Feeding 8 kids under 5 - some with allergies! Help

In a couple of weeks, my son gets married, and the next day all the family will be at my place for lunch.I'm thinking of doing spaghetti and meat balls in the crockpot(s!) but the children!What do I feed 8 children, one with egg allergy, one with dairy intolerance, and one who is a poor eater!I thought maybe a roasting dish of cubed potato, kumera, sausage, chicken nibbles roasted!Any other thoughts! And for the 20 or so adults too please!Any ideas would be very welcome!

I have fed large crowds before Mexican.I have the crockpot full of chilli con carne. Then Bags of Nacho chips (Children love those) soft tortillas for wraps, Large green salad, Rice, cheese, sour cream, guacomole.All in seperate bowls so people can construct what they like.Health conscious people will have chilli on rice with salad. Children tend to go to the Burritos and Nachos.You could also roast up a couple of chickens, let cool and make a large platter of sliced chicken and pieces, and buy some fresh rolls.Then those people that don't like spice can have chicken salad either on a plate or in rolls.Last time someone brought a pasta bake to contribute and we put that on the table as well, it was just a bolognaise sauce with pasta stirred through it and cheese on top. was just something different and just gave people another choice
Worked for us. then all the left overs for dinner the next couple of nights lol.

I'm afraid I'd be telling the parents to bring the food for their allergic kids.

bbq and salads!

My daughter had a large crowd to feed and just got a heap of burger buns and cut up all the fillings into containers. Hubby cooked the patties and everyone made their own burger. Worked a treat. Show me a kid who doesn't like burgers.She also had a dish of marinated chicken mini drums and wings that dissappeared pretty fast.

I'd definitely be asking for more specific information on the allergies - dairy intolerance means some dairy can be tolerated so bread with its tiny amount of milk should be OK.TBH I'd stick with your original idea of spaghetti and meatballs although if there are allergies you can be sure at least one of them will be gluten intolerant in which case be prepared and get some gluten free pasta as well as what you would normally use.Maybe do spag bol instead of meatballs so you can avoid egg and ask the parents/other adults to bring dessert to share so that's one less mine field to negotiate.Most kids will eat spag bol but bear in mind they get very messy with actual spaghetti (and so will your house) so maybe pasta shapes such as penne or spirals might be easier for everyone.

But all kids are different - my boys in particular wouldn't eat anything spicy when they were younger and even now are only just getting into eating butter chicken or nachoes and they're teenagers but their cousins who are much younger will eat a lot more varied and interesting food - its not that mine haven't been offered it but they just prefer the basics.

It's not my party:-)

If my children had severe food allergies, I would take there food myself.
No way would I take the risk of a smidgen of a forbidden food, keep me up all night, or worse at the HospitaL ALL NIGHT.
Why are you afraid to ask the parents to provide food for there own children.
Poor eater's , tough. They will find something to nibble on.
I know a family that used to do this. A slight hiccup and they had a very sick child. He soon learnt what he could eat, and took care of his food himself.

Thank you for all this!Yes my daughter does always bring food for her egg-allergic one, as you're quite right pickles, it can mean a fast trip to hospital.I'm not afraid to ask them to provide food for their own children, but they will all be travelling, and I thought it would be nice if I as Nana could do this!Like the idea of the nachos, the kids may be a bit young, they are all under 5.Great ideas, thanks!

Food allergies, and children must be a nightmare. The boy I had a little to do with, went ballistic trashed the place, some often saw this as bad behaviour, but when his diet got sorted , a totally pleasant lad, appeared. He learnt his food list, and never looked back. I feel for the children who get marked as "naughty" when it could be a reaction to what they had on there toast. One of my grandchildren, came to stay with me so I could try and work out what, triggered him. I put it down to the food colour, orange. Orange, food colouring, gives me a severe head ache. Yellow food colouring is the worst, no doubt orange, has that in it.

and for the fussy eaters. my youngest is allergic to eggs, so we often bring food along for him. Its hard catering for everyone, and if there are multiple allergies or intolerances is just easier if the parents bring something along.

If I had 20 for lunch - I would be serve something like
* Ham off the bone, with some gourmet relishes and salad and rolls. perhaps with some roast veges.
*or a butterflied leg of lamb on the bbq with salads etc

I like the hamburger ideas - it means that people are self selecting what is on their dish. If you don't like tomatoes, you don't have to eat them.

