Food for 4yr old party

jcr16

It my little girls 4th birthday on monday. we are having a party at home on the sunday.

due to various reason's i've been so stressed and depressed lately that i've put it all off to last min.( nightmare neighbours , thought i was loosing baby , hubby thought he was loosing job , offered on a house it all fell through etc etc etc)

Anyway so far 5 children have confimed they are coming. i have my 2 , and poss another 2.

What food shall i make ?

i can generally make anything , but don't have alot of confidance in my cooking. even tho everyone says it great and enjoy's it.

i don't however want to just give the kids junk food. I want to keep it fairly simple , yet fun for the children.

Ideas please , i am going shopping prob fri or saturday for any bit's i need.

also being really tight here i'd like to spend as little as poss as it not pay day till tue.

frogga

Hi jcr , sorry to hear you've had worries. Just try and put all of that out of your mind for the birthday ~ this is the only time your little girl will have a 4th birthday so you should enjoy it:T

From my vast experience of kids parties they eat A LOT LESS than you cater for , so don't go over the top. You can't affoard it and it's a waste.

I would make a dozen fairy buns and decorate them simply
A bowl of grapes , cherry toms , cheese squares & pineapple
Some crispy type things like mini chedders
You could make the mice and hedgehog rolls from the "should I stop being generous" thread ( I'll post on it to bring it onto the 1st page) or just do a FEW small triangle sarnies with marmite , cheese or egg.

As a veggie I have never done meaty things as my tadpoles wouldn't want meat at their parties and no one has ever noticed! ~ that will cut down the cost alot too.

The main thing I would say is it took me years to realise that after 2 mins they don't want any more food and as it's been fingered it all goes to waste. You can always put more out if they are still hungry.

I don't know what games you were thinking of but apart from the obvious ones my tadpoles used to love "hunt the catapillas" ~ Buy some very cheap pipe cleaners and cut them in half and bend them round chair legs, door handles, curtian poles et.c. See who can collect the most and give prises accordingly

These are precious days jcr so ~
HAVE A GREAT TIME !!!!!!

Horace

Anything on sticks - cheese, pineapple, small sausages

How about making some orange sailing boats?

Ingredients:

Oranges
Jelly - various colours
Rice Paper plus cocktail sticks

1. Cut oranges in half and scoop out the insides
2. Retain the shells
3. Make the jelly to instructions and fill the orange shells with jelly - different flavours and colours
4. Place in fridge until set firm. Cut orange shell with jelly into three sections to make boat bases
5. Make small sails with rice paper and attach to boats with cocktail sticks.

Hope your 4 yr old has a lovely time. I say sticks as these can be easily picked up by little fingers although children will have to be supervised in case they swallow the sticks.

jcr16

thank , love the idea of orange jelly boat's. might try that before tha party just incase goes wrong.

frogga , i think i will keep it simple. what you've suggested sounds great. some of the mums and dads are staying. i was gonna get some wine. but party starts at 11 am so maybe too early. just cups of tea and coffee i think.

any more ideas then please keep them coming.

i will try and write a plan out later.

angie_loves_veg

If you are doing small sandwiches, try making them using one slice brown/wholemeal and one slice white - you can arrange them as a chequerboard.

I prefer that it isn't *all* white bread whilst bending to the whims of a kids party (apparently white bread really is exciting !?)

I couldn't get away with not doing them now.....

On the subject of attendent parents, all they 'need' is a tea or coffee. Most parents would 'like' to nibble the party food, so I find biscuits, crisps OR cake does the trick to keep their fingers off the kids food...

doraexplorer

dip marshmallows in choc and stick a smartie on top - allways goes down well.

rice krispie cakes with a holein the middle with 2 mini eggs and call them birds nests.

i find its the parents who eat morethan the kids anyhow. i love kids party food !

musical statues is a good game. also the best disco dancer.

and pass the parcel is a great game. i wrap about 10 layers and put a sweet under each layer so all the kids get something .

dont worry about it being junk food its only one day and enjoy it . dont forget a bottle of wine for yourself after your girl has gone to bed - you deserve it

frogga

In my experience it is the parents who eat most of the food ~ then you end up using LOADS and costing a fortune! I know this makes me sound really tight , but I would no longer do food for the parents. In the past I have done food for the grown ups too and it just gets really out of hand. No wonder I'm always skint!!:rotfl:

The party is for your daughter and her pals, if you had an extra £10 you would probably choose to buy her another pressy or put it towards Christmas , or a relaxing takeaway in the evening NOT share it out amongst your daughters friends parents! I think you should look at it like that.

I have some very well off friends and they would NEVER do things like that ~ but that's why they are well off and we're skint!:rotfl:

jcr16

shredded wheat choc nest. i remember these. at primary school we always made them for easter. yummy. i've got some shredded wheat .

like the idea of the brown and white bread . i usally make sandwichs and cut them with cookie cutter's. make stars, hearts , ducks , cats. so might do it this way.

As for evening, would love to get a takeaway , but i've got my parents coming up as it their 32st wedding anniversary. and as were skint instead of a pressie i'm cooking them a meal. not sure what as my 10 yr old brother is fessy.

kippers

What about cheese straws or cucumber sticks/ bread sticks to dip in houmous?..my girls love houmous and i was always so surprised that the houmous always always went first at their parties.

free4440273

fishfingers (M&S are the best): oven-baked, not fried

Zed42

My DD is having a "tea party" on Halloween, as that's her 4th birthday, and I'm just about starting to think about what food to provide for that.... so keep the ideas coming, LOL!

So far, I've thought I'll do:

Small sandwiches (cheese / ham)
HM pizza - cold, small slices
Cheese & pineapple (but that's just cos I love cheese and pineapple, LOL)
Cherry tomatoes
Grapes
Birthday cake
Cocktail sausages
Small jellies

Drinks will be ..... milk or water.

Coffee and tea for the adults and a plate of HM biscuits cut in to witches and bats (but that's cos it's Halloween, LOL)

Games - not sure if I'll do anything much, it's only 5 kids. I may do "pin the tail on the donkey", "musical statues" and "pass the parcel" ... I may not do anything!

I will NOT be doing party bags per se. They will have a slice of cake and a thing which I can't describe ... you blow it and the paper unfurls emitting a loud noise !