I WOUDL BE GRATEFUL IS PEOPLE WOULD STOP OFFERING SHITTY FOOD AT BIRTHDAY PARTIES.! Thank u kindly!

[MintyandTink]

Having been to a few birthday parties since my little one was born I am quite shocked at the shit quality of the food being served at bday parties.

Shitty cocktail sausages- yuk, rancid carrot sticks, hard cheese just to provide some examples.

The thing that gets me is not the kind of food but the bloody quality... CRAPITTY CRAPITTY CRAP!

Rant over.

[annoyingdevil]

My dc eat plenty of fish fingers, thankyou very much

[prettybird]

I'm sorry bacon but I have to disagree. We have always encouraged ds to eat healthily. Most nightds he gets the same as us - but it is a struggle to get him to eat it. he will eat tiny tastes only - but I then don't let him have anythign else to fill up. The only "snack" that he can get for himslef is wee (Lidl) formage frais - which he probably eats two a day of. He chooses not to snack on raisins - we have had to tell him to stop bringing home the wee boxes of rasins that he gets at school lunches and which he doesn't eat.

You say kids "will eat humus, olives, garlicy stuff and anything tasty which is tomato based.". Well, I'll agree with the hummus as ds loves that but he won't eat any ot he others - despite them being the staple of dh's and my diet.

I can get him to eat pasta with pesto but he is not keen on (but will eat if forced) pasta with homemade tomato sauce. he positively dislikes fresh tomatoes.

This is depsite him being breast fed for a year (I though it was supposed to hlep widen their taste buds ) and when he was weaned, being sent to the child minder's with all sorts of healthy food: couscous with grated carrots, herbs and rasins, avocado mashed with banana and youghurt, pasta with spinach and cream cheese (both amazinly tasty).

So you can't make blanket judgements that it is "because of their parents not giving them healthy foods".

Ds is only "allowed" not to like one food: mushrooms - but that is becaseu I hate them too!

[melrose]

Following DS party last week (4) my top tip for parties is hot dogs, nice sainsbury's taste the difference chippolatas on the BBQ with cheap hot dog rolls and ketchup. Very nutricious, filling and loved by the kids far faster than making loads of sandwiches that won't get eaten and no more expensive.

Sauasages - £4 for 24, rolls £2 for 36. Actually did 36 sausages and fed the parents too and made pasta sauce the next day by adding the leftovers to a tin of tomatos. I would have spent way more making sandwiches, cocktail sausages etc.

Oh but yes I did through in a few bags of hula hoops and follow with homemade cakes and biscuits covered in icing. Its a party FFS!

[Kewcumber]

devil - us too we are a big fish finger zone chez Kewcumber.

[Kewcumber]

that sounds yummy Melrose (can I barbeque in November?)

[AbbeyA]

Your menu sound delicious MintyandTink but I think you just have to accept that not everyone is going to offer such a nice feast.
The one that really annoys me is the poor 2 year old with water, rice cakes and dried fruit! It is no wonder the mother didn't offer the grown ups anything-she couldn't have given them the same and if she had done differently the DCs would have wanted it too!

[dingdong05]

Oh bacon,

"I understand that children dont like salad but they will eat humus, olives, garlicy stuff and anything tasty which is tomato based."
I laugh in yer face haahaahaahaa HA!

As for your
"If you can't afford to hold a party just have a small affair with close friends not a every tom dick and harry on a Tesco Value..."
You def have a point, we certainly don't want people embarrassing themselves by getting ideas above their station. Imagine wanting to throw a party your dc can invite all their friends to. It's much more important to keep it small, the quality high, and make sure that all the parents- who won't be coming because you can't afford to feed everyone the finest food- won't be looking down their noses at you.

sheesh!

[melrose]

Sorry KewCumber obviously didn't have to be done on the barbecue - just meant I could delegate the cooking to DH!!!

Actually we had a bonfire party once and did BBQ sausages, far easier than making amess of the kitchen!!

[annoyingdevil]

Yes, Kew they're rather partial to a nice portion of fish and chips too. In batter mind, none of this poncy stuff with scales and the 'ead still on

[Iklboo]

There's a difference between being a 'fussy eater' and plain not liking it. I wouldn't eat hummus if you paid me. I don't like it. I'm not a fussy eater.
DS is given lots of healthy food, gets his 5 a day every day.
If he goes to a party and there's sausages on sticks, party rings & cheesy wotsits he can have them because I know he will not explode all over the carpet with a once-in-a-blue-moon treat.
His verdict on olives 'these are nasty mummy'

[MilaMae]

Bacon my kids are some of the best eaters I know -dd's fav foods are olives,asparagas wrapped in palma ham etc. We eat very healthily, all together and adult food.

Unfortunately I can't stretch to foods such as olives,asparagas etc when catering for a load of 3 olds. Especially when taking into account half of it will get left.

Also she actually didn't want foods such as that at her party,she wanted "fairy food" she's 3. So fairy food is what she got and she loved every mouthful as she loves all food. She still talks endlessly about her mushroom cake I made-preens!!!!!

