Party food ideas

[strawberry]

We're having a few friends over on Saturday - approx. 20 adults and 8 children under 3. Planning a sort of running buffet for people to help themselves. I don't want to spend all day in the kitchen so thinking along the lines of french bread, cheeses, cold meats, pizzas. All suggestions gratefully received.

What about pudding or not bother?

Will it be a standing up type thing or sitting down as that makes a difference to the food you do i.e. will people be using a knife and fork or their hands?

Ice cream in a cone always goes down well for kids and results in no washing up .

no pudding, just cake and bits like chocolate fingers (short ones from M&S in a tub), biscuits like those iced circles or jam rings, and a couple of bowls of eg strawberries, cut up apples, grapes. if you bother with sandwiches I'd do one lot of marmite (cream with butter first a la nigella) and one lot of jam (one white loaf, one brown to tell them apart). also a bowl of carrot/cucumber chunks. individual jellies go down well but a bit messy imo

I just did a similar party on Saturday I did :

A roast chicken with garlic and rosemary, french bread, tiger prawns with lemony mayonaise, mini tortilla wraps, garlic bread, salad, mini pitta breads wtih feta cheese and red onion - for kids sausages on sticks, cheese and pineapple on sticks, egg mayo sandwiches, ham sandwiches, mini pizzas

For dessert we had a cookie cake and a passion fruit meringue "mess" (pavlova went a bit wrong) and for kids strawberries and marshmallows with chocolate dipping sauce.

Hope some of that helps!

Make a big pavlova for pudding piled high with cream and the last of the raspberries/peache. You can cook the meringue a couple of days in advance and dress it on the day.
Or what about a trifle. I think you shuold have a pudding
Ice cream in cornets for the kids I think

For your buffet how about chicken drumsticks cooked in Heinz BBQ sauce, pigs in blankets with a sweet chilli dipping sauce - just put them in the oven and they can be served cold but don't keep the chicken haning around for more than a couple of hours, chili and sweetcorn muffins with cheese on top - like a cornbread - can be made the day before and put in the microwave. Salads of course, bowl of cherry tomatoes with herb mayonnaise to dip in to.

IME kids like crisps, sausages and pizza for finger food with some fruit on the side.

HTH

Stickynote - it's a stand up, preferably finger food.

Bundle - I forget about Nigella's ideas. I will dig the book out.

Beccarollover - did you make all the that stuff? It sounds like a lot of work - how long did it take? Will get DS to help make a cheese & pineapple hedgehog!

I had lots of help from my sister who loves to cook.

We prepared the chicken the night before and roasted it that morning,tiger prawns (out of the packet cooked and peeled , mini tortilla wraps (made night before and they were fine), mini pitta breads cut in half, drizzle of olive oil and couple of cubes of feta and onion bang in onion for 15 mins

Cookie cake was shop bought, meringues made the night before - morning off the party loaded on the cream/passion fruit and dotted raspberries on top.

Strawberry and marshmallow with dipping sauce (shop bought luxury belgian chocolate sauce in a jar)

strawberry, also you could buy ready made margherita pizzas (mini ones if poss) and get the kids to make their own - put cubes of ham, some olives etc on plates and make it into one of the games, by doing faces on them, grated cheese for hair etc.

becca was daddy there???? (sorry haven't been online since you posted about the footballing genius)

bundle! YES he was - after a whole week of arguing and stubborness the morning of the party he changed his mind completely - I wont even begin to try and work out what was goign on in his head!! MEN!