Food for three year old's party - have I forgotten anything?

[owlll]

Sandwiches
Breadsticks
Party rings
Pom bear
Veggie straws
Home made cupcakes plain

Apple juice
Orange juice
Water

Melon
Watermelon
Blueberries
Cucumber
Red pepper
Carrot sticks

Birthday cake to take home.

Guessing this is ok? Have I missed anything glaringly obvious?

All my son's friends basically live off fruit and veg!

It's a great thing!

I think it all sounds fine, and similar to the recent 3 yo birthday parties I have been to.

Out of interest, why would you not do squash but are ok with Haribo in party bags? We’ve been to parties and been given sweets recently and it really undermines my “those are for older children and grown ups” line 😂
I wouldn’t give Haribo to a 3 or 4 year old

Not really, children, and humans need carbs and other food groups to survive and thrive…

Other parents have at previous parties and my son loves them so 🤷‍♀️

@ThisGoldTraybake yes.... I do know that.

I'm just disagreeing with the notion that the kids will only be interested in the sandwiches and sausages and won't eat any fruit or veg. Which just isn't my experience at all.

It's very middle class! Round our way there is very little veg and fruit and what there is doesn't get eaten. Out kids prefer chcolate, crisps and jam sandiwches!

Slight aside, and barely relevant, but am I the only one who’s slightly nauseated by the universally-adopted marketing expression ‘sweet treats’?

Sausage rolls
Chicken goujons

You caught me. Private school, but a private school up north to soften the edges a bit 😉

Absolutely can't bear it

Cold goujons? Good grief

I would do squash instead of fruit juice because they're both bad for kids' teeth but squash is cheaper.

I think some posters are forgetting that these are 3 year olds (and some of them may be still 2), so mostly they won't be helping themselves, their parents will be putting the food on the plates for them. For DS's third birthday, I allowed for three quarters of a full sandwich per child, in a ratio of 2 cheese to 1 ham and 1 jam. There were not many left at the end, but the ones left over were the jam. Most of the kids ate melon (which we had because it was DS's favourite), the strawberries were decimated, and all the pom bears, mini cheddars etc. got eaten. We had party rings and chocolate fingers, but no cakes as we served the birthday cake at the party.

I wouldn't buy strawberries in January, they'll be horrible and I suspect this is why my DS doesn't like them now (fed out of season yucky fruit at nursery).

The only thing missing is cocktail sausages. Brilliant warm. Still nice cold. I have done loads of children’s parties over the years and never had any left however many I cook.

You have - wine at home for the adults when it is all over. 🍾🍷

For a 3 year olds party (assuming attendees are mainly 2-4 age) this sounds great. At that age they do still enjoy lots of fruit veg and healthy nibbles even at parties and many many parents (myself included esp for PFB) are still at the “horrified if they have too much sugary cakes or biscuits” stage. It’s pretty normal for 3 year olds parties to included the food OP’s listed including pombears. All ours did at that age.

Then they get older and even if they wolf down fruit and veggies at home at parties it’s sausages, sausage rolls, pizza, sandwiches, crisps and way way way too many sweeties, biscuits and cakes. It’s almsot a right of passage as they shift from toddler/preschooler ages to primary age 😂 (although I stood firm on no fizz drinks at our parties and did always include cucumber carrots and one fruit which surprisingly use to get eaten too).

Diluted squash is better for toddlers' teeth and stomachs than fruit juice, or so I was told by a paediatric dietician. Obviously water or milk is better, but it's a party 😄

I thought the things missing from the list were something to dip the breadsticks/carrots/cucumber in, and some protein.

All sounds a great selection I’d just add some hummus for the comber and carrot sticks and some strawberries!

Don't want double dipping.

Where's the sausage rolls? 😋

It's 20 years since I catered for my DDs 3 year old birthday party but I remember using a teddy bear cutter to cut the sandwiches into shapes and they all got eaten. There was admittedly waste but I think I just cut enough for two sandwiches each. Jam and cream cheese.

I agree they do eat fruit and veg sticks at that age as they're so used to getty them as a snack at nursery or preschool.

Way to much fruit it’s expensive and won’t get eaten
just been to a party and each plate had grapes carrots and most of it went in the bin

keep it simple

I would definitely add margherita pizza, and another sweet item (as a PP said chocolate fingers are good, or chocolate matchsticks).
I always used to also do a parents' table, people were very appreciative - often you're so busy getting your DC ready for the party that you forget to eat something yourself! Again maybe just a couple of slices of pizza each.

Oooh yes, I'd forgotten about chicken gougons and chocolate fingers! I think they are fairly essential!

At the recent 4 and 5 year old parties I’ve been too (and hosted), melon and baby plum tomatoes, followed by any other fruit you can pick up like grapes goes quicker than anything else.

At a catered by the venue party last week, loads of sandwiches and pretty much all the sausage rolls were left.

Cake I find is very much child specific, mine will eat any sprinkles etc on the top, but not touch the actual cakes. Personally, if you have party rings or chocolate fingers and are doing birthday cake I wouldn’t bother with any cupcakes, especially if they won’t be appealing to the parents!

Don't forget to cater for vegans even if none of the confirmed attendants are, and spare party bags for those who haven't RSVP'd, just in case they turn up (not really - if you know, you know 😉)