How much would you pay?

[auntymandy]

For food for a childs party..or would you?
Thinking of cateering childrens parties, would you pay for it? If so,how much per head or per party.
Birthday cake
Buns
biscuits crisps
cheese straws
sandwiches
fruit
cucumber,tomato etc

you know the kind of thing

Thinking os sounding out mums at playschool. New in that circle though,maybe wait till I do my sons in december and stick a flyer in the party bags!!!

Great idea - invite the mums to stay/turn up at tea time (bribe with wine and grown up nibbles) so they can see how fab the party food is.

But I could do with a few before then!!
Trying to help out with cash flo!

I always did a roaring trade at Christmas - work kids xmas parties, M+T parties, you name it, they all have them! You can virtually name your price! Especially if you organise the party games too, as nobody wants to have to do that.

dh used to do mobile disco's so I could lay on a disco!!!!
Not sure about been a clown!

Sorry AM just realised what you were asking. If I were buying the service in from someone else, if it included plates and place settings, I think about £4 - £5 a head would be reasonable. Bearing in mind that places like Monkeybizz are about £7 per head, including the entertainment, and you're offering some home made stuff, like proper sandwiches, fresh stuff like celery, I'd be happy to pay that.

The only problem would be the entertainment! Could you do a few magic tricks to offer a full service?!

food is my limit!

I wouldn't shy away from providing tableware etc. Just charge extra. Find a good wholesaler or cheap retailer.

We have a local company that does different types of packages from just food to a whole kit and entertainers.

If you know any entertainers you could supply them and take a commision.

think this is a deffinate maybe then!

I have thought about doing this for a few years as I always get approached after one of dd parties by parents offering to pay me to cater parties.

I have done it for a bit of pin money but to be honest haven't worked out proper costings, just added a bit of money on for my time.

I catered for a party of 25 children the food included novelty shaped sandwiches , butterflies, hearts, little people etc as well as swiss roll sandwiches. Sausage heads, crocodiles with cheese and pineapple, sauasage rolls, fruit kebabs, cakes for the kids to decorate, jelly boats, biscuits that were faces. I set out the food but mum bought party wear. I charged £100 for this, I also did a cake but this was paid for separately. I didn't make a lot of profit to be honest - I did it to test the waters. If I did it as a business I would need to charge about £5 a head as the food is quite time consuming to make although I would probably be able to source cheaper suppliers.

I have just done my dd own birthday party and had similar food as well as having lots of arts and crafts. Repeatedly Mums came up to me and offered to pay me to cater and run a similar party. I quoted a figure of around £200 for 25 kids not including the cake and they said they were more than happy to pay the price. I am not living in a very affluent area either, in a city you may be able to charge more. I thought £200 was steep but the mum in question had just paid that amount for a party at a local soft play centre which did not compare to what i had done for dd.

I also wouldn't charge per head but in bands so say £100 for up to 20 kids, so much for up to 30 and so on.