Hints & Tips: Kids Birthday Party Food!

Oh hey everyone! My son turned the big 1-0 recently, and I really can't believe we've hit double digits. Where has the time gone? I thought I'd post about the food I served at his Birthday Party, just because I spent two whole days baking and I want someone to appreciate it, lolol. We have a party for Mr Now-10 every single year, so I am actually learning a few things along the way, that I can pass on and possibly help you out. Here we go! The most important lesson I've learned is....

1. Nobody Actually Gives A Shit
Yeah that's right. I spent a few years stressing and pushing myself and baking 'til 9:30pm on party eve, perfecting things so everything looked beautiful, then noone really noticed my attention to detail or appreciated it. See the photos below for the effort I went to one year FFS.

My son was too fussy to eat them and the kids barely noticed my beautiful tiny teddies in various highly-entertaining situations.  The parents didn't get to see them because most of them dropped off their kids and left straight away. Spending hours meticulously decorating stuff that will get destroyed in three seconds flat is an exercise in futility, and kids are just as happy with this (see below photo) which is what I went with this year. This is packet mix from a box, using the packet icing (I used to make my own from scratch HAHAHA), simply decorated. Which brings me to...

2. Chocolate Everything
Chocolate will always be a hit. My son suggested two batches of chocolate cupcakes but for some reason I insisted on one chocolate and one vanilla. The vanilla ones were decorated with green icing (I let my son put the colouring in) and M&Ms. Again, simple and fairly quick to do. Kids know best. The chocolate ones were demolished and I think someone took pity on me and ate one green cupcake. Needless to say we had leftover green cuppies for days!

3. Rocky Road Is A No-Brainer
I always make rocky road for my son's Parties. He loves it, it's quick and easy to make and it takes so little effort I can easily do two batches. I do a kid-friendly version that doesn't have nuts or coconut; if you're wondering about the recipe I follow this Planning With Kids one. I prefer to use the large pink and white marshmallows and cut them in half. This time I forgot, but usually I swap the M&Ms for Clinkers, which tastes far better. I just fill a large Glad Bag with Clinkers, pushing out any air, seal it then smash them up a bit with a rolling pin to expose the colours. I still got compliments on my rocky road though, so that was great to hear!

4. Jelly Shots Will Be Popular
I'm not talking vodka jelly shots, although they would be popular, but probably more so with the parents, haha. These are just basically different flavoured jellies set into these little plastic hors d'oeuvre spoons I got from a cheap shop. I've served them before and they were so popular I decided to do them again, because they're quick and easy and look good on the party table! They are a bit annoying to transport to the venue, because they slide around unless you jam them in tight next to each other and hold onto the container in the car (only if you are a passenger, not if you're driving!).

5. Pre-Packaged Treats Are Your Friend
Yes, you will be baking for your kid's Party. But you don't need to make everything! That's way too much work, your body will be screaming in pain and you'll be exhausted before the Party even begins. Showcase a few baked treats that look good, but don't be afraid to fill the party table with pre-packaged goodies as well. The three things I like to go with are popcorn, chips and party mix lollies. There are lots of different popcorn varieties these days; you can go with buttered, caramel, rainbow or one of those fancy flavoured ones. I found a cute popcorn container at a cheap shop and went with a big packet of buttered popcorn. Chips are cool because you can use one plain potato packet, then do flavours like barbecue and chicken. Burger Rings and Cheezels will also be a hit!

6. Don't Forget The Essentials
Now this is assuming you are holding the Party at a venue away from home, otherwise all this stuff will be on hand. We always have my son's parties at a game arcade or laserzone place, so it sucks lugging bags of stuff into the venue each time, but we usually get there 15 minutes early to set things up (ask the venue beforehand if you can do this, as they make have another booking). Inevitably, we always forget at least one of these things (this year it was the spoons, lol) but here's my list of things to take:
~ scissors
~ large knife to cut the cake (careful, there are kids around and you don't want a law suit, haha)
~ candles
~ matches/fire-lighter device (check it's working before you leave home)
~ napkins
~ paper or plastic disposable plates
~ plastic cups
~ enough drink/cordial/water to last the whole party duration
~ a texta to write kids names on the cups otherwise you will have 247 half-full drinks on the table, with noone knowing whose is whose and you will run out of clean cups. This happened to us this time lol.

7. Birthday Cake Cheat
I ordered my son's Birthday Cake from a Bakery, because honestly, who can be bothered after all the party food baking? Doing this saved me a lot of stress and allowed me to concentrate on my other baking and organising the food for transport. The funny thing was, my son's actual Birthday was the day after the party, and he wanted a homemade cake for his special day. I was suitably stuffed, so when he was at school I bought a chocolate mud cake, some ready-made Betty Crocker icing (a new level of lazy for me, lol) and 13 KitKats from Coles, and just decorated the store-bought cake, also using the left over M&Ms from the rocky road. He loved it and it literally only took 15 minutes to decorate, no baking required.

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What's your best tip for running kids parties?