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Post by tyra on May 27, 2022 20:52:32 GMT
We are having our son's 5th birthday party in 3 weeks. Everything is figured out, except for food. For the first time, he is having school friends, so it won't be just family there. We are having it at a children's play place.
We always have a meal at our families birthday parties, so I need to figure out what to make. Since it isn't at home and there will be about 13 kids, it needs to be easy. Cheap is helpful too lol We will have about 35 people, including the children.
I thought about ordering a bunch of pizzas, then making a some sides (fruit salad, pasta in a crockpot maybe).
But with this group there has to be some good ideas. I suggested italian beef, or a taco bar. Neither DH was too excited about.
Ideas?
Thanks!
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Post by cadoodlebug on May 27, 2022 20:53:57 GMT
I vote pizza, make it as easy on yourself as possible!
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Post by bc2ca on May 27, 2022 21:02:50 GMT
We are having it at a children's play place. DD hosted many parties at a play place. You usually have the room for an hour. And unless you are the first party of the day, you are crossing your fingers the previous party gets out of the room quickly. The employees will go in and clean out the mess to try set up for the new party, but this doesn't mean guests visiting with each other move on quickly. All this to say, something super fast and easy is best. Pizza is really a good choice. Sandwiches or wraps are easy to hand out and not (usually) messy. I honestly wouldn't worry about feeding the adults. |
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Post by ~summer~ on May 27, 2022 21:14:18 GMT
Birthday parties when my kids were little with lots of other kids was almost always pizza.
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Post by tenacious on May 27, 2022 21:29:22 GMT
Certainly pizza is the easiest, but, often for parties I will grill up teriyaki chicken thighs in advance and put them in a crockpot and have rice in a rice cooker. You could also do chicken tenders. Then fruit and chips and you are good to go.
You could also do a platter of chicken nuggets from Chik-Fil-A for that age group, and I am sure they would be thrilled.
ETA-someone mentioned sandwiches above, and, yes, that would be easy, too. You could use croissants and do some ham and some turkey. But, seriously, pizza is the easiest of all!!
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Post by Basket1lady on May 27, 2022 21:30:45 GMT
If this is the first party with friends, make it easy on yourself. The chaos that comes with 13 kids is nuts. And 35 people? Yikes.
I planned my kids parties so that I didn’t need to serve food. If it’s at all possible for you, serve the cake and be done. By the time you get into the room, gifts are opened, candles are lit, and the cake is served, you will be well past an hour. The kids will just want to play and it will be hard to wrangle them together to go into the party room.
I would suggest either have family back to the house, go to a restaurant after, or skip the food. If you must have food, make it grab and go things like mini sandwiches, gold fish, grapes, and call it good.
If a family party is important to you, I would suggest doing two separate parties in the future. Thirty-five people is a lot for an adult party, much less a young child. Especially as your DS starts going to friend’s parties and his social circle grows. Then you can have a more relaxed party with food and catching up with family and focus on the chaos of a friend party.
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Post by malibou on May 27, 2022 21:30:57 GMT
Another vote for pizza. Around here there is typically a pizza place nearby that the play place uses.
And, how can he be 5?! He's a baby!
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Post by littlemama on May 27, 2022 21:37:22 GMT
Keep it simple. Pizza, chips, pretzels, cake and the chips and pretzels are optional
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amom23
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,331 
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Post by amom23 on May 27, 2022 21:39:00 GMT
At that age kids aren't going to want to sit down and eat a meal. They will want to keep playing. Think about easy to grab and eat foods. Depending on the time of the party maybe just have some snacks and cupcakes, etc.
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Post by freecharlie on May 27, 2022 21:40:57 GMT
Check the place's requirements.
Buy pizza. No sides.
