Good things to cook for after school playdates?

[twirlaround]

I'm pretty new to the after school playdate thing! What kind of thing is good to serve up?

filet mignon, sauted potatoes and spinach

whatever your kids like really

that was a joke btw (first post, not second)

eat it in front of the kids & give them dry crackers?

healthy home made french bread pizzas
chicken nuggets
fruit salad
jellies

my dd is the most fussy eater ever so I don't have much idea about what more normal kids like

The favourite is pizza bases that they put their own toppings on, mushrooms, pineapple, tomatoes, cheese, tomato puree, peppers. etc.

last few playdate meals have been

bird's eye fish fingers, chips and beans

pasta and pesto, with cucumber on the side (but one kid had pasta and butter and another had pasta and cheese)

chicken and pasta in a tomato and pesto sauce

beef stew with beans (this took more encouragement but they all ate it)

pita bread and humous with carrot sticks

.. I'm a meanie and don't normally do puddings

good quality chipolatas go down well .. with chips / small roast potatoes

real chips or oven chips, Twig?

I can be sure that cottage pie / lasagne / spab bol good quality sausages with potatoes and veg....

In my experiance MOST children happily eat carrots broccolli peas sweetcorn and green beans, so i normally stick with them for playdates (tho my charges eat almost any veg (or any food even) imaginable!)

They have a few lovely frinds who eat EVERYTHING as well, so when they came we just have what ever id make anyway, howvere wierd and wonderful (or plain and boring!)

mccain oven chips are fine

or if you can be bothered you can do those small cubes of potatoes drizzled in oil and roasted .. because they only take about 20 mins

think it depends how many kids you have running rampant round your house .. I tend to have a minimum of 2 and maximum of 8 round (counting siblings) about 3 times a week. Normally, though not always the parents are around gassing too. It's really not about the food because we all know kids are fussy eaters .. its about the fun

Sausages

Spag Bol

Shepherds Pie

Fish Fingers

Am fed up of serving anything more adventurous which just gets a wrinkled nose .