Childs buffett hotdog vs sandwhiches

[Nightowl44]

Im throwing my dc there first party , they are turning 5 still at nursery.
We have 30ish kids coming and a lot of adults coming parent of the children and we have a big family ( I know we are crazy ! ) hoping some pull out lol .

Im getting a little stressed now and over thinking the buffett And dont want to make it to complicated. Do I just carter for children and parents can help there self after or do I have to carter for everyone. Party facility has a kitchen with oven.

We were thinking of doing
Chicken goujons
Sausage rolls
Pizza maybe
Cocktail sausages.
Maybe chips
Cake
Sweets
Crisps

Me and my partner are unsure if we should do sandwiches ham , cheese and maybe some jam for the kids . Or hot dogs to make it more easy whats people's opinions on hot dogs i know i personally would never feed my child a Tinned hot dog but I was going to buy the decent hot dogs . It would save me time making sandwhiches and I dont have much help to do buffett on the day .

Any other Easy buffet ideas would be great my son has a dairy allergy so I would rather not have lots of dairy options so he can help himself .

If you go for hotdogs make sure you slice them length ways before putting them in the bun to reduce the risk of a choke episode.

I would reduce the items
on your buffet.

Sandwiches - jam and cheese
Skip the hot dogs (as you will
need the faff of sauces etc) - perhaps cocktail sausages instead?
Cucumber and carrot sticks with hummus
Fruit? Perhaps?
Large bowls of crisps/pom bears etc
No sweets unless in party bags
Cake as the sweet bit

For that age parents didnt generally get catered for - we kinda just used to hoover up the leftovers of our kids.

You have a large no. Coming so maybe you could increase the quantities of your buffet and once the kids have served themselves you can offer the parents? I would say teas and coffees for the parents at a minimum.

Why not keep it simple and just do sandwiches. Some meat, some cheese and some vegan options - hummus is an easy sandwich filling. If you don't think you'll have time to prepare them, then just spend a little more and order them in -Costco do platters of sandwiches, as do some supermarkets.

I wouldn't ever serve hotdogs as not every child will like them, plus you would have to serve them warm.

A load of sandwiches, crisps and cakey things will suffice. You will find that children don't tend to eat much at parties - especially this age.

For adults you could do olives, nuts, cheese board/charcuterie? The children won't want any of this stuff :)

Check on guests' dietary requirements in advance.

In my experience kids will ignore sandwiches. I wouldn't bother with them.

Don’t worry about the parents, they can nibble what inevitably won’t get eaten. I’d do either pizza or goujons and chips. Don’t bother with sandwiches.

Another thing you could do - if i read correctly you have access to an oven - is skip the sandwiches / hot dogs and order in large pizzas that you just warm up.

Then it would be - pizza slices (which both parents and kids eat) - plus crisps, veg sticks, a bit of fruit and then cake. Jugs of water / squash. Teas ans coffees.

Gosh I miss my little kid party planning days.

From experience hosting kids' parties, I recommend have some trays of fruit and veggies (carrots and cukes are most popular + bell pepper) with dip/humous ready for the arrival. I found that kids turned up ravenous and needed a snack to tide them over. I would prep these the night before.

If you don't have much help on the day, I'd avoid anything which needs to be cooked/prepared beyond putting it on a tray. If you have hotdogs then you need ketchup, etc.

I think if you have good quantities of all your other choices, you don't need to mess with hotdogs or pizza. I'd let the parents snack on the same spread - no special extras.

What will your vegetarian option be? Vegetarian 'sausage' rolls?

I wouldn’t do hot dogs for excited 5 year-olds as they could be a choking risk.

The rest sounds nice with some simple sandwiches thrown in (ham/jam/cheese).
I wouldn’t cater to the parents.

If you are looking at any sort of dip we used to use "nut cups" so spodge the dip into the cups ready to put on a plate instead of the usual smearing it around the plate with your cucumber stick. I would put some fruit out.

I would skip the sweets and just have birthday cake for dessert. I would buy a large sheet cake or 2 smaller ones depending on size and use that to dish up cake rather than trying to cut into an 8" round. Cut it ahead of time and put it back in the box read to transport.

If you want to see this in perfection watch this woman do it. She is amazing. Just easier with an equal slice of cake to dish up.

Thanks for all your suggestions:)
I love the pizza suggestions and its easy but my dc has a dairy allergy so would need to do other options also .
Vegetarian options could be cheese or jam sandwiches if i do them or pizza or if i do pizza.
Any party ive been to have never catered to allergies my dc has hardly ever been able to eat anything from buffetts . So my buffet will be mostly dairy free and wont have any form of nuts and will have a vegetarian option .

Do sandwiches. Lots of people don’t eat pork and hot dogs are a carcinogen (cancer causing due to nitrates) tinned or otherwise.

@GoldenCupsatHarvestTime I think i will do sandwiches and some other picky bits or just goujons sausage rolls , cocktail sausages and pizzs . You are right hot dogs are full of crap was wanting an easier option but I wouldnt feed my child them if I could help it so I shouldn't feed anyone else's child them .

I would stick to exactly what you've said, none of that needs cutting or putting together as such, only cutting the pizza. Don't faff about with sandwiches or veggie sticks and hummus

What about some fruit platters to go with it? We usually do big bowls of blueberries, raspberries and strawberries and they are always really popular.

@likelysuspect yeah I dont think i will bother with hummus none of the kids in my family like it and neither do I if im honest lol.

@Overthebow I am going to do water melon and some blueberries or strawberry's. Will work out what is cheaper for quantity as fruit is expensive to waste now and im on a tight budget for buffett . But water melon and strawberries is usally always a hit .