childrens birthday party ideas food etc

sarahashfield

It is my four year olds birthday at the end of this month.

we are having approximately 12 four year olds, plus younger siblings (babies to 2 year olds) so need to count to feed around 20 children.
we have booked a hall and bouncy castle at a local school for a very reasonable £25.
Now I need to save money on the food, games and party bags (cheaper not to do them at all but scared of the kiddy backlash!)

can anyone give me their bright ideas......

thanks for sharing

recovering_spendaholic

Are you going to make the birthday cake yourself? If you are you can do a big traybake (in a roasting tin lined with baking parchment) and top it with buttercream (plain, pale pink, chocolate or whatever) and then put jelly tots and dolly mixtures all over the top of it. Also Nigella has a recipe for a chocolate cola cake with a cola choc butter icing which you could do and top with jelly cola bottles - I haven't got the link for the recipe and might get done of reproducing it her so PM me if you want it and I will e-mail it to you. Party bags are easy to fill with penny sweets, a fairy cake, blow bubbles etc.

For party games prizes I always get stuff like Floam ( like playdoh but cheaper and less messy) which you can get in Home Bargains, Poundsaver etc, colouring pencils, colouring books, hair bobble sets, water pistols and so on. Home Bargain also have very cheap Barbies (about £2.99 each and they are the genuine ones) which you could use for the pass the parcel.

I think that it is easy to overestimate how much food you will need as in my opinion kids are not that interested in food at parties, particularly if there's a bouncy castle involved!! I would just do some sausages, crisps, sandwiches, jam tarts, fairy cakes, marshmallows, mini pizzas and lots of drinks.

Good luck!!

abbecer

I had 53 children at 4 year old son's party last month so needed to keep party bags cheap. I bought some cellopane party bags off eBay, they were clear with colourful balloons, stars and streamers on them. I filled them with age appropriate sweets and tied them with colourful curling ribbon. They looked lovely and were a bit different to usual party bags. Hope this helps.

rebecca x :rotfl:

Just looked on ebay for you. there are some nice ones, item number 180013342486. They come to a total of £3.10 for 20 but you'll save a fortune not buying toys etc for them.

Remember to go through nectar e store or similar to claim points for your spend.

FunkyFairy

I brought these as party bags for DD's party

http://www.lakelandlimited.co.uk/product.aspx/!10868

janeawej

Im afraid i am a bit of a killjoy when it comes to party bags, i have always refused to do them, however i put a piece of birthday cake into a party bag or a small paper bag with their name on ( you can make nice bags out of cheap wrapping paper or ask at a local shop for a few plain paper ones if you feel cheeky!) and tie a balloon or 2 to the top! as long as they have something to go away with they seem happy! you also could put a mini mars or smartie pack in or maybe a satsuma for the health concious! dont buy into this party bag thing now and you will never have to do them!

as for food, make as much as you can but remember eyes are bigger thaN STOMACHS AT THIS AGE! I buy the little cadburys (or own brand!) mini rolls (very expensive I know!) then take them out of the wrappers and cut them into slices 4-5 per roll and put them on a plate, they look sweet and little kids never eat a whole mini roll at once they r very popular, also finger rols cut, filled and cut into slices, I think that small bits always get eaten better and it saves the waste of half eaten stuff, I cut sandwiches into 8 and arrange on a plate it also looks like you have a lot of food when you have not got a lot!

I like to put out some sections of satsumas or orange maybe small chunks of cheese and pineapple lots of little kids like cherry tomatoes and thse need no prep and can be re-used if not eaten!

dont buy cocktail sausages I get normal sized ones cook, then cut into slices(again!)

crisps, I put out 2-3 small bowls with only one packet in each and open more as needed, breadsticks r also popular
small bowls of raisins

small portions make your table look like its overflowing!


I do love kids parties but hate the waste! And little kids realy do like little bites to eat!

good luck

jane

FunkyFairy

popcorn went very quick and does not cost alot to make loads.

carrottopsuk

Good luck with the party

I remember these from when I was little:


http://www.cookingforchildren.co.uk/boats.htm

http://www.partydirectory4kids.co.uk/images/jelly_boats.jpg

lucym

Baker Ross is good for party bag fillers.

http://www.bakerross.co.uk/

sarahashfield

thanks for all the ideas so far. I will try to get some of the lakeland bags and fill them with sweets that are on bogof!

also great ideas for presenting food for little ones.

thanks very much.

kiwichick

Hiya,

I always make sandwiches and cut them with my cookie cutters, kids love having lovehearts/butterflies/stars etc to eat, even if they are only filled with marmite etc.

One thing I remember from childhood and definately NOT healthy is slices of buttered bread with hundreds and thousands sprinkled on them.........we thought those were the best thing ever!

Penelope_Penguin

Hi, Sarah. I loved doing parties when mine were small. I used to organise a "make" to keep them occupied as everyone arrived. Best on e was party hats. Cut a crown shape from card (straight edge around 10cm longer than head circumference, then zig zag on opposite edge, does this make sense??). Then small stickers (ELC for instance) glitter glue, felt tips, sequins, feathers, etc, etc to decorate. Staple short edges into crown to fit child's head. They loved them.

Cake, a small gift (woolies do multi packs of yo-yos and other small toys) pile of cheap sweets in the party bag. Oooh, just remembered, one year the children decorated their own bag (gusseted bag, made by me out of strong white card). I've found that you get huge brownie points with parents and children fo a home made cake to take home, and now that's all they get - you've given them an afternoon of entertainment, after all. I make an impressive looking one for candles, then a chocolate tray bake, with sweetie decorations, already cut and wrapped to take home.

Penny. x