What food for a children's birthday party?

[nappyaddict]

Been to a few recently. They all generally had:

Ham/cheese/dairylea/philadelphia/jam/choc spread sandwiches
Cheese/pineappple sticks
Carrot/cucumber/cherry tomato sticks
Cocktail sausages
Sausage rolls
Pizza (cold)
Chicken nuggets (cold)
Fish fingers (cold)
Crisps
Party rings/jammy dodgers/choc fingers
Fairy cakes/cupcakes/jam tarts/flapjacks

What do you like to see, what don't you like to see, what would you like to see that's not there?

depends really on age & budget.
I would do the salad/veg sticks great, with humus & guacamole, kids love it.
cheese/ pineapple goes down well fruit ones too, grapes, melon, apple.
sausage rolls are always wolfed down(I make my own)
Crisps are ok, its a party after all.
Hate cold fish fingers/pizza/nuggets.
instead do mini chicken kebabs .
mini sausages, why not make mini toad in the holes?
pizza, prefer home made stuff so why not make the pin wheels
for sandwiches , why not use shape cut outs, bit more interesting for little ones or make mini wraps.
garlic bread?
personally i don't put out cakes/sweets etc until savouries have been eaten, its out there just not served as they will just eat these.

forgot to say, a lot can be pre made day before, its worth the extra effort, better for you and lots of grateful(and jealous) mums x

I don't serve buffets now after hearing many parents saying on pick up "let's go home for tea" and also throwing loads of food away. parties are also in the middle of the afternoon so lunch has been eaten and as it seems, most are going to eat an evening meal too.

so, I serve up hotdogs, then a platter of cake and biscuits. though this is amounts to one cake each and a couple of chocolate fingers per person.

I now time parties so I provide "morning tea" with the expectation that they will go home for lunch, or more usually "afternoon tea" so party 2-5 after lunch but before evening meal. For DD's last party at home it was fruit, crisps and cake which really cut down on the work. That's probably more acceptable here in Australia though - when I first arrived I did a lot of what you mention and all that got eaten was the fruit, crisps and cake!

The party is 4-6 so around tea time.

Have you got a recipe for the mini chicken kebabs, sausage rolls and pin wheels?

I wasn't going to do a buffet. I was going to put it all on a plate beforehand and cling film it, then give it out to each child at the party - saves on waste and mess.

Was thinking of dips but do they get messy?

I wouldn't go mad - they only really want the cake and biscuits.

I used to do egg sandwiches and ham sandwiches, cocktail sausages, carrot sticks, grapes crisps, biscuits and cupcakes.