Ordering food question

[shygirl]

I'm having a bday party for my son (2 years on Sat!) at an indoor play space.  The party fee includes pizza, drinks and ice cream for the kids.  Since parents are sticking around, I thought it would be nice to order some extra food for the adults.  We're allowed to order extra food from one restaurant though, and it's kind of on the pricey side.  So I don't want to order way too much.  We are allowed to take leftovers home, but we wouldn't order food this pricey for ourselves in the first place.

Anyway, I'm expecting 10 kids (ages 2-5 years old), and 15-17 adults.  The place offers small and large platters of food.  The small feeds about 8-12, and large feeds 20-22.  I wanted to order a bunch of chicken wings, maybe 3 dozen.  And also a sandwich platter and steak tips platter.  For the sandwiches and steak tips, what would people recommend?  Should I order a small or large platter?  I'm leaning towards a small platter of each, but not sure if that would be too little.  I'm also planning on ordering an extra pizza, and there will plentiful cupcakes.

ETA:  Oh, the party is from 4:30-7:30.  We get to use a private party room from 5:30-6:30, which is when the food would be served.

[rose red]

If it were me, I would order the large so each adult can have one serving of each kind of food.  If it's too pricey, can you cut the sandwiches in half before meal time?

[Outdoor Girl]

If you are adding an extra pizza as well, I'd order a small platter of each for the adults.  Do you know how many pizzas are included for the kids?  With them being as young as they are, I doubt they are going to eat more than one piece, maybe two for some of the older ones.  You could maybe even cut all the kids' slices in half before they start, to cut down on waste.  I would expect there would be some of the kids' pizza left for the adults, too.

And you can practice 'Family, hold back!' - let your guests go first and you and your DH go last so if there isn't enough food, you don't eat and eat when you get home.

If you were going to add anything, I'd add a veggie platter over larger servings of the meat items.

[shygirl]

The small sandwich platter apparently has 25 pieces, so enough for all adults to have at least 1 sandwich.  I'm assuming 1 "piece" is actually half a sandwich.

I probably won't get a chance to cut anything into smaller pieces before they serve the food, unless I request the caterers to do it?  A lot of the children invited are 2 year olds, and I know about half of them barely eat anything.  Mine, in particular, seems to survive on lint and sunshine.  So yes, I expect some of the pizza reserved for the kids will actually feed their parents.

[cicero]

The small sandwich platter apparently has 25 pieces, so enough for all adults to have at least 1 sandwich.  I'm assuming 1 "piece" is actually half a sandwich.

so that's 12 1/2 sandwiches??

anyway, i would order the small platters.

[WillyNilly]

I would go for small platters.  I don't think the adults will assume they are being offered a full meal at a 2 year old's b-day party at a play place, so anything you offer will be seen as a "oh, wow!  how thoughtful and generous!" Plus a sandwich, wings, steak tips, cupcakes and presumably excess pizza makes for a really nice spread.

[EmmaJ.]

The only downside I can see (having been through something VERY similar) is you may have one or two adults going through the line that simply pile their plate with food.  And of course they were first in line so the last 7 or 8 adults got nothing.

If it can be arranged, try to have someone serve the sandwiches - at least until everyone gets a plate.  I swear, the kids had better manners at that party!

[TootsNYC]

I agree w/ the "have someone hand out the sandwiches to be sure everyone gets one."

And I also think that if you run out of food--well, they're going home afterward, and they can fix themselves something to eat.

And on your invitation, you can say, "pizza for the kids and snacks for the adults." Then they'll think your food is generous.

[purplemuse]

I would go for small platters. I don't think the adults will assume they are being offered a full meal at a 2 year old's b-day party at a play place, so anything you offer will be seen as a "oh, wow!  how thoughtful and generous!" Plus a sandwich, wings, steak tips, cupcakes and presumably excess pizza makes for a really nice spread.

Even if the party takes place over what is traditionally "dinner time"?

Just curious if this is an exception to the "feed your guests if the party is scheduled for meal time" rule, and if it is, then why?

[BC12]

Sounds like the small platters would be sufficient. And I'm sure you can always order an extra pizza if it looks like the platters are running out.

So yes, I expect some of the pizza reserved for the kids will actually feed their parents.

Just a heads up - I used to work as a hostess for birthday parties at one of those indoor play places. For the kid's pizza, we would actually place each child's two pieces of pizza directly onto their plates. In order for the parents to be fed from the kid's pizza, they would have had to basically swoop in and "steal" their kid's food, in a way. And kids sometimes do gross things with pizza (like peel off the cheese and lick the sauce off the crust and leave the rest) so going in for their leftovers once they've finished probably wouldn't be ideal. Your place might serve the kid's pizza differently, though. Wouldn't hurt to call and ask.

Also, it was rare that the birthday kid's parents would order anything other than pizza for the adults. (To be fair, they didn't have any better options, though. Our place didn't really serve any "adult" food like yours does.) If the pizza would fit your budget better, I don't think there's anything wrong with just serving everyone pizza. I certainly wouldn't expect to be fed a fancy, multi-component meal at a kid's birthday party. But your plan does sound delicious, and very generous! I'm sure your guests will have a great time! Good luck!

[rose red]

Is the pizza at this children's place any good?  If not, I'd rather spend more money on the platters than on ordering extra pizza.  If it's good, then I think the small platters would be enough to round out the meal.

[MrsCrazyPete]

POD'ing the small platters. I always go way overboard planning foods and I think what you've got sounds great! Most adults won't expect a large meal at a kids party. Also, lots of families eat later in the evening, so to them it could be like pre-dinner snacks.

[jpcher]

I'm kinda on the fence here . . .

Since the play-place offers pizza I think that you should ask them if they would serve extra pizzas for the adults (given -- at an additional cost) ask if they have different toppings for "adult" pizzas, or just add a couple of extra cheese pizza's.

Ordering (from the restaurant) a couple of salads for the adults would be a nice touch.

Maybe a side of wings, but I don't think it's necessary. How about some garlic bread (kids might like this, too.)

I think I would stick with pizza as the main (even if it is just cheese.)


There's only 1 hour for food . . . I'm assuming this also includes the singing and cupcakes? Serving pizza for everybody might make it easier on the adults that need to sit with/supervise their child during meal time.


I do understand your thought of wanting to dress it up a bit for the adults. If this party was in your home, my advice would be different.


Okay. Off the fence, now that I've typed out my response

Pizza for everyone! Salads (garden variety, and a pasta salad) along with garlic bread and perhaps some wings to spice it up a bit.

[quiescent]

One problem I see with platters is if the kids want the food on the platters instead of pizzas as maybe they prefer wings or sandwiches, parents feed kids from platter and not enough left for all the adults.

I'd probably get some extra pizza to avoid this.

[The703]

I would go for small platters. I don't think the adults will assume they are being offered a full meal at a 2 year old's b-day party at a play place, so anything you offer will be seen as a "oh, wow!  how thoughtful and generous!" Plus a sandwich, wings, steak tips, cupcakes and presumably excess pizza makes for a really nice spread.

Even if the party takes place over what is traditionally "dinner time"?

Just curious if this is an exception to the "feed your guests if the party is scheduled for meal time" rule, and if it is, then why?

I was at a b-day party at a play place last summer over what is traditional dinner time and they ended up having food for the adults as well. It totally caught me off guard. I may be the exception in this case though.