Children’s party food with no fruit?

[Yessiryessir3bagsfull]

AIBU not to include fruit in party food for 1-4 year olds? There will be sandwiches, crisps, cocktail sausages, chicken bites. Carrot and cucumber sticks, popcorn, party rings and chocolate fingers. Will fruit be missed - it’s so expensive for 20-25 kids.
thanks 🙂

This

@itsmabeline A continuous stream of fruit in his diet is really good for him too.

Its really not, the bulk of the 5 (and now 10 a day is often advised) should come from veg not fruit.
A continuous stream of sugar, even in the form of fruit, is not healthy and very very damaging to teeth. Particularly citrus!

No, a city around 70 miles north of London that many MNers on the property section generally say very bad things about (eg "I would never live there")

Well, if course they don't want to live there, you don't have any watermelons.

Well I don't know what you'd think about a PPs comment about a cheese and pineapple hedgehog then?

It's so retro that it must be due for a come back.

I went to a kids party the other day and they had done a kids lunch box for each child. I swear it was genius.

In the lunch box (card board style) was

Sandwich (pre chosen)
Packet of crisps
Wrapped up cucumber and carrot Batton)
Packet of mini party rings
Frube type yogurt

Standard round these parts!

Sometimes the sandwiches will be on trays, but they all get bag/box

We had cheese and pineapple on sticks just because it's dh's favourite party food. The other healthy bits I chose were cucumber and cherry tomatoes. As long as you've put out a healthy option alongside sausage rolls it's fine!

@llamajohn @fedupoftheheatnow
Eventually my kid will notice he's not getting cake at parties and want it. Not sure what I'll say then. He doesn't at the moment so I'm going to hold onto his healthy habits for as long as possible.

If he starts asking for cake when the three year old parties start I'll say no a couple of times then see. If he becomes desperate I suppose that's when I'll give in. But I fully intend to start his birthday party with a he isn't eating any cake policy.

Precious First Born.

Can you just clarify why you think that other mothers allow their children to hit other kids?
That’s not “uptight” it’s normal.

Let's be honest...we have fruit in the hope that one kid might want it and so they tell the type of parents who would ask 'was there any fruit?'

What's wrong with a bit of birthday cake? Poor kid. He's going to crazy when he gets even a little bit of control such as drop off birthday parties, school trips, pocket money etc.

Fruit always gets eaten. Watermelon is a good shout, strawberries although coming to end of season.

If you cut the sandwiches into stars there won't be any left. I don't know why but it seems to work. It's more wasteful of course so I have a wee plate of misshapes too.

Agree with watermelon.

Your idea to replace the popcorn with Aldi strawberries 🍓 is lovely. Personally I would avoid anything that is a potential choking hazard, hard sweets, nuts, etc. I know if I bite into raw carrot it can get stuck on the way down so I'd also reconsider providing raw carrot sticks just to be on the safe side.Have a wonderful party 🥳

The last few punnets of strawberries I’ve had have been a bit rubbish- coming to end of season now. I always find grapes go down well but it’s a bit of a faff cutting them all in half. I wouldn’t bother with anything else apart from strawberries and grapes. Kids hardly eat anything at parties, they just grab a few bits and then want to get back to playing.

@HotCrossBunplease Yup he's my first born, second on the way. Maybe it won't be so easy with the second, we'll see.

"Can you just clarify why you think that other mothers allow their children to hit other kids?
That’s not “uptight” it’s normal."

Direct personal experience. Parents who just sit there while their kid hits some other kid and says "gentle hands" instead of telling the kid off. Someone who allows their kid to break other children's things at their parties. When we go to activities like story time at the library, many parents will let their children (1-3 year olds) go and climb all over the person running it who's trying to read to all kids. I've seen this at various different activities. Compared to those parents, and it's a lot of them, I'm uptight.

I think I'd get a punnet of strawbs and a few bananas and make some mini fruit kebabs

Brilliant thread.

’nothing usual about salmon paste sandwiches’

’i was in desperate need of fennel’

😂😂😂😂😂

Mine won't eat cucumber. She does like carrots but not taw.

Good for you. I was at my local Aldi yesterday and there were certainly no watermelons for sale. I was at my local Tesco on Saturday and also had to pop into Morrisons as Tesco didn't have everything I needed (I was desperately in need of fennel) and neither of those stores had watermelons either.

Must be lots of parties afoot in your area - token watermelons required! In general they are very easy to source. Not exactly a rare exotic fruit 😆

One of those genetic things apparently- like coriander which tastes delicious to some but like strong soap to others. Melon and cucumber are in the same family so if you dislike one it's common to dislike the other as well!

But you aren't giving him healthy habits... You're restricting foods under the false impression that somehow the sugar in the copious amounts of fruit he has is somehow magically healthy for him, but the sugar in a cake or biscuit is somehow poison or something ...

You're setting yourself up for a child with hugely disordered eating and are going to have a huge fucking problem when he gets to 3/4 when he starts realising he has more control/choice and will express his dislikes a lot more at the dinner table. And when he is presented with a table with cakes, biscuits and sweets etc at a party, he's going to be either upset or confused because you will literally have to hover over him to stop.him reaching for these foods, and single him out as different.

And for what? So you can snugly look around at the 30 other kids merrily eating a sausage, a few bits if cucumber and handful of crisps and go 'oh well my boy is soooooo much healthier by having all the fruit I brought along'

Cold pizza will be fine. Maybe sausage rolls too.

I think I agree with this. I knew 2 children when I was growing up who had a parent who tightly controlled their food. One a friend at school. Everyone felt sorry for her because she was not allowed any treats and would share theirs with her or she would give us her pocket money and we would buy things for her. She became morbidly obese through secret eating. I lost track of her when we all went off to university.

The second was / is my cousin. My aunt is absolutely food obsessed and has had an array of eating disorders herself under the guise of 'eating healthily'. She would pack a food bag for my cousin to eat at parties and monitored her very closely. My cousin is 45 now and bulimic. She never developed a comfortable relationship with food. Even now my aunt will see her eating something like a creamy risotto [at my house which is what I was serving] and warn her she will become a fat pig.

My mother OTOH was obese all her life and certainly monitored my food intake and weight. Even now before she visits I cut off the tags on my clothes because she looks to see what size I am. I am heavier than I ought to be, but as a teen her behaviour also made me a secret eater. I'd go and buy family blocks of chocolate and scoff them until I threw up then go home for dinner.

There has to be a balance. By all means strive for a healthy balance 95% of the time- but let the child eat cake at a party!