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Post by tyra on May 27, 2022 21:49:47 GMT
DD hosted many parties at a play place. You usually have the room for an hour. And unless you are the first party of the day, you are crossing your fingers the previous party gets out of the room quickly. The employees will go in and clean out the mess to try set up for the new party, but this doesn't mean guests visiting with each other move on quickly. All this to say, something super fast and easy is best. Pizza is really a good choice. Sandwiches or wraps are easy to hand out and not (usually) messy. I honestly wouldn't worry about feeding the adults. Our friends own the play place  They close at noon on Sunday's, we have the place for as long as we need it after that. So the party is officially from 1-4, but it may go until 5. We have the keys, so no issues lol Thankfully we don't need to worry about those issues. |
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Post by tyra on May 27, 2022 21:59:07 GMT
If this is the first party with friends, make it easy on yourself. The chaos that comes with 13 kids is nuts. And 35 people? Yikes. I planned my kids parties so that I didn’t need to serve food. If it’s at all possible for you, serve the cake and be done. By the time you get into the room, gifts are opened, candles are lit, and the cake is served, you will be well past an hour. The kids will just want to play and it will be hard to wrangle them together to go into the party room. I would suggest either have family back to the house, go to a restaurant after, or skip the food. If you must have food, make it grab and go things like mini sandwiches, gold fish, grapes, and call it good. If a family party is important to you, I would suggest doing two separate parties in the future. Thirty-five people is a lot for an adult party, much less a young child. Especially as your DS starts going to friend’s parties and his social circle grows. Then you can have a more relaxed party with food and catching up with family and focus on the chaos of a friend party. That is kind of what *I* was thinking of doing, the 2 separate parties, but DH put the kabash on that lol Because of the situation at this particular place, it is MUCH more easy going than if we were somewhere else, see above Figure we will have the food for when people want it, they can eat. There will be plenty of kiddy foods also. All food is set up in one large room that will have more than enough seating for all, plus mini tables/chairs for the kids. Cake and presents will be about an hour before the end of the party. We are having just the grandparents over on his actual birthday though. Just not a big event. In our family, kids birthdays are a big deal. Just my family that is coming is about 20 people, only 3 of those are kids lol Every other year we have had the party at our house. It is always an event. Seriously. SO many people, SO much food, and days and days of prep. Having it where we are doing it will ease up on so much. So I am not concerned at this point with anything but the food. Oh, and if the Iron Man we hired shows up on time lol And, how can he be 5?! He's a baby! I KNOW! And it kills me!!!!!!  Check the place's requirements. Buy pizza. No sides. See above We have no requirements, just no alcohol. We are totally going to have sides though |
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Post by tyra on May 27, 2022 22:00:22 GMT
Certainly pizza is the easiest, but, often for parties I will grill up teriyaki chicken thighs in advance and put them in a crockpot and have rice in a rice cooker. You could also do chicken tenders. Then fruit and chips and you are good to go. You could also do a platter of chicken nuggets from Chik-Fil-A for that age group, and I am sure they would be thrilled. ETA-someone mentioned sandwiches above, and, yes, that would be easy, too. You could use croissants and do some ham and some turkey. But, seriously, pizza is the easiest of all!! The chicken thighs sound amazing! That is a great idea |
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Post by kenziekeeper on May 27, 2022 22:28:08 GMT
Chick-fil-A platter (get it on Saturday and reheat in your oven), build your own sandwiches for the adults, or maybe funeral sandwiches? They could be done on trays in your oven at the same time as the chicken reheating, then just transfer to a crock pot to keep warm.
I do think pizza is the easiest option!
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snyder
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,950
Location: Colorado
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Post by snyder on May 27, 2022 23:06:41 GMT
Walmart has some decent and fairly inexpensive party trays. We use to order the chicken tenders tray, a veggie tray, and a meat and cheese tray for work parties. Then we would purchase rolls, chips, sides to go with the trays. It was pretty easy as it was all made up for you so no real prepping.
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Post by Eddie-n-Harley on May 28, 2022 0:03:05 GMT
If there's a Dominos near your destination, they have an offer to get medium pizzas for $5.99 carryout or $6.99 delivery. I think there are also options for chicken bites and some sides.
I usually order on the app, where it's technically a coupon offer, not sure about calling in.
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Post by scrapmaven on May 28, 2022 1:53:46 GMT
Kids love pizza and cake. That's all you need. Some of those places work w/Dominoes, etc. Don't overthink it. You're feeding 5 year olds.
Even the adults can eat pizza. If you are going to have parents involved you could have a veggie and fruit tray from the grocery store. Don't work. The whole purpose of these places is to make your life simple.
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Post by Skellinton on May 28, 2022 14:34:14 GMT
Pizza for kids, no question.
For adults I would just do sandwich wraps and veggie tray from Costco along with chips.
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Post by crazy4scraps on May 28, 2022 15:15:23 GMT
That’s a LONG party (and a lot of kids) for a five year old’s party IMO. There’s a reason why most party places limit how much time the kid’s parties run, LOL. If some of the kids are younger siblings, they may not end up staying the whole time.
