My neices love fruit, all kinds.  You can mix a little of yogurt, and flavor really and it makes a great healthy snack.  You can even freeze the fruit in peices and put it in juice as ice cubes, when they are done drinking the juice, then can eat the fruit.  My family usually just has beans and rice and steak with lots of fruit for parties, if it's hot out.  Good luck!

Please see my advice http://www.minti.com/parenting-advice/5897/Toddlers-Birthday-Parties/ for easy ideas.  You can replace the items in the picnic package with any type of biscuit or bought snacks - just check the labels for colours and preservatives.  Kids dont need a great lot of food.

Alternatively, just do a sausage sizzle.  And chopped up fruit on skewers.  Make popcorn - it's cheap, easy and healthy.  Put out rice crackers (just plain ones without the flavour enhancers) and cheese, or plain potato crisps - they usually have only vegetable oil, potatoes and salt in them. 

For drinks - stick to a fruit drink (without preservatives or artificial colours and flavours) mixed with soda water or mineral water.

Cake - buy it or make a butter cake into a moon and sprinkle white chocolate over homemade white icing.  No colours in their and wont take to long to make.  You dont need all that party food crap!

Good Luck!

My mother in law always used to say, what is the good of a party if a fella can't be sick!  I found that fruit and jelly (jello) always goes down well.  Depending on the age of the children I also always had carrot , celery and cucumber sticks with dips that I made myself.  The dips were made from greek yogurt mixed with various different things such as tomato sauce or chutney and I also did the same with cream cheese.  To soften the cheese a bit I would mix in either some yogurt or some mayo or salad cream.  Flavour it as you want.  These were always put out before the sweet stuff and I found that less sweet stuff was eaten.  Have fun.  Happy birthday Chloe!

Hi there mate,

Jeez - that a bit rough of your aunt to let you know last minute!

I personally feel you should just have some simple things like Fairy Bread etc and if your aunts daughter doesn't eat it or anything else then tough! . .  A party is just that a party and if she has special need you should have been told way before now.

My baby has special needs and I ALWAYS make sure it is known before i go anywhere - I would never leave it 'til last minute and as a rule i always provide her own food as others shouldn't need to.

I hope Chloe has a great day tomorrow . . .

Cheers Kellz

hi cazza , i hope things go well for chole brithday and she has  a great day .

like the others have said its your daugthers brithday   and why carter for the one child . Its sounds like you have good ideas from the other ladies.

juliexx

Geez mate - good luck with the little Princess, what a nightmare!

Does she eat jelly?  Good old little Jelly cups with smiley faces - banana eyes, raspberry nose and a orange segment smiley mouth is a good healthyish sort of alternative.  A good smile is hard to resist - either way, hope that you and the rest of the kids have a great day!

oh how ruuuude! she could have told u that earlier! well just serve the fruit and stuff and if she doesnt like it then she should bring her own stuff. i few of my mates have kids that need gluten free food and stuff and i always cater to them but they bring their own food too they dont expect my to do it and they dont tell me 24 hours b4 and make demands on me!

Spinnach and cheese pastry puffs are always a hit, they cost around $3 a pack.  I always have fruit (variety of melons, strawberries, grapes) and a variety of sandwiches (egg, egg and lettuce, salad, ham and salad, vegemite, jam) and they always go fast.  varieties of packet chips, lollies.  I think you can't really go out and buy all the expensive food for one child, as harsh as that sounds, I'm sure she'll find something she likes.  It's your daughter's birthday party and birthdays are expensive enough without buying the Premium quality party pies etc.  Hope these ideas are helpful, I found they were easy and everyone enjoyed them.

Hi Cazza,

I totally agree. If she doesnt eat what is at the party, then thats not your fault. You ARE having the Birthday Party for your daughter Chloe, not to cater special menu requirements for someone elses child, family or not (sorry sounds so rude & nasty. but really, think about it. Its your daughters special day)

Hope the party goes well, which i know it will.

Maybe you could suggest they bring her a lunch box with food she will eat.

Sorry all--- i sound sooo bitchy. But it is Chloes party!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHLOE

Rach

I am presuming she can have cocoa....

Make Chocolate blanc mange in see through plastic desposable cups filled just over half way and put into fridge to cool.  make some jelly and allow to cool, but don't refridgerate yet.  When the blanc mange is cold and the jelly cool, add the jelly to the top of the blanc mange to the top of the cup and refridgerate.

Chocolate blanc mange

You need a whisk

Boil milk  (approx 4 cups of milk will make  aprox 12 plastic cups)

1.5 of cocoa powder (the payless brand is actually darker & stronger than cadbury etc)

Add suagr to taste (you want at this stage to have made a nice hot cocoa mix.)

Add 1.5 table spoons of Corn Flour in a seperate cup

add water until it mixed thoroughly and in a pourable paste/liquid

add to the just boiling cocoa and whisk vigorously and do not stop for a second until it is a thick consistancy and you have taken it off the heat.  any hesitance in the whisky may result in undesireable lumps.

(for future refference, it is very nice as a hot/warm desert with cream or icecream, but is a french dairy desert traditionally served cold...tastes somewhat like Yogo)

You can have fairy bread if she likes that (if you butter and halve the bread in triangles, put the sprinkles on a plate and have them dip their own bread it's always much more fun and they tend to eat it more if they've made it themselves.

Sausage rolls, party pies???  Chocolate crackles (personally BLECHHHH but kids apparently love them  LOL)

jelly based lollies?  Cup cakes?  Anzac biscuits or yoyo's?

Hope this helps...the blanc mange/jelly cups look and taste great are inexpensive and very quick to make (the most time they take is when you leave them to cool down or in the fridge, actual work time is under 10 minutes.

        

cazza have a look at this there are some really good sites on party food and just food in gen,

http://www.minti.com/parenting-advice/6136/recipes-/

http://www.kidspot.com.au/topic+13+Food.htm

hope this helps