A child's birthday at home means two or three hours of noise, laughter and crumbs all over the flat. The adults usually worry more than the children: will there be enough food, is there too much sugar, where do you seat ten people. And the children, to be honest, mostly want to play, and eat little. So the menu for children should be simple, pretty and free of stress for the hosts.

Below is a simple scheme: the menu, grams per child and per adult, a shopping schedule and a list on one page. There are no prices in the text, they change every week: you will see the current shop offers in the live blocks.

A simple menu for two or three hours

A children's party rests on four things: savoury, fruit, cake and drinks. Savoury means mini pies or plăcinte that are easy to pick up by hand. Fruit is cut and served on skewers or in little bowls. The cake is the main moment of the party. Drinks: juice and water.

You do not need a hot dish if the party runs for two or three hours at an ordinary time of day. If it falls at lunch or in the evening, add something filling: for example small sandwiches or a hot bake. But leave out extra complication: the simpler the menu, the calmer you are yourself.

Pies and plăcinte: savoury food that can be picked up

Children eat more willingly what they can pick up by hand: mini pies, plăcinte, buns. Count two or three small pieces per child. You can buy ready-made baking or bake yourself: the recipe is in the article on cheese plăcinte, and for children it is handy to cut them into small squares.

Buy the baking the day before the party and keep it cold, and reheat on the day. What the flyers have now in pies and plăcinte:

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Fruit: bright and convenient

Fruit on a children's table works best when it is pretty and cut. Seedless grapes, apple slices, tangerines, banana rounds, strawberries in summer. You can thread them on skewers without sharp ends or put them in bowls. Per child count about a hundred and fifty grams, that is for ten children a kilo and a half of assorted fruit.

Fruit that darkens when cut is best cut right before the party. What there is now in fruit:

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The cake: how much to buy

The cake is the main moment, and it is counted like this: about a hundred to a hundred and twenty grams per child and about a hundred grams per adult. For ten children and six adults that comes to about a kilo and a half to two kilos. It is best to order the cake a week ahead, especially if you want an inscription or a particular flavour. If you buy it ready-made, take it a day ahead and keep it cold.

Think ahead about how and with what you will cut it, and put a knife, a spatula and napkins next to it. Ask the parents ahead whether the guests have allergies. What there is now in cakes and fresh pastry:

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Juice and water

For a party of two or three hours count about three to four hundred millilitres of drink per child, counting both juice and water. For the adults add tea or coffee. For children it is handy to buy small cartons of juice or pour from a big one into a jug, and it is best to take plastic cups.

Buy the juice ahead: it keeps, and you do not need to run for it on the day of the party. What there is now in juices:

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Sweets for the guests' bags

A bag with treats to take home is loved by almost all children. Three or four small treats per child are quite enough: a sweet, a biscuit, a jelly sweet, a small chocolate bar. Do not stuff the bag to the top: the children will eat plenty at the party anyway. Check with the parents whether the child has restrictions.

What there is now in sweets:

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The preparation schedule

A week ahead: send the invitations, order the cake, make the guest list and check allergies and restrictions with the parents.

Two or three days ahead: drinks, sweets for the bags, disposable tableware, napkins, candles for the cake.

A day ahead: baking, fruit, the cake (if ready-made). Put everything in the fridge.

On the day of the party: reheat the baking, cut the fruit, put water and juice on the table. Lay the table an hour before the guests arrive so as not to rush at the last moment.

If the party at home is for adults, not for children, see a party at home: it has the norms for adults on snacks and drinks.

A short checklist

  • The guests are counted, allergies and restrictions checked with the parents.
  • Cake: about a hundred to a hundred and twenty grams per child, about a hundred per adult.
  • Baking: two or three small pieces per child.
  • Fruit: about a hundred and fifty grams per child.
  • Drinks: three to four hundred millilitres per child.
  • Bags: three or four small treats for each.
  • Knife, spatula, candles, napkins and disposable tableware in place.