Ready made birthday party food??! Best buys, M&S, Waitrose Entertaining??

[Roopachoo]

Ok shoot me. I am still scarred and tormented from all the food prep that went into DD's 1st birthday party almost 2 years on... and since then we have the addition of a super high needs velcro baby. Outsourcing is the only option here. I know many MNetters will beseech me to employ their cunning and fantastical ways of doing-it-yourself. But seriously, I don't want to lift a finger.

We are having two parties on one day to get max use of the bouncy castle hire, one for nursery chums for a couple of hours and then one for closer friends later on in the day, so convenience is the name of the game!!

Have had a look at the M&S and Waitrose party food websites but wouldn't know what/how much to order?? All seems very pricey too. Was hoping Sainsburys would offer a similar service, but can't see it?? We'll have around 20 adults plus 10 or so of their sprogs at each party.

For the nursery do I'd be content with sandwich platters and other finger food type stuffs, but would want nicer stuff for the second party. Any one have any suggestions??

Posted again here as no replies on Parties thread.

the kids will eat half the number of sandwiches you think they will. THe Waitrose checkerboard ones are very nice.
Carrot batons in a bag, & chop your own cucumbers.
The M&S fruit kebabs are lovely
Then all you have to do is open the packets of Pom Bear!

Even outsourcing care of 6 month old DS to MIL! Shameless

(& yes, it's always going to be outrageously pricey, but they know they have you over a barrel! no cheap way to do it pre prepared)

Ooh thank you BR... want to feed the adults too so not sure how much to order for them? M&S have 30 sandwiches (mini triangles) for £18, plus 98 various bits and bobs (cocktail sausages, pork pies) for £24, 27 vol au vents for £15 etc. The food is the only thing that will keep me going at other DCs parties!

How much stuff of this mini stuff would one adult have on a plate?

Unless you've got adults with no children there, you'll probably find the adults only snack - I'd certainly never take a full plate and fill it at a party - more like grazing (on the party ring biscuits...). The other thing is that the adults always like the children's food best of all so maybe double up on the checkerboard, get the mixed sausage / sausage roll / mini egg thing and share for everyone? saves the hassle of wiping up the mess when little johnny accidentally helps himself to the horseradish / mustard loaded adult sandwiches & spits it out, too.
Just looked on M&S and they do a ready made crudite platter - am always surprised how well the kids go for that / cherry tomatoes.
Mini cupcakes / fruit tartlets also very nice from M&S

(the celebration fruit platter looks lovely but the kebabs are so much easier to serve.)

i think the rule caterers go by for canapes is normally 6 pcs per person in total & of course it always looks so much nicer to have a big generous display (so you'll be living off the remains until they go mouldy!)

I got some from m&s last week, the kids loved the no-mayo sandwich fingers and fruit kebabs most, they were lovely. Also recommend the caterpillar platter :)

this is for TWO YEAR OLDS?

fgs give yourself a break. Ask a couple of babies in the afternoon, then in the evening go out with your mates

Do you have a local deli/ outside caterer? Might work out cheaper.

The children ( in my long experience ) will eat next to nothing but will make a mess. I went for happy meal type boxes when mine were small and they could be used as party bag too.

I used to get the boxes from Party Pieces ( back in the day before the Internet) I think I helped to put the Middleton DC through school.

Thanks for the wisdom BR. So would you count those little sausage / sausage roll / mini egg things as one piece each?? Six of those to a plate? Plus a couple of sandwich quarters maybe? I liked the look of that caterpillar platter, crudites and fruit kebabs are a good idea too for my no junk kudos . And Wildt- kids don't like mayo in their sandwiches?? I'll take your word for it! Ta.

EBarcelona- it's a 3rd bday party and it's all that DD talks about these days! Does sound like too much for a 3 year old, but DD is our PFB and maybe in my naivety I'm thinking I would like to get to socialise with the other parents as they might be in our lives for quite a while hopefully we won't come across as too keen! So a party for her, and hopefully the adults may enjoy it too. It will be in our massive allotment space (which we've decked out as more of a garden/play area) which backs onto our garden, enclosed by lots of woodland, so the setting is lovely with hopefully some nice July weather.

Yes those little lunch boxes are great Timeandtune- the kids love them. Our local caterers seem pricier, but should have a more thorough search I guess.

Since I'm on here about this party, just wanted to ask what everyone thinks about mixing up different groups of people for a birthday party? My initial thought was to keep the nursery lot separate as I don't know them, and if I were to mix them with our regular friends I might not be able to make time for them.

But now I'm thinking, apart from the extra obvious hassle of having two parties on one day, if I mix them together we might get a better party as at least half of the people will know each other, whereas the nursery crew don't really 'know' each other. But this will mean twice the number of toddlers running around. I'm over thinking this.