party food on a seriously tight budget

gayle1

please please please help
its my 2 boy birthdays on the 23rd of february and i really need help in planning food i have a budget 0f £30 for food cakes ordered halls paid for it includes bouncy castle.
it mostly needs to be pork free so no sausage rolls/ham sandwiches or sausages on sticks please help.
theres 20 kids 2 diiferent ages one age 8 and one age 6

Little_Vics

for how many children? How old are they? Sometimes instead of having a buffet it's better to plate up the food so you can control portions - and give every kid a plate with the same stuff on it.

Things that immediately spring to mind:

Pizza - cut up into bite size portions
a couple of chicken dippers
wedges (make your own)
bite size raw veg - carrots, tomatoes cucumber
Nachos/handful of crisps

Do Iceland still have their cheap party packs?

Ladyluck1

Cheese straws are easy to make, mini pizzas out of breakfast muffins, cupcakes. Big bag of crisps to dip into!

sooty&sweep

Hi
What time is the party. The reason I ask is alot are 2 - 4 and so after lunch but before tea so they only really want to nibble rather than huge lunch. At alot of parties I went to far too much food was done and so masses of leftovers / waste so watch the amount you do.
Whatabout sliced up french stick with cheese spread or just butter.
Jen

gayle1

does iceland stuff not have pork?in the partypacks party is 2/4 on a sunday need to see if i can bake muffins was going to do cheese tuna and jam sandwiches pizza but need to look for veggi ones cause of the ethnic minority that dont eat porky.
i have cups plates napkins ill do tea/coffee and maybe a sandwich 4 mums 2 my boys can eat a fair bit when its buffet ive witnessed the aftermath at china buffet king

RAS

Hi

What time is the party?

Do you need to provide a birthday cake from the £30? Or two?

Do you need to provide partypacks for the kids to taqke away?

Will the kids actually eat food or is this for show and for them to throw at each other?

gayle1

no cakes seperate dont need partybags got that covered to bubbles tattoo whistle and a packet of sweets please be nice im not a wasteful person and don't appreciate comments that they would throw food they are nice kids who were brought up not dragged up

madnotstupid

I wondered about chicken wings, you can buy a big pack cheaply, bake them in BBQ sauce.aldi do frozen pizzas, three in a box, they are just cheese and tomato so no pork. They are also pretty good for crisps, tortilla chips, and I think they often have boxes of mini muffins. In the afternoon you're not trying to provide them with a meal so I would have thought half a dozen pizzas would give 20 kids a slice or two each, add a few more toppings if you have cash left, a couple of types of crisps, biscuits or muffins, carrot sticks and plum tomatos if you have enough ££- and think they'll eat them! sorry not to have prices, I was just thinking you don't need to get too much.

skogar

Do you want to do cold food or hot food?

How old are the children who are going to come?

Children are usually happy eating the types of food they usually eat and are familiar with.

If you are able / want to do hot food could have pizza and / or jacket potatoes and a selection of fillings for them to choose from. That would be fairly cheap.

I know you are trying to avoid pork products but if you only have a few who don't eat pork you could all have hotdogs but have veggie sausages for the non meat / pork eaters.

If cold you could do a selection of sandwiches, crisps, Delia has a recipe for cheese sausage rolls, I've made they are really nice, http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/pastry/vegetarian-sausage-rolls.html

Of course the hedgehog made from a potato covered in foil (although half an orange looks better) with glace cherries for eyes covered in cheese and pinapple, cheese and pickled onions, (cheese and cherry tomatoes) etc. etc. was always a party staple when I was a kid. You could always try the sausages on sticks thing with veggie sausages.

Jam tarts are nice and quick and easy to make, chocolate buns with a little bit of chocolate on top and a smartie. Flapjacks are quick and easy too, cut them into little squares and dip in chocolate if liked. Jelly and icecream - you can get veggie jelly, I think Holland and Barrett sell it.

Hope that helps

Butterfly_Brain

Make lots of jelly and fairy cakes, sausage rolls, cheese straws, crisps and sandwiches. When my two were little we only had the same amount of children as their age so when they were 2 we had two 3 three and so on, we never hired a hall that is just a waste of money we had our parties in the house

culpepper

Not all pizzas have pork products on . You could always have chicken and mushroom or pineapple , sardine or tuna go well with pineapple too.
Remember not all kids will eat cheese.
Those little crisp type snacks that are shaped are good for parties,hula hoops etc.
How about little pots of fruit salad?
If you did juice and /or water/fruit squash to drink,you wont have to cope with the mad caffeine or sugar rush of some fizzy pop.
There is going to be cake anyway so they will be full enough.