Food for 3rd birthday party

[Lily7050]

We are planning to have about 60 guests including parents.
The venue has kitchen with oven and fridge/freezer. The party will be in the morning from 10am to midday.
The children usually have lunch at nursery around 11:30am. I think I will offer main food around 11am so the children could finish eating by 12:00.
I have read a few older threads about party food so got general ideas. Also we have been to a few parties of nursery children and neighbors.
I work full time so do not have much time to bake/cook for 60 people.
I think I will cut carrot, cucumber and peppers sticks and offers them with humus. Also cut fruits and make cheese and ham sandwiches.
From other parties I noticed my DS seemed to be the only fussy eater who did not eat anything at parties. He likes brioche rolls. I was thinking of making some sandwiches with brioche rolls so my DS would eat at his birthday party but my DP says no one did them so they will look odd.
I wonder what other people here think of brioche roll sandwiches?
Also my DS does not eat cakes but he eats ice-cream sometimes. Would 3yo children get offered ice-cream at parties?
The only main meal my DS eats at home is pasta of particular shape, Mezzi Rigatoni. Would it be ok if I offer Mezzi Rigatoni with bolognese sauce so if other children fancy they could have it as well?
Pizza seems to work well at children's parties but I do not make pizzas myself and most delivery places do not deliver before 11:30-midday. If I find a place that can deliver by 10:45-11 I will order pizzas.

forgot to mention that I will order cake and mini muffins somewhere.

If your DS only likes brioche rolls then make them for his party. No one will even look twice. I like them too.

That’s a lot of people.

Are you feeding parents as well?

60 people for a 3 year olds party?! If you work full time you'll have to get that catered really, you don't say how many kids vs adults but either way that's too many to give yourself the hassle of prepping for beforehand.

I would do sandwich boxes for the children. Premake them all with a sandwich (brioche rolls are fine), my dc had them today), veg sticks, little bag of crisps, apiece of fruit or raisins and a fairy cake. Don’t do ice cream, it will get messy!

Don't order pizzas just cook them and have them cold. Simple

Can you keep it really really simple? Crisps, sandwiches (brioche is fine), little cakes/biscuits, bags of carrot sticks from the supermarket. And ice cream is fine, you could buy loads of mini milks or similar to keep it really easy. If you want to feed the adults too you can order sandwich platters from the supermarket

I'd just order a few platters of sandwiches from m&s, costo or a local sandwich shop (make some brioche ones too for your DS), put some supermarket pizzas in the oven, buy a load of multipack kid friendly crisps, some bananas/satsumas and leave it at that. Every party I've been to most of the kids are too busy to want to eat properly so I'd save yourself as much stress and hassle as possible.

Sandwiches, (brioche rolls are fine, but my dc wouldn’t have had them before when they were 3, so maybe do a mixture), some crisps, chocolate fingers/party rings/fairy cakes/mini rolls, little boxes of raisins and cucumber sticks. Other options, cocktail sausages, sausage rolls, chicken nuggets, Bread sticks, Pre cooked pizza (from the supermarket, no one expects you to make home made pizza for a kids party and delivered pizza is a bit ott for 3 year olds), cubes of cheese, garlic bread baguettes. But you don’t need all of those options, they are just things that I would consider normal party food. I’d far brioche rolls far more mainstream than serving pasta and bolagnaise tbh. I would find it really odd. Party food isn’t meant to be a main meal and I think you’d have a lot of wastage and mess.

I don’t think I’d be serving ice cream either. Too messy and ime a lot of it is left as once a couple of children have finished and gone back to play, the rest soon follow, regardless of if they have actually finished eating. I’d consider individual drinks -dare I mention a fruit shoot each? Or a carton of fruit juice. Or something similar to prevent spillages.

You could buy mini milk or similar instead of a bowl of ice cream

60 people ??? Why?

For a 10-12 party I really wouldn't go overboard with the catering ... and how you going to entertain the DC ... that's a huge number. I am an ex Cub Leader and DH & I could happily organise games etc for around 20 DC ... what are you planning to do at the party? Don't serve pasta, that will be so messy. Just buy a few pizzas and cook them in the hall kitchen (or cook at home and bring them warm).

Hope you've got helpers in the kitchen ....

60 is a alot! Could any other parents help- even if only to watch the oven or help carry platters etc?

I too would buy supermarket pizzas and stick in the oven at the venue. Cut the round pizza in half, and you can fit 2, whole pizzas at a time on 1 baking tray. They only take a few minutes too cook.

