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

So you will fill the kids up with sugar and junk & send them home hyped up and hungry?

For this age group individual boxes pre-made with sandwich, fruit, party rings and vege kebabs are perfect. quick and easy to make at home, tidy away, and not much food waste

I think your times make it fine - its between meals. I wouldn't expect anything but snacks then. If you go to a soft play or similar venue, food is normally part of the package regardless of time. But in a hall somewhere I wouldnt think there would be anything else.

I’m in Scotland.

I’ve never been to a kid’s birthday party where there hasn’t been food - either pizza, fries, hot dogs, sandwiches, chicken nuggets etc.

Never seen a cucumber or carrot stick at a party either 😂

Great idea x

We’ve been to plenty of parties that did this but they did let everyone know beforehand that it would just be snacks and it worked really well! Usually crisps, biscuits etc.

To people saying you shouldn’t do a party if you can’t afford it don’t be ridiculous! All kids deserve a party and I agree there is so much waste after parties and the kids just want to get back to the fun anyway.

I think food gets wasted as people provide the wrong stuff. No kid goes up to a buffet and voluntarily chooses a sandwich. For my DSs party which is also 2-4, we’re doing nuggets, pizza, chips etc, just enough to tidy them over but not a full blown meal.

if you want to do minimal food then try hot dogs (make sure no one is veggie/vegan/dietary requirement) or just a slice of pizza per child or a bag with a sandwich, bag of crisp and a cake bar or biscuit each etc...

I wouldn't do nothing or 'the wrong thing' though, some people will remember.

We once invited some family and friends out to a quick a celebratory drinks for an achievement in a quirky cocktail bar that does not do food (so not a formal party and no way for it to be a 'dinner' party) and we have never been to a 'celebratory drink' with food before.

We had a private area of the bar and the nicely said we could bring simple non cooked snacks so we choose to pop to the shop and grab some little bits on the way to do a 'dessert buffet' with a couple of cakes that people could have a slice etc... with their drinks.

About a 3rd of guests (mostly the much older guests) saw that and then got very obsessed and wouldn't stop going on that that there was 'no proper food'. Lesson learned that apparently 'cake' isn't 'food' and so shouldn't be served, even at an event where food wasn't even expected in the first place anyway.

Sometime providing the wrong snack (like bowls of sweets) lands worse than nothing, stick to savory as its somehow offends some people less.

I think it's quite clear that a birthday party for 6 year olds between 2 and 4pm isn't going to include a meal personally, what with it being between usual mealtimes.

I always used to do choice of burger or hotdog in a bun, cooked to order so no waste and followed by an icecream in a cone. That worked really well even in a church hall with very limited facilities. If you have tv available pop some cartoons on while they sit and eat.

I’ve said before I hate parties at that time 2-4 whether food or not

if they have food at 330 they are hungry again at 5/6

if they don’t have food they snack /eats crisps chocolate junk etc and don’t went tea at 5 ish then hungry at 7/bedtime

but if doing this then yes mention on invite that it’s snacks and cake so the parent knows what to expect

No we tend to do dinner at 6.30, maybe it’s a weird system but seems to work for us so far! That way her father can be back from work and we can all do it together.

🤣

Let me guess, north and south. Always one bringing up class isn't there?! You get a mixture IMHO no matter where you live.

My sons party was at a similar time and others I've been to are also at a similar time to your party. There has always been food, generally a bag/box with a sandwich, drink and a snack. The children are normally hungry after running around for a couple of hours.

Ha no it’s not actually! Both South in case you are wondering but different counties… just wondering if this was a specific local thing near to where my sister lives as once one does it, they all follow suite or if more a regional divide.

Takeaway pizza , kids love pizza. Dominos does a large Margherita pizza for £10 pickup, three or four of them should do the trick.

I would lean to this more for teenagers, not so much 6 yr olds.

There's always at least one person on these threads who pipes up with 'miserable' if a party doesn't provide a veritable feast. I agree there needs to be some food, but surely the kids are there to play and have fun with their friends, not stuff their faces?

Why does the OP need to provide food which will not be eaten - waste of money

But 6 year olds do eat!

Just don’t provide huge quantities of a wide variety

Why? My 6 yo demolishes a (small) pizza to himself

I think that's fine. Snacks and cake are preferable to sandwiches or similar for most kids, surely. And it's not over any typical mealtime, so reasonable to assume they will have had lunch already and be okay with party snacks, especially if you explain in the invitations.

With that timing it's perfectly sensible to not provide a "meal".
I think food is standard at very young kids parties partly because it takes up some time - 1 hour entertainment, half an hour food & birthday cake, half hour running around/dancing before out the door with a party bag.
Less food time = more activity time to fill.

But if you are up for that and make clear on the invitations that there will be squash, crisps, fruit and cake (or whatever) then it's fine.

One successful party we had was an ice cream parlour thing - the children got a bowl (character - to take home with them, thus negating the need for a party bag). They then chose a couple of scoops of ice cream, and added sprinkles and sauces. We also had a few ice lollies. Very little food waste. But we did tell parents on the invitation that this would be all they’d have to eat.

Just to add - we had reasonable quality ice cream, but definitely supermarket own brand, not Ben and Jerry’s. It was fairly cheap to do.