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 🤪

Yes we went to a party where food was limited

Can't quite R.E.M. what now but something like

Few segments of orange
One sausage cocktail
One 1/4 of a Sarnie (2 bits bread cut into 4)

Can't R.E.M. the last thing

Dd was starved as was a party around lunchtime

Equally been to parties 2-4 and food at 330 which is silly as not hungry enough after lunch to eat lots which means need to do another tea once at home

Lots of food left/wasted at this party

Agree its stingy, but lately i have really detested the wasted food & have growing sympathy with people not wanting to bother providing a full meal.

We've attended several parties lately with utterly reasonable food for primary DC (pizza, sausages, chips, ham/cheese/jam sandwiches, and two thirds of the children eat almost nothing. They can't be bothered, or they fill up on any crisps or biscuits they can get their hands on. The hosts are left binning probably £50 worth of food.

However my big bug bear is tiny tiny bits if cake - especially the increasingly common performative display of huge expensive lovely cake, which is then ferreted off & taken home with the family, while a poxy 1 inch cube of the cheapest possible supermarket traybake is dumped in the party bag.

What happened to making a decent sized round cake and cutting a proper wedge? I still put a proper slice of cake in every party bag - and its the cake that all the kids saw, that had the candles on.

Its like people don't enjoy being a generous host any more. I still do, and my family all do, but it seems less & less common as a trait.

Absolutely agree.

I see no issue with a party that time not having food.

What is the problem in providing juice and cake at childrens birthday party?
They are children, all they want is to be invited and have fun. Some cake is a plus.
No child ever ranked party as bad bcs there was not a lot of food. They can eat at home.
Onle person with a problem is OP for having oh no give food to her own child.

NICU babies go 3h without food, surelly a child old enough to attend party on its own can do the same!

Because mumsnet is full of people that just love to stick the boot in at every opportunity. All it takes is ine idiot to come on to a thread and the next thing you know they are all it. You will see the same names cropping up all the time just being nasty for the sake of it.

Been to one recently which "just" provided cake and drinks. Honestly I didn't think anything of it! Was a lovely do and the kids enjoyed the cake. If it's not at a standard mealtime I think a snack is fine.

I don't feel like the party throwers owe me anything, especially if my kid has been entertained for a couple of hours... already a big win in my opinion!

Are you intending to be so rude? The poster was in a situation where it is expected to invite the whole class and siblings. Food would have cost £200. It would be ruder to upset some children by not inviting them than to cut back on catering.

I just don't think kids have to have piles of food to have a good time

People are really missing the point here, that culturally and socially, hosting a party is expected to include providing a party tea.

If you can't afford to host a party, don't.

At 8 I don’t really need to be worrying about kcal

and I know its fine but was exploring the shift in expectations, is it an age thing or a COL thing or what or was it just in our school / friendship group. Seems like the right place ti ask so I know to adjust my world view 😂

This is true and for all I know there was a candle in it 🎂

I meant the kcal as in it has quite a few to keep them going way

Rockstar

I think people have to think "it's 2-4 on any other day, would I be expecting my child to be eating loads of food at this time?"

The poster was in a situation where it is expected to invite the whole class and siblings. Food would have cost £200.

It does not bloody cost £200 to provide a simple meal for a class of 30 children. You can buy 30 sausages for £10, plus buns another £10.

£10 on cucumbers & cherry tomatoes.

Done.

I never said it was? I was just surprised and wondered if I would be alone in my surprise. Seems not

I always still plan tea for our DS as all the kids are more interested in playing than eating- there is such waste.

Us parents were all actually talking about knocking the food on the head and just letting them play, dance, etc

Whole class plus siblings is standard in this case. Leaving out some children would be upsetting and confusing for them and their parents. Would you have preferred that? Because there’s a finite budget so it’s one of the other. All the kids or only those you feed at £5 each.

Or.. lots of doughnuts

I agree that’s fair enough in hindsight but maybe be a bit more overt about it. I couldn't care less if the invite said “due to times we will give them a snack and drinks” then I’d know.

I grew up on parties having food. My (not much) older child had parties with food. All the parties I have managed for both kids have had food. I just wanted to know others take on this new approach that seems to be more common now

Hey hey hey you take that back

I don’t have a problem. I fed my kid. 😂 the law says I have to so I do it

I never said I had a problem with it just that I would have planned better with more information provided.

I only came on here to ask if my view was unreasonable that food at parties is the norm

It half term. Yes.

NICU babies go 3h without food

Just to say, having had a child in nicu, they do this to suit the nurses & hospital routine, it is NOT in the best interests of the babies, many of whom are left crying for feeds for hours. I had to complain about exactly this and witnessed it happening with some babies whose mothers couldn't be physically present all day. I was not allowed to stay overnight with my baby and had a nurse tell me (almost proudly) how long my baby had cried for food because the nurse was determined to "get her to 3 hourly feeds"

Its a terrifically old fashioned practice associated with formula feeding and is frankly dangerous. They couldn't get my tiny premature baby to gain weight because they were trying to force larger feeds on her to "stretch" her to last 3 hours. I was finally able to take over and feed her on demand every 1.5- 2 hours and she did far better. One of the doctors did actually get cross with the nurses over it too.

You are so offensive. You don’t know what the family’s financial situation is like. You are only assuming the gift bags weren’t nice based on your own privilege. How dare you bully a mum on the internet because they don’t conform to your privilege and prejudice.

It bloody does when you can only buy the food provided by the venue.

Wizarddry

I would provide a doughnut or cake as well as hot dogs & salad, but then my parents raised me knowing how to host a party properly.