food has either been things like sandwiches/fruit/crisps or hot options like nuggets/hot dog/chips. The climbing place I didn't book a party package so just paid for pizzas from the cafe.

My son has always been given food similar to the above at any party he has been to.

That said, he is like a bottomless pit and still needs feeding afterwards 😂

All the parties we’ve been to have had food. The party did have doughnuts so it wasn’t technically no food. If the party was between say 9-11am or 2-4pm I could see only snacks being provided. If it’s over a mealtime I would expect more of a meal.

It was a party. We paid for private hire of the place, which the leisure centre only does at that particular time. We were allowed in early to decorate and drop off the cake.

We provided drinks but not snacks. The kids all got a slice of cake after an hour.

DS was in reception and I did it on the advisory of parents with slightly older kids, who said they’d been to several parties without food and that no one minded if it was between meal times.

If people want to bitch about me behind my back, that’s their prerogative, but it’s also my prerogative to give my son a party.

Wow, I've been to probably 100 kids parties... Every single one served food like sandwiches, crisps, cucumber sticks, cocktail sausages, pizza, etc.

Sometimes there's warm food, it would be a dominoes type thing, where they ordered like a dozen pizzas for takeaway, or cooked up chicken nuggets and chips and stuff in the hall kitchen.

Sometimes trays of food on tables and plates or a snack box for each child with raisins, crisps, freddo, fruit shoot in each and tray of ham/jam/cheese sandwiches to grab.

But never just crisps and cake.

Always a packed lunch type or easy tea.

Don’t tell me! I should have take in a lodger in order to pay for it, right?

Went to a 5 year olds party the other week that only had watermelon, blueberries and sunflower seeds and the cake was served at the end. There was a massive bowl of blueberries and a decent sized plate of watermelon but considering that's all they had to eat it all disappeared quickly and some families arrived a little later and all the food was long gone.

It's been the same for the previous two parties as well. I was hoping they might have learnt from experience and catered better this year but the only change was that they brought water this time because last year people complained there was no water.

Next year we are declining the invite.

Where I am, whole class parties with invites extended to siblings are the norm. If the parents had an issue, so be it, but I am sure the kids didn’t give a shit that they weren’t being fed between 2.30 and 4pm while they were running around screaming.

But you’d no problem taking 40 presents? Mortified for you. You didn’t even offer a drink or a snack and the kids running round? You can BET other parents thought you were a tightwad.

Did you let the parents know?

Did you ask the parents not to gift or did you bag the lot...off 40 kids?

We specifically asked for no presents. We provided drinks. We gave party bags with nice gifts.

I didn’t throw my son a party for other parents. I threw him it for him to celebrate his birthday with his friends.

I went to a party with DS once where there were no drinks for parents (it was a hired hall) but also no where to sit so we all stood for two hours.

Yes, the parents were aware there would be no food because it was a 90-minute party between mealtimes.

We specified no gifts, which was respected.

Of course you did! (Not) 😂

I’ve never been to a party that didn’t serve a meal. Even if in a budget it’s not expensive to provide a box with a sandwich, crisps and a slice of birthday cake or biscuits plus an apple or banana. I think if you can’t afford to even provide that then you invite less people. At ours we always provide some food and drinks for adults too.

You could afford 40 lots of "nice gifts" but not 40 sandwiches and packs of crisps?

40 gifts for £25.

The venue only allows their own catering, which was £5 a head.

I'm confused, you could afford to hire out a soft play AND 40 x party bags with nice gifts...bit couldn't afford to make up a 2-3 of loaves of jam/ham/cheese sandwiches, a couple of multi bags of supermarket crisps, a few packs of biscuits to put on plates, and some squash in a few jugs?

You could have fed those 40 kids for probably... £30...

Love it!

What were the timings of the party? 2-4 I'd say that was fine I'd expect them to have eaten and the doughnut would be a treat between those hours

So shit gifts then, if you provided any at all. And no way did your son not get any gifts.

Yanbu. I always thought food at a kid’s party was par for the course. I bet there were a few raised eyebrows at the no food if nobody was told in advance.

No child needs lunch between those times. They don't even need a snack really but it's a nice to have