Food & Beverages for Kids Birthday Parties

Food and beverages are a key component of any party. An entire event can be spoiled by poor quality, late served or badly presented food.

Self-Prepared Party Food

If you are preparing the food and beverages yourself, please find below some suggested meals and snacks:

Include nibbles on arrival e.g. chips, lollies, coloured popcorn, chocolate dipped fruit, fairy bread and shortbread.
Party meal: baby BLTs, cheesy crumbed chicken strips, chicken spring rolls, mini pizzas, sausage rolls, nachos, mini hot dogs, sandwich platters and vegetable rice paper rolls.
Cake time: birthday cake, bananas with chocolate sauce, choc-chip muffins, mini iced cupcakes, pancakes, jelly cups and a fruit platter.
Drinks: water, soft-drink, cordial, juice, spiders and iced-chocolate milkshakes.

Click here for recipes for all of the above food and beverages.

If you have a party theme, you can align your menu to fit your theme e.g. if you are having a fairy theme, you could include fairy bread and butterfly cakes.

Catered Party Food

If you have decided to have your party catered, before booking, you should feel completely confident that the catering company you select, will not only live up to your expectations but also deliver on all of their promises.

How do you know which one to choose?

Please find below, 25 questions you should ask potential catering companies before you book:

How many different menu options do you have and what are the costs per head for each option?
What type of food items do you recommend for my budget and number of guests?
Would you suggest a buffet, or served meal?
Do you have any particular style of food or special menu items that you specialise in?
Could we provide you with any of my child’s favourite recipes to be included in the menu?
Do you have any issues with me supplying some nibbles to compliment your catering?
Do you offer taste testing’s of the selected menu option?
What is included in your fee? E.g. Will your wait staff set-up, serve, clean-up and pack-up all of the food and beverages?
Is the food pre-cooked or pre-prepared and kept warm by bain-marie or do you cook and prepare all food onsite? If food is cooked onsite, do you bring all of the appliances required to cook the selected menu or do I need to supply them?
Is all cutlery, crockery, glasses, napkins, condiments and serving ware provided or is there an additional fee for this?
Do you or can you supply tables, chairs and linens? Is there any additional fee for this?
How many wait staff will be serving at the party? How long do they require for set-up and pack-up? Do they wear a uniform?
Do the wait staff set-up the tables or am I required to do this?
Do you have a liquor license? Should any adults be attending, can you supply bar staff? What is the hourly or package rate per bar staff member?
How long have you been providing catering services?
Are you licensed? (this means that they have met health department standards and have liability insurance)
Do you usually cater for Kids Parties?
Can you provide a list of references that I can contact?
Will you personally be there at the party? If not, who will be my main point of contact and how much experience do they have in catering kids parties?
When is the final headcount due?
Do you require a deposit and if so, how much and by what date?
When is the final payment due?
Should the party run overtime, is there an additional hourly charge to have the wait staff, stay on until the food and beverage component of the party has ceased?
Do you have a cancellation policy? Should I need to cancel, will my deposit be refunded?
What is your leftover food and beverage policy? Do I get to keep all of the leftovers?

If the catering companies responses to the above questions fill you with confidence in their servicing abilities, ask them to draw up an outline of what you discussed, including costs, menu possibilities, payment specifications and what their fee includes. You will then be able to compare all of your shortlisted options and select a winner!

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