I do stick to low numbers but even so do like to invite the kids back who invite us. Even sticking to those numbers I just can't justify spending huge amounts of money I haven't got on a party that lasts for only 2 hours. So what am I supposed to do- cut the numbers down even more and mortify the dc just for the sake of an organic spread of titbits that would only impress 1 or 2 parents(actually none of my dc's friends mums thankfully)and not the kids themselves.

Also you are mistaken about value food as I'm an endless lable checker. When buying the mini sausage rolls I compared Sainsbury's value frozen ones with the equivilent high end of the range bag. Guess which had less crap and additives in- that would be the value bag at half the price!!!!!!!!

[melrose]

I love the way that people seem to think that if has a waitrose label on it is somehow better for you!

[PeachyWontLieToYou]

Waitrose is required???? [shocl]

Damn I had better move, i shall tell my landlady that contract must foreclose as Ocado don't deliver here



Obviously my parties are the most exciting as the kids are always far too hyped up to eat anything anyway, should really save myself cash and mould from wax to bring out on rota each few months to be ignored!

[PeachyWontLieToYou]

'I'm sorry but children are only fussy because parents say "he/she wont eat that".'

ha ha ha ha ha

Thatb is so very wrong!

variety helps of course, and good food from an early age (and I'm a riverford box girl myself) but kids differ just like adults do and some have extra good reasons to refuse foods like SN.

As for the tastebuds being stronger in kids- er yes, you mean supertasters. They're associated with being highly sensitive to foods like chilli, garlic etc and quite often are food refusers.

Now, if you let your average NT kid have their fusses, make sure they eat as much variety as you can get into them and dont make a deal of it the chances are it will pass quickly. Sit there crowing over X Y and Z being bad foods and nasty foods and gawd only knows what complexes you will give thwm.

Kids aren't a different species, they're little adults. Adults have dislikes too.

[prettybird]

LOL at the wax copies of food to be brought out in rotation.

Still at the "children are only fussy because parents say "he/she wont eat that". If only it were that simple. Ds gets made to eat (or at least) taste whatever we have and doens't get something else to fill up on. But I am hopeful that his fussiness will pass! .... althugh he's been like this for c4 years now.

[PeachyWontLieToYou]

it will pb, apparently i only ate lamb casserole and choccy pud for years, will eat pretty much anything now

sometimes i think its an alternative controlm technique to tantrums

[MilaMae]

Totally agree Peachy 2 of mine are non identical twins always been fed exactly the same things,very varied diet. Twin 1 has from day 1 eaten absolutely anything,twin 2 even filtered babyrice. He hates anything too sweet or salty and dislikes trying new foods.I'm convinced he has supertastebuds.

My only rule is he has to try things but I make no fuss if he doesn't eat it and he doesn't get anything else,so used to go to bed hungry most nights. We all eat together so have basically done everything by the book. I'm really not bothered about it as he eats a varied healthy diet,loves fruit,pulses,dairy,whole grains etc. He's just who he is and doesn't like highly flavoured foods. Bit of a pita as twin 1,dd,dp and myself are very adventurous eaters but why should he have to be the same?

Prettybird he's nearly 5 now and have noticed a massive improvement. Tries things without being prompted,finishes his tea most nights and is now eating things he didn't used to so hang in there

[prettybird]

But ds is nearly 8 (See other thread re 7 year old boys! )

He does like tasting wine though! Usually descrbies it as "grape-y" although recently has come out with "like ice-cream" (=vanilla) and "spicy". So we are doing waht we can to encourage a good palate!

[MilaMae]

Do I want to read it?????

Is it the arsey one,was hoping when the 4 year old testosterone surge thing passes I'd be looking forward to to a few years of calm.

[prettybird]

....we keep on thinking "it's just a phase"

..... just a whole sequence of them, all running togeether!

[PeachyWontLieToYou]

ah pb
ime of that age ( have boys aged 7 and 8( anything thry can dop that gets a rise they love

if he realises it pushes your buttons....

otoh ex of mine never ate red food (note the ex...), so no tomatoes or anything. didn't kill him, he just ate differently.

I would imagine havng a proper hating food refuser is much like having a kid with dairy or gluten free diets (I have both)- a right pita at first but you get used adapt and before long you're i new equally balanced routine

[motherinferior]

My kids and their mates appear to like, you know, parties. They are not madly bothered about the food. They want crisps, and to dash around madly, and crisps, and to do Pass the Parcel, and crisps, and generally to have a good time. With masses of their mates.

And I don't in any case want to throw down a whopping middle-class posherama gauntlet to their mates' parents. I'm quite happy for them to stuff themselves on crisps and a few other non-nutritious items of party food. It's a party.

I don't, come to that, go to parties for healthy living either. My idea of a good party is one where someone snogs someone else slightly inappropriate, and quite a few people possibly including me drink too much.

[hatwoman]

you go to all the best parties MI . I can't remember the last time I went to a party where there was snogging of note.

[motherinferior]

I have a horrible feeling the last party I went to like that was about 8 years ago, it has to be said. My friend snogged an ex-shag aquaintance of mine, publically, and DP's brother asked out another friend of mine and she met her current husband on that date.

I personally was a bit preoccupied having just discovered I was up the duff.