Is this ok food wise for a birthday party

[AliasGrape]

DD’s 4th birthday is coming up. We’ve hired a village hall for it, whole nursery invited and 24 have said they’re coming.

We’ve got a number of children coming who are vegetarian or halal - easiest I think to keep the whole thing vegetarian. No vegan guests and none with dairy allergies. It’s not over a meal time.

I’m thinking to do a load of pizza - cheese and tomato probably. Crisps, obligatory cut up cucumber and maybe carrot sticks. Then fruit platters, party rings and I might get some ice lollies and obviously cake of some kind (will cut birthday cake for them to take home)

Is that enough? It’s not much variety maybe but I want an easy life this time! I’ve always really gone to town for any time we’ve had a party or event before, but I’m going to struggle in the run up to this one as there’s a lot going on right now, and from experience of others kid’s parties recently most of it doesn’t get eaten anyway.

Do you think we need some token sandwiches for appearances sake?

Keep the sandwiches for parents to eat and make sure there's tea and coffee available too

Fruit platters are an enormous hit.
They like cut up watermelon, strawberries, oranges, grapes for sure and the parents seem to like it too. Lots like blueberries and pineapple. It's easy to get the big fruit, cut the peel off and cut it into bite sized pieces and stand it prettily. They seem to prefer it to pics and everything else in my experience.

All the parties here do an individual lunchbox per child, less mess!

The sandwiches do get eaten at ours, the usual fare is:
Half a round sandwich (cheese, ham, jam)
Pombears
Cucumber, pepper and tomato in a bit of cling film
Satsuma
Bag of mini party rings
Juice carton

Lunchboxes made up ahead with just the sandwiches and crudites added on the day.

If kids don’t like pizza they can eat the vege sticks, fruit, crisps, cake and lollies 😜

How are jam sandwiches savoury ?

SoftandQuiet · 12/07/2024 16:52
Savoury jam sandwiches?

Legomania · 12/07/2024 23:12
Ok, obviously jam isn't savoury. But at kids' parties they do tend to get served alongside the other sandwiches as part of the 'main course'

Some sandwiches or some Quorn chicken nuggets or potato wedges z My son never ate pizza until he was 14 so would have gone hungry

Mine never liked it either. Didn't eat it until he was 14

Sounds lovely.
Sandwiches never get eaten.

I'd just put a few Pitta bread sliced up for any who don't like pizza, or garlic bread or even Crackers. Otherwise sounds great

I would definitely do some sandwiches as well, not all children eat pizza (some parents think its unhealthy and wouldnt let their little ones eat it anyway). Good call with the chopped veg too.

I agree that crisps and cake are compulsory! Unless it's a posh fancy cake the children will want to see, I recommend cutting it up before the party starts so it saves you a massive job at the end of the party.

Pizza is a pain to cook in large quantities and keep warm (unless you order in). Lots of DC won’t eat cold pizza.

Sandwiches are easier IMO. Sausage rolls or cocktail sausages are always popular, and cheese cubes, with veggie sticks and crisps.

As well as the fruit platter, I would have a selection of mini biscuits and cakes eg mini party rings or iced gems, mini gingerbread men, fairy cakes and rice crispy cakes or at least 2 or 3 options. You don’t have to put out loads, you can always top up the plate (so you can keep any leftovers without worrying about how many sticky little fingers have picked them up). Mini means you have less wastage when they take things and only eat one bite or their eyes are bigger than their bellies..,

I can think of quite a few DC who like neither pizza nor party rings (nor icing in any form). That would leave them with just the veggies, fruit and crisps.

I think its perfect, i would nit bother with sandwhiches or any of the other things people have suggested , those that dont like pizza can just eat the rest of the stuff. And since when did you have to cater for the parents? Its a kids party, im sure adults can bring them selves a. Drink and last a couple of hours without food

Thanks everyone for all the comments and suggestions. I've done the food order now and, inevitably, ended up putting more on it!

I'm still not going to do trays of sandwiches haha - I think being at a friend's party just before I originally posted and seeing whole trays being thrown away at the end has scarred me. But there will be some other savoury stuff now in addition to pizza and veg platters/ crisps. And I was always going to have a choice of sweet treats alongside the party rings, I just specified those because they were a non negotiable from DD! We've gone for mini donuts, mini cupcakes and chocolate crispy cakes.

I love the idea of individual lunchboxes and in future will go down this route I think.