1st birthday buffet ideas

[kumber]

It's Riley's 1st birthday on Sunday (boohoo!) and we're having the fam over for a tea time buffet but I'm a bit stumped as to what to feed them!

So far I have tandoori chicken from my granny, salad, sandwich triangles, those big rectangular pizzas from Iceland that we can cut up, sausage rolls and cocktail sausages. There will be 30-odd people there including kids from aged 15 down to the birthday boy so we have some maoams and I was gonna get multipacks of sweets from Poundland/Asda, and those snack-sized choccie bars.

I have no idea what else to feed them though. With so many children running around and a very small garden, a BBQ would be too dangerous.

Also, how could we keep the younger kids entertained? The three teens probably won't be fussed on party games but the rest are all under 10 so I'd probably need to do something to keep them entertained.

All thoughts greatly appreciated ladies

 

[mylullaby]

The only items I would add to your list are cheese and pineapple on sticks and party rings. It's not a party without party rings. At least not in our family!! Oh and plenty of crisps. I don't think people would expect more than that. You could get a few onion bahji / samosas / Indian snack things if you think people will like them but wouldn't say they were essential.

Depending on how old the kids are / how many there are could you play pass the parcel / musical statues? Hopefully they'll amuse themselves if there's plenty of them there - doubt they'll need structured games, etc the whole time xx

 

[kumber]

Party rings, great idea! Thanks

There are 10 kids aged between 10 and 2, so there's quite a few of them. I can imagine they would all just go outside and amuse themselves but I worry I should have something else as a back up? I found some medals is Asda which I thought would be good prizes, along with a special sweet or something?

 

[mylullaby]

Pass the parcel would be really easy with 10 (or 20 if you're feeling generous) layers and colouring book + crayons or something in the middle. I reckon even the big kids will join in - even if it's under the pretence of showing the little ones what to do?! Maybe just blow a few balloons up / have a few of those big tubes of bubbles (Asda) or something? Wouldn't bother with much else. I bet they'll have a whale of a time just running about together causing general chaos. When the age gaps are that but the big kids normally keep the little ones entertained. That's what happens with our gatherings anyway. xx

 

[kumber]

I'm thinking pass the parcel too, and the bubbles are a great idea! Thanks chuck I agree, there are that many of them that they should keep themselves entertained but it's just to have a back up, y'know? It's only a 2 hour party so I would imagine something like pass the parcel will fill out the middle and it means Riley could join in too!

 

[Emmajaine]

Maybe print off some colouring sheets and crayons and have some plain paper out too, so they have the choice of doing a quieter activity if they want to.

Xx

 

[mylullaby]

Yeah that'll easily be enough for 2 hours. Hope the party goes well. xxx

 

[H16]

For my daughters first birthday I just bought loads of buffet party platters from tesco including a sweet one with mini doughnuts etc for the kids. We just got my daughters ball pit out and the kids were messing about in that quite happily for a couple of hours x

 

[kumber]

Thanks everyone! This is all great stuff!