Snacks for afternoon birthday party

[Anonymous]

It's been so long since we hosted a birthday party!! We are having a party for our 5yo at a venue where we can bring our own food (refrigeration is available if needed). Will be mid-afternoon so I was thinking cupcakes and snacks. Plus drinks like juice boxes and sparking water. But what snacks would be appealing? Snack-size bags of things like pretzels and goldfish? Fruit? Something for the parents? Needs to be fairly simple as we don't have a ton of setup time but I don't want anyone to go hungry.

[Anonymous]

The standard setup is usually one of those giant boxes of Frito Lays snack sized chips, pouches of apple sauce, and fruit snacks. Next step up is a cheese platter and fruit salad. But I also feel like, regardless what time the party takes place, pizza is also served 99.999% of the time.

[Anonymous]

Yes for parents. Get pizza, subs, fruit and cut veggies.

[Anonymous]

If you want to be cute, you can get paper snack cups and fill them wth pretzels or goldfish. I think that plus cupcake is plenty. I would never do bags of Frito Lay crap but that's just me. Lots of people don't give their kids that stuff.

[Anonymous]

Pirates Booty and fruit are always a big hit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes for parents. Get pizza, subs, fruit and cut veggies.

I would not expect all that for a party outside a mealtime.

[Anonymous]

We do fruit, applesauce pouches, goldfish and pirate's booty if we're just doing snacks.

[Anonymous]

This is where you buy snack size chips. Fruit would be a nice addition too. Either a fruit tray or some you bring yourself (like mandarins they can peel on their own).

We did a playground party with LOADS of chip options in pre-portioned bags, juice boxes and cupcakes only. It was 9:30-11am, so done before lunch. If it had been at lunch time I would have added fruit and pizza and cut down on the chips.

[Anonymous]

What you mentioned sounds good. We hosted an afternoon party at a venue that didn’t allow much set/up time, and the area for eating was small. I served Goldfish and pretzels, applesauce pouches, and a cookie cake. Also had juice boxes and small water bottles. If you have more space, I think cut up fruit or bags of pre-sliced apples are a good option.

[Anonymous]

Chips, fruit, cupcakes, juice , water is fine. I wouldn’t expect pizza at a non meal time.

[Anonymous]

If you're not set on individually wrapped things, we once bought a barrel of those big pretzel rods for a party at that age and they were a huge hit. For whatever reason, much more exciting than regular pretzels!