Can I cater a 6th Birthday party for £35?

whizzer01

I would really appreciate any help from you very helpful frugal people - my daughters birthday party is soon and i am catering it myself there is approx 25- 30 children going (eek) in a community centre hall.

trouble is in previous parties through not being organised or very frugal i have spent far too much on food, which has been thrown away mostly,

does anyone have any tips of firm party food favourites which are tried and tested, some healthier / different alternatives perhaps and also importantly not too expensive.

pls help, also if you do contribute an idea possibly give me a rough idea of what you would expect to pay????

kind regards
whizzer_party_

Brodiebobs

i've just done it for a party in the morning, 35 kids.

Bought lots of cheap bits from iceland such as sausage rolls, cheese rolls pizza's, spent about £12 there, made my own cake and buns, some carrot cake buns (bit healthier lol...) lots of carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, humous and dips.
Sandwiches with homemade bread, cheated a little as got eggs for egg mayo from mums chickens but bought everything else.
Also made a pasta salad and fruit salad.

All in prob about £40. This included a HSM cake that cost £8!!!

whizzer01

ooh i love carrot cake!

was thinking flapjacks, may be a cheap tasty option
do you think iceland is the best bet for supplies over asda, aldi etc
also approx how many should i make per child? 2 of everything per child, 1 of everything? i.e sandwhich's, saus rolls, cakes?

ooh the stress of it all!

PollyFlinders_3

What time is your party? Because there's a difference in what you need to provide if the party is over a regular mealtime, or between meals (e.g. 2-4). And are you willing to do some home-made stuff (which will probably work out a bit cheaper if you pick the right things to make at home).

You could think about sandwiches in white bread (value loaf or something similar) with each 2-slice sandwich cut into 8 to make little mini sandwiches, which won't over-face the kids and might encourage them to eat more. A pot of jam and a pot of cheese spread would give 2 options.

Popcorn is really cheap if you buy the kernals from the supermarket - about 70p for a bag that will make a HUGE amount of popcorn. Most kids will eat it plain or sweetened with icing sugar.

Also I have found fairy cakes made in little sweet cases (like mini-bun cases) go down really well - you just need a splodge of icing and a smartie on top and everyone's happy. If you make a 3-egg victoria sponge mixture you can get more than enough cakes of this size for everyone to have at least 1 each. Scotch pancakes are also popular, and can be bought fairly cheaply or made at home even cheaper.

Then 3 or 4 big packs of crisps, some mini-breadsticks and a couple of bottles of squash and that's probably all that will actually get eaten and drunk. (and I wouldn't be too sure the sandwiches will go anyway). They'll be far too excited playing games to worry what they're eating (or not), and can always go home for something else to eat....

Brodiebobs

yeah good idea...mmm love flapjack.

Well my hap hazard approach was thinking what my dd would have on her plate at a party, she like to have one of each type of sandwich, a sausage roll, bit of salad, a bun, etc...

I've made 40 sandwiches (quaters) the packs of sausage/cheese rolls have 50 in (£2 each bag) two large pizzas, 40 buns, two big plastic bowls of various salads... etc.

I thought iceland worked out cheaper than asda, but dont have an aldi nearby so maybe cheaper.

Brodiebobs

oh that just reminded me crisps got them too, the large bags of onion rings, twists, cheese puffs were on offer at asda a few weeks ago 3 for £1.50. Dont know if they still are though.

SUESMITH_2

i cut down on waste by making up a party box for each child, also made it easy to make sure the veggie kids ate the right food lol - instead of loads of half eaten butties and licked cakes each child just ate their box and at the end they got chucked in the bin so no mess or washing up. its a while ago but i think i put in something like a couple of sandwiches, a mini egg, mini sausages, cherry toms, a small packet of cheap crisps, cubes of cheese and a bun.

karren

SUESMITH wrote: »

i cut down on waste by making up a party box for each child, also made it easy to make sure the veggie kids ate the right food lol - instead of loads of half eaten butties and licked cakes each child just ate their box and at the end they got chucked in the bin so no mess or washing up. its a while ago but i think i put in something like a couple of sandwiches, a mini egg, mini sausages, cherry toms, a small packet of cheap crisps, cubes of cheese and a bun.

where can i get the party boxes from???
Asim doing a joint oarty and we thought they would work out easier and we can put half ham half cheese and pop the sweets in the same time thus saving having to make party bags too, thats if the other mum agrees

crazy_girl

asda and tesco value stuff is pretty good for nibbles, then you could serve veggie sticks with value dips, salad (asda do huge bags of mixed salad for a couple of quid) and lose hand fruit (value apples and bananas and kids size tangerines) perhaps?

esmf73

Just make your own party boxes from stiff paper - I did one year. Plus kids always eat less than you think at a party as they want to get back to rushing about!
Thats been my experience.

Tired_Mom

I personally wouldn't bother with the salad unless you are happy to eat it yourselves later when it has been out in a warm room for a couple of hours. My children eat healthly but salad at a party is not something they would help themselves to. A bowl of cherry tomatoes is as much as you would need.

Fruit cut into chunks on a platter always goes down well as do fruit kebabs, cut the spiked ends of the kebab sticks or even use straws.

Like everyone else has said kids really don't eat that much so under cater rather than over cater as you will get a lot of waste.