help, i am catering my first party

[hugeleyoutnumbered]

mumsnetters please give me your ideas for cold party foods.

have those little cardboard lunch boxes, and am planning to add fruit platters grapes strawberries,

what about drinks? cups or indiviual bottles?

have always gone for catered parties before.

I want to get the balance right between treats and healthy foods too, don't want to send the dc home on a sugar high

thankyou folks

How old? Boys or girls? Veggies?
As for cups vs cartons well a cup of juice is cheaper but they are easy to spill. I tend to go for cartons of juice apple, orange, pineapple and write the childs name on it to save arguements.

Mine always like
crisps, crisps, and more crisps!
sandwiches - ham/tuna/philly
pizza (cold is fine!)
sausage rolls (the small frozen cook at home type)

Now they are older they also like hummus, etc dips and carrots/celery/cucumber/pepper

sorry details boys and girls for a fifth birthday part aprox 30 children

Ooops, missed out cupcakes (with lots of icing and sweets to decorate!) and loads of different biscuits.

And crisps

I brought home pretty much all the sandwichs I made for dd's fifth party. Fruit kebabs (melon/grapes/strawberries on wooden skewers) were a huge hit, as was (salted) popcorn.

The key to getting them to eat the sandwiches (and any healthy stuff!) when they are little, is to only put them out first, and only add other stuff when they are just about all gone

Fruit kebabs is a good idea.

I gave out non- squeezy cartons instead of cups (calypso fruit cups), less spillage potential

cheers all of you am making a list as i type.

Make every thing small, bite size and only put out a bit ad then top up that way they don't put too much on the plate at first and then waste it.

I don't bother with iced cup cakes at parties as I find they just make a mess. I also try to keep chocolate to a minimum to save sticky paw prints everywhere. Small smartie cookies are good and nice and colourful. Bread sticks go down well and frubes and cheese straws and little sausages.

Good luck with the party. Are you having it at home?

I gave them popcorn ( unsalted or sugared ) last year instead of crisps and went down very well. Very cheap too if you make your own.

Small sausages ( cook them yourself, the ready cooked ones are beyond foul ) always disappear quickly. For pudding, I give them birthday cake. I never understand giving them sweet stuff eg biscuits and sending them off with cake. Give them cake at the party!

mini sausages or sausage rolls or those cheese puff things.

Be careful of fruit kebabs as one child will want 'one without strawberry etc' and one child will stab another with his stick. I'd just have a/two type(s) of fruit where they can help themselves. Grapes are good because if they aren't eaten you can wash them and eat them as a family.

For sandwiches I found: ham and cheese (in different sandwiches) and I made a little tuna mayo (but less) and they were eaten too (but made kids version without onion or salt and pepper).

I also found carrot and cucumber sticks with cream cheese and or humous dip was surprisingly popular.

They might like to decorate their own cup cake if you can cope with the mess/have space. Also saves you time (make about 4 - 6 different coloured icing plus a variety of sprinkles).

Small chunks of cheese can be good too.

That's the healthier stuff, the unhealthier is pretty easy (crisps, biscuits, cake)

Agreed with Taffeta the cake is always ruined by the time it gets home. Eat at the party (and I personally didn't do biscuits either). Plus popcorn much cheaper and you can have very little salt if you make it yourself.

get creative if you can be bothered......
half a melon, some breadsticks stuck in it, ala hedgehog, cover it in tinfoil to make a nifty dislplay for mini doughnuts, you can usually get these in bags from the supermarket. Much more fun than a cake and easier to share out. Individual jellies, custards & angel delight type puddings - mix and match. Chocolate crispy cakes are great, do them a couple of days before, you can get your child help prepare these, and they dont really have that much chocolte in them! Flapjack cut into cubes are good & filling. Agree with others about putting little amounts of food out, then keep topping up, bite sized bits are best, easier to eat & less mess. Do your fruit kebabs, but leave some cut friut in bowls so the fussy ones can make up their own. Mini anything is good, sauasages, cubes of cheese, breadsticks & crunchy veg sticks with dips, pizza, ham spread with soft cheese - rolled up & cut into slices/discs, pigs in blankets, dates in bacon, If you are bringing food out gradually, it would make it easier to do a little bit of hot food too - have stuff on the table to nibble & when thats running low maybe bring out some chips and mini pizza - bung them all in the oven, theyll be ready round about the same time. Or mini jacket spuds (slow roasted new spuds)
If you are having some adults around too mabe have some more grown up mixed salads, olives etc - nothing worse than being staving at a kids party & feeling guilty for pinching the kids butties ;)
Have fun, i love having parties, for young & old. Its a lovely sence of acheivement when your guests are happy & fed. Good luck.

cheers guys, nooo not at home a local church hall with fantastic catering facilities, am done with bowling and wacky or soft play parties, I can never keep track of the children and am constantly looking for one or the other, there are some fantasic ideas on here, think I will be using most of them

have an image in my head of children sword fighting with kabab sticks