OP here. FYI for anyone who cares, we ended up serving pizza and I'm glad we did. We were the first party of the day, and it started off a little late, which knocked the whole afternoon just a few minutes late. We had barely enough time to stuff all the kids in the room, get them pizza and cut the cake before we had to be out of there so they could set up for the next party. I ended up buying too much pizza, so we came home with almost 2 entire pizzas, but they came in very handy for late-night snacking and the next morning's breakfast.

If you have more time and fewer kids, other snacks would work, I think. If in doubt, go with the pizza.

My twins are 4, so we went to at least 12 birthday parties last year. Every single one had pizza for the adults and kids, no matter what time the party was at. Maybe it is just our circle of friends / our preschool, but it seems very standard to serve pizza.

Anonymous wrote:If I (my child) received a party invitation at that time, I would not expect a meal. I would think that only cake would be served--maybe a few bowls of chips or fruit/veggie trays---but not pizza or other "meal" foods.

I would just make sure you have enough cake for each person, child or adult, to have a slice and then maybe a few snack type foods and drinks.

This. I wouldn't expect a meal, just cake and some snack-type foods. I'd love to see some cut-up fruits and veggies, maybe some pretzels or goldfish, maybe some cheese or hummus. Definitely wouldn't expect pizza.