I would go with pizza for everybody and keep things as simple as possible in light of the fact that there are going to be so many people there and because it’s going to run so long. In my experience, some of the adults won’t eat no matter what you serve for various reasons. We’ve had big parties like that at our house and always ended up with a ton of leftover food because no one ate as much as we anticipated, especially the kids.
You really won’t need the sides if you are also having cake or cupcakes. The kids will be too hopped up on adrenaline to really eat. You will be surprised by how much food the kids will take one bite of and walk away from or throw away. Maybe just bring some single serving bags of chips or pretzels or goldfish crackers so people can take them if they want and you won’t have open bags or bowls of stuff that people have pawed through to either take home or throw away.
If you are going to open presents there, keep in mind that’s going to eat up a chunk of time too. Good luck! I’m so glad my kid is at the age now where she would rather just do something smaller with her very best friends.
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Post by Basket1lady on May 28, 2022 17:51:03 GMT
If this is the first party with friends, make it easy on yourself. The chaos that comes with 13 kids is nuts. And 35 people? Yikes. I planned my kids parties so that I didn’t need to serve food. If it’s at all possible for you, serve the cake and be done. By the time you get into the room, gifts are opened, candles are lit, and the cake is served, you will be well past an hour. The kids will just want to play and it will be hard to wrangle them together to go into the party room. I would suggest either have family back to the house, go to a restaurant after, or skip the food. If you must have food, make it grab and go things like mini sandwiches, gold fish, grapes, and call it good. If a family party is important to you, I would suggest doing two separate parties in the future. Thirty-five people is a lot for an adult party, much less a young child. Especially as your DS starts going to friend’s parties and his social circle grows. Then you can have a more relaxed party with food and catching up with family and focus on the chaos of a friend party. That is kind of what *I* was thinking of doing, the 2 separate parties, but DH put the kabash on that lol Because of the situation at this particular place, it is MUCH more easy going than if we were somewhere else, see above  Figure we will have the food for when people want it, they can eat. There will be plenty of kiddy foods also. All food is set up in one large room that will have more than enough seating for all, plus mini tables/chairs for the kids. Cake and presents will be about an hour before the end of the party. We are having just the grandparents over on his actual birthday though. Just not a big event. In our family, kids birthdays are a big deal. Just my family that is coming is about 20 people, only 3 of those are kids lol Every other year we have had the party at our house. It is always an event. Seriously. SO many people, SO much food, and days and days of prep. Having it where we are doing it will ease up on so much. So I am not concerned at this point with anything but the food. Oh, and if the Iron Man we hired shows up on time lol And, how can he be 5?! He's a baby! I KNOW! And it kills me!!!!!!  Check the place's requirements. Buy pizza. No sides. See above We have no requirements, just no alcohol. We are totally going to have sides though It makes a lot more sense of you have the place to yourselves all afternoon. I’d still try to plan mostly grab and go items. Pizza is still the norm, although Walmart/Subway/Jimmy John’s all do good subs that would be easy. Add a few pasta salads, chips, a slaw, and you’re good. At that age, I would have fed my kids before a 1pm party because they would never sit still long enough to eat and then get really hopped up on cake. But I’m an overplanner, so who knows. Especially if it’s all family! |
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Post by sean&marysmommy on May 29, 2022 18:18:14 GMT
Normally I'd also vote for pizza. But if you're starting the party at 1pm, it's likely that the kids will have already had lunch anyway. For a 1pm party, I'd assume there would be cake or cupcakes, maybe ice cream...but my kid would've already had lunch at 11 or 11:30. I'd just be clear with the parents, either way. If I knew a 1pm party included lunch, I might give my kid a light snack so she can eat at the party instead of having lunch at home. If there was no mention of lunch, I'd assume we should eat first.
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They close at noon on Sunday's, we have the place for as long as we need it after that. So the party is officially from 1-4, but it may go until 5. We have the keys, so no issues lol Thankfully we don't need to worry about those issues. 
Figure we will have the food for when people want it, they can eat. There will be plenty of kiddy foods also. All food is set up in one large room that will have more than enough seating for all, plus mini tables/chairs for the kids. Cake and presents will be about an hour before the end of the party. We are having just the grandparents over on his actual birthday though. Just not a big event.