In a couple of weeks, my son gets married, and the next day all the family will be at my place for lunch.I'm thinking of doing spaghetti and meat balls in the crockpot(s!) but the children!What do I feed 8 children, one with egg allergy, one with dairy intolerance, and one who is a poor eater!I thought maybe a roasting dish of cubed potato, kumera, sausage, chicken nibbles roasted!Any other thoughts! And for the 20 or so adults too please!Any ideas would be very welcome!

I have fed large crowds before Mexican.I have the crockpot full of chilli con carne. Then Bags of Nacho chips (Children love those) soft tortillas for wraps, Large green salad, Rice, cheese, sour cream, guacomole.All in seperate bowls so people can construct what they like.Health conscious people will have chilli on rice with salad. Children tend to go to the Burritos and Nachos.You could also roast up a couple of chickens, let cool and make a large platter of sliced chicken and pieces, and buy some fresh rolls.Then those people that don't like spice can have chicken salad either on a plate or in rolls.Last time someone brought a pasta bake to contribute and we put that on the table as well, it was just a bolognaise sauce with pasta stirred through it and cheese on top. was just something different and just gave people another choice
Worked for us. then all the left overs for dinner the next couple of nights lol.

I'm afraid I'd be telling the parents to bring the food for their allergic kids.

My daughter had a large crowd to feed and just got a heap of burger buns and cut up all the fillings into containers. Hubby cooked the patties and everyone made their own burger. Worked a treat. Show me a kid who doesn't like burgers.She also had a dish of marinated chicken mini drums and wings that dissappeared pretty fast.

I'd definitely be asking for more specific information on the allergies - dairy intolerance means some dairy can be tolerated so bread with its tiny amount of milk should be OK.TBH I'd stick with your original idea of spaghetti and meatballs although if there are allergies you can be sure at least one of them will be gluten intolerant in which case be prepared and get some gluten free pasta as well as what you would normally use.Maybe do spag bol instead of meatballs so you can avoid egg and ask the parents/other adults to bring dessert to share so that's one less mine field to negotiate.Most kids will eat spag bol but bear in mind they get very messy with actual spaghetti (and so will your house) so maybe pasta shapes such as penne or spirals might be easier for everyone.

But all kids are different - my boys in particular wouldn't eat anything spicy when they were younger and even now are only just getting into eating butter chicken or nachoes and they're teenagers but their cousins who are much younger will eat a lot more varied and interesting food - its not that mine haven't been offered it but they just prefer the basics.

It's not my party:-)

If my children had severe food allergies, I would take there food myself.
No way would I take the risk of a smidgen of a forbidden food, keep me up all night, or worse at the HospitaL ALL NIGHT.
Why are you afraid to ask the parents to provide food for there own children.
Poor eater's , tough. They will find something to nibble on.
I know a family that used to do this. A slight hiccup and they had a very sick child. He soon learnt what he could eat, and took care of his food himself.

You could just do a simple mince with tomato pasta sauce then have pasta, tortillas or corn chips on the side so the kids (and adults) could have spag bol or nachos with the cheese, sour cream, guacamole, tomatoes etc for everyone to make their own. My mum used to make nachos this way for us when we were little, my kids are fine with spices but some aren't.

And carrots, broccoli, cauli, celery etc with fondue, I don't have a fondue set so I just make a runnyish cheese sauce and put it in a bowl, then you know they will be eating healthy food, or hummus for the dairy intolerant one.

Thank you for all this!Yes my daughter does always bring food for her egg-allergic one, as you're quite right pickles, it can mean a fast trip to hospital.I'm not afraid to ask them to provide food for their own children, but they will all be travelling, and I thought it would be nice if I as Nana could do this!Like the idea of the nachos, the kids may be a bit young, they are all under 5.Great ideas, thanks!

If I had 20 for lunch - I would be serve something like
* Ham off the bone, with some gourmet relishes and salad and rolls. perhaps with some roast veges.
*or a butterflied leg of lamb on the bbq with salads etc

I like the hamburger ideas - it means that people are self selecting what is on their dish. If you don't like tomatoes, you don't have to eat them.

You could just do a simple mince with tomato pasta sauce then have pasta, tortillas or corn chips on the side so the kids (and adults) could have spag bol or nachos with the cheese, sour cream, guacamole, tomatoes etc for everyone to make their own. My mum used to make nachos this way for us when we were little, my kids are fine with spices but some aren't.

And carrots, broccