To not do food at a 6 yr old birthday party?

[yellowgecko]

I’m organising a village hall party on a Saturday, 2pm-4pm. The plan is to do a kids disco, and put out bowls of sweets and crisps, do the cake towards the end and give everyone a party bag on leaving.
I think we’ll end up with around 25 kids. I’m just fed up of going to parties and seeing all the food waste!

AIBU - yes you need to do a buffet / proper food
YANBU - snacks are fine, no one will starve

I agree. You need to put out a bit of food because folk expect it. But
wasting food is annoying.

But the sit down for food is part of the fun of a party surely?

When mine were young, I have such memories of the kids all playing while I put all the food out and got it ready. When you called the kids over to have the food it would be met with squeals of excitement and 'YAY!' 😂

I would put the food out bit by bit and then if it was being eaten quickly its easy to add more. If there is food that doesn't get eaten or used it would have been stored covered in the fridge and it just stayed there. We would then just eat it as leftovers. The kids would have another 'mini party food' session on their own as a carpet picnic the day after which they loved just as much as the party itself.

No food needs to go to waste if you are sensible with it.

Snacks are fine…but that means more than crisps and sweets! Sack off the sweets and put out proper snacks! Little sausages, mini pizza slices, bread sticks, carrot sticks and humous dip. They’ll expect more than crisps and as it’s a party, probably won’t have had much lunch beforehand. Children expect party food at a party! Parents would be very surprised to find you’d just bunged a few crisps out!

Exactly. I've done loads of kids parties, no food waste.

Snacks are fine. But I’d do crisps, fruit, biscuit, yoyo, raisins, sausage roll type of snacks and definitely not leave loads of sweets out because they won’t be sensible about it.

It is also useful to call a break for a break for food though, if they’re getting tired or over excited, and you really don’t want them running around eating because best case you’ve got a huge mess and worst case you have a choking risk.

That would cost more than normal party food though

If we went to a party at that time I would probably have made sure Dc had a decent lunch anyway so I wouldn’t have a problem with that as a parent. As a host though I can’t imagine not putting some food on like a buffet or something.

I think you have to provide something. Food is integral to a children’s party. Children like to eat. Cake of course. But small items. Not all sweet things.

Don’t be absurd!!

Personally, at that time 2-4, I think it's fine. However I have experience some parents make a fuss if their darlings weren't fed proper food (I expect they mean sandwiches, pizza or similar), whatever time the party is. So for the sake of peace I'd have some sandwiches and maybe carrots / cuc and dips to go with the other snacks.

I'd have 45 mins music/dancing then 15 mins slices of pizza and drinks then another 45 mins music/dancing then 10 mins cutting of cake and giving out party bags.

You have to do snacks, but not a hot meal. So more than crisps and biscuits and sweets, but you don’t need to give them lunch. Personally, I don’t see much food waste at parties. Parents tend to hoover it up after. But crisps, wotsits, some fruit, sausage rolls, biscuits, lots of squash and water with cake is fine. No one will expect sausages, beans and chips at a 2pm party.

Bringing out the food and having everyone sit down to eat breaks up the party a bit. Gives the hyper ones causing chaos time to decompress and also gives anyone who isn’t feeling well time to sit down.

Yes of course packaged snacks are always going to be more expensive but OP seemed be implying it was to avoid waste rather than because she can’t afford to make a few rounds of jam or cheese sandwiches, which are realistically always going to be the cheapest way to feed a bunch of 6YOs. Also less faff if you can just open packets vs. making the sandwiches. Depends what she’s trying to achieve by doing snacks I suppose!

the sugar and hyper thing was solidly disproven YEARS ago

I don’t think you need to go mad with the food because some children are too excited and hyped up to eat (mine were). However, I would limit the sweet stuff and maybe just have some crisps, possibly small slices of pizza and cocktail sausages. Easy to make, easy to grab, easy to eat!

Carrot and cucumber sticks, plus pots of hummus, have always gone down well at the Gdcs’ parties.

Went to a foodless party this weekend. Yes, the first ever, BUT it was a fantastic venue and the kids had a ball. So on balance, one of the best parties they'd been to.

I think it's fine, you're right OP the number of parties my DC went to with swathes of food wasted was a bit depressing. I remember one Dad who was working a night shift after he collected his DC, filling up his jacket pockets with sausage rolls and anything else that was not messy, at the time I thought it was bizarre but then all this food would have gone on the bin. IME children are too busy charging around.

I'd always do food and expect food at a kids' birthday party. It's a good chance to have a bit of a physical reset and so they're all sat and in one place for singing happy birthday. It doesn't have to be anything wildly complicated. I'd prefer to just have a couple of slices of cheap pizza or a hot dog than loads of sweets.

Or if it's a sit on the floor picnic style, give them a little plate or lunch box each of a sarnie and whatever.

Why is it ridiculous? Adults supply food don’t they when they host parties.

I’d put some pizza, crisps and sandwiches out. Job done.

I feel like the concept of food being a big deal for a party is an adult concept I.e. we are overly concerned with this whenever there is an invite particularly older and middle aged adults but if you think about that's not the priority for a child or even a teenager- young adult!

Yes . That’s correct . They are going to be hyper because of the excitement of the party and being with all other kids .

Just bung a load of sausage rolls in and put a few sandwiches out with the crisps - it isn’t hard or expensive!

Food at a children’s birthday party is more to regulate their behaviour than because they’ll otherwise starve I think!

Some savoury food is a really good idea for keeping them calm and happy, and also involves them sitting down for a bit rather than running round getting more and more excited for two hours. Keeps their blood sugars in check.

Pizza slices, sausage rolls and veggie equivalent, sandwiches, yes crisps in addition, that sort of thing.

I’d do it at about the half way mark, with a bit more free time or another activity after the food.

Dont put out sweets during the disco, I agree, put them in party bags.

I’d have a colouring/ craft table set up too for those kids who don’t do well with just dancing for two hours.

Also some parents will think their is food and bring children on from hobbies etc. They shouldn’t rely on it and bring their kids hungry, but some always do and their behaviour will be atrocious if you don’t feed them.

I’ve no idea why children HAVE to have pizza or sandwiches at a party running from 2-4pm??

At my daughter’s last birthday (held at a similar time), I just made sure I had some sausage rolls along with the pickier bits and made it clear on the invite. Everyone was fine and fully of energy to the end.

If some parents felt it was off not to provide sandwiches, that’s not really something that concerns me!