Mini sausage rolls in the oven or mini hot dogs in rolls

I used to love jelly filled oranges. Cut orange in half and scoop out the juice and insides. Remove seeds and cut the insides up. Add gelatin then pour back into the orange halves. Once set, cut in half again.

I too would buy sandwich/snack platters from iceland or M&S for that amount of people.

I wouldn't do ice cream as it will take a long time to serve. With everything else you can put it out like a buffet and people serve themselves but that doesn't really work with ice cream.
An hour for lunch seems like a long time. Will there be something for them to do once they're finished as the ones who get served first will be done after 15 minutes - kids don't eat as much at parties as they might at home as they're excited and want to get up and run around.

@Thesearmsofmine

I would do sandwich boxes for the children. Premake them all with a sandwich (brioche rolls are fine), my dc had them today), veg sticks, little bag of crisps, apiece of fruit or raisins and a fairy cake. Don’t do ice cream, it will get messy!

This is also a good idea. Stick a piece of cake in the box as they're leaving instead of a party bag and then they can take leftovers home at the end so no waste and no clearing up for you.

Would it be ok if I offer Mezzi Rigatoni with bolognese sauce so if other children fancy they could have it as well?
Definitely DO NOT do this. It will be so messy.

As an adult attending 10-12 I wouldn’t want to eat anything. I think you only need to feed children.

You certainly don't need to cater for the parents for a 10-12 party - maybe just coffee and biscuits. Have people RSVP'd ... if my DC was attended if a party at that time I wouldn't assume a meal was being served, just a few snacks.

Brioche rolls are fine
Sandwiches are fine - add some jam ones and you’re the best host ever
Don’t worry about pizza or pasta
Don’t worry about the adults.

Just bear in mind that if you plan to eat at 11am lunch could be over by 11:10!

Food boxes/bags are a good idea - brioche roll, raisins, small cake/treat, crisps, maybe some veg/fruit. Coffee and biscuits for the parents. Don't mess around with pasta/pizza.

Keep the food as easy as possible, sounds awful but nobody will remember what their child ate at a party!

Bowls of crisps bread sticks cheese dips sandwiches fruit cut up in bowls - saves time! biscuits and cake.

Tea coffee - buy throw away cups - with a help yourself note to parents.

Plenty

Every kids party I've been to has more or less the same food, sandwiches (jam, ham, cheese, brioche is fine), pizza (supermarket ones cooked in advance and served cold), sausage rolls, crisps and biscuits. Token cucumber chopped up and largely ignored! Tea and coffee for the parents. Birthday cake and a party bag at the end.

Supermarket pizzas are fine. Honestly I wouldn’t stress. Sit the children down and put adults to work offering offering platters. Sausage rolls, sandwiches in brioche rolls if you like, pizza, bread sticks carrot, cucumber sticks, hummus. Fresh fruit: orange slices, strawberries are always popular. Mini muffins and mini cupcakes (I always buy these at Aldi). Adults pick at leftovers generally.

SIXTY people??

I would keep it as basic as possible as others said. No hot food.

60 is a lot of kids. What is your entertainment plan? Lunch will last 20 mins max. Either do cold food, sandwiches, mini sausage, cheese pastry roll, mini chocolate roll either on a platters or in sandwhich boxes, put cut up cucumbers and fruits on plates at intervals along the tables or do hot dog or pizza and chips - ask for choices in advance and have list up so people can check when the arrive. Have you checked allergies and food requirements? Use water bottles or fruit style squash (give the choice). If you want to do ice cream you will need to make sure you have scooped it into bowls and put it back in the freezer before your guests arrive. Is there enough space for 60 small bowls of ice cream?

Thanks everyone for your feedback.
We plan 20-25 children. From the parties we attended I noticed usually both parents were there with siblings, nannies and grannies.
60 is max number the venue allows. This is including all adults and children.
From older threads I was under impression that supermarket pizzas were not acceptable. People were talking about home made (I assumed from scratch or deliveries. Not sure if cold pizza will taste nice. That's why I was thinking delivery or no pizza. We live 5 minutes away from the venue. I have a double oven and a standalone combi so could cook 3 pizza together. But I do not want to run between home and venue during the party.
The venue has the usual outdoors children's playground equipment. I expect 3yo will be running around, playing with sand, climbing and going down slides etc.
A few weeks before our party we will attend another party in the same venue. I will see what other people do and try to do something similar.