Party food, ideas please

[coldtea]

It's my ds' 5th birthday party on sunday & i have 15 children coming.

For a number of reasons i've decided to put the food straight onto the plates for the children, and have the table ready for when they sit down.

I'm having a mental block as to what to put on them. I don't want it too fussy as i'll be doing the same on each one, then the child can leave what they don't want.

I'm thinking nuggets, sausages & sausage rolls, maybe some cucumber wedges. I wasn't going to put anything sweet on the plate as we'll have Jelly & ice-cream after.

What would your childs ideal party plate have on it?

small sandwiches (cheese, ham, marmite, egg mayo etc), small pizza slices, cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, humous?

Grapes go down surprisingly well I find.

watermelon slices or chunks

popcorn plain or buttered

Also something chocolate. I have read your post and know you are talking about savoury things here, but not all children eat jelly and I am thinking of after they have eaten their plate load of savoury things.

also celery sticks with cream cheese in (can put raisins on top for ants on a log)...

Anything you can clean easily off your carpet/walls/curtains/pets
Last young 'uns party I went to had potato wedges/smily faces, garlic bread, cheese chunks etc as well

What about Eton Mess as well as Ice cream and Jelly. Always goes down a treat with kids.

Chunks of cheese either on a stick with pineapple or just on its own.

Good point Lonelymum, last year i had 28 children & made jelly with fruit in the bottom. BIG mistake i spent 1/2hr picking the fruit out as all i kept hearing was 'iiii don't liiike fruit' AARGHH.

Ants on a log sound great, i'm just a bit worried about the fussiness of the children after the jelly episode!

What is eton mess?

I can only ehco Coldtea, what is eton mess? Does it have another name? I can't believe there is something out there for kids that I have never heard of!

echo

For ds's 4th birthday party in April I did hotdogs - it was really easy and quick and they loved it! Did a few big bowls of crisps too (twists and hoops) and followed with ice-cream cornets. I also just had a big bowl of celebrations for the choc element!

All the parents were very impressed!

Absolutely goobledigook! Perfect choice!

Eton mess is lovely - cream, strawberries and meringue, all squashed up. Yum! Had it last night, in fact!

Was it your idea Mars? Someone gave me the idea but I can't remember who it was!

Only crisps - all she ever eats

That's ok was going to put crisps in the middle

Hope you all have a great time on Sunday

How did it go?

Fantastic, thanks for asking.

It was a lot better organised than last year(if i do say so myself!) & the children all seemed to have a great time.

The games started well with all joining in but they soon got fed up & wanted to play on all the things in our garden. I just went with the flow & let them play.

The entertainer was a bit disappointing but the children liked him.

Ds loved having it at home & i have to agree it felt like a nice intimate party. Am on a high now!

Glad it went well

yes gobble it was my idea. I do it every year. Works like a charm

sorry coldtea, how rude of me.

Glad the party went well!

Mars - Jools is offline but she posted a thread for you this morning - did you see it?

Lovely pressie btw - she showed it to me this afternoon. She was quite choked!