food for first birthday bash!

[Joso]

Help please. Would greatly appreciate ideas for stress-free food for my DD's first birthday bash. I'm thinking no cooking, low preparation finger food - I'm sure you all know where I'm coming from! Anyway basically there's about twenty five adults and about seven kids ranging from one to six! (crazy I know but the whole things just esculated!)

I always go for sandwiches cut with biscuit cutters (jam is very popular with all ages at our parties....and marmite, and eggy), little cakes that you can buy already iced ('cos the kids only ever eat the icing anyway) and are really cheap, lots of different sorts of crisp-y things (inlcuding bread sticks and cheese straws), plenty of hummous, and chocolate custard, warmed through in the microwave with loads of chocolate buttons thrown in.

Just read this again - should I be on the bad mothers thread and not here...???????

How about scones from a local bakery or supermarket, some clotted cream and good quality jam. (Went down treat with adults at my dd first birthday party.)
Agree with WedgiesMum re sandwiches - cream cheese, marmite, jam, egg
Buscuits (shortbread, jammy dodgers, choc. chips)
Strawberries? (not sure if they are in season or horrendously expensive at the moment.) But if not strawberries, then a selection of other cut up fruit
Fruit bread? (ie raison bread or ginger bread or something similar)
And don't forget the birthday cake!
Have fun!

thanks ladies...am specially loving the scones idea!!

Joso, Sainsburys have a half price special on strawberries at the moment-£1.49 for a punnett.
Bread pudding is a nice, healthy-ish, cake idea-you can buy it at most local bakeries and some Greggs do it too.
If you have all those adults to cater for too how about a great big risotto made the night before and heated up when needed? The kiddies will love it too. You can also make rice pudding, just chuck it in the oven for an hour on the day then take it out!
What about cocktail sausages-it is a special occasion so just this once should be ok! Have fun!

Hey, what happened to jelly & ice-cream???? I never attened a party as a child without it!
How about the Blue Parrot range chicken nuggets / chicken dippers. I had 30 kids (totally ridiculous of me I know) and each child had a t least one parent, plus other adults came as well, like nan's and great aunties and best mates of mine who don't have kids. The adults could eat when they got home but there was wine for them to drink, so that sorted them out (I doubt any parent will want anything other than a cocktail sausage cos they'll be supervising their hyperactive, overexcited kids!!!) For the kids Imade the chicken dippers, cream cheese and jam sarnies & cream chees & marmite, bought little bite-sized chocolate doughnuts, wotsits, cocktail sauages and that kind of thing. It'll all end up trodden into your carpet though! Good luck and take ots of pices cos you'll look back at the end of the day and not know what happened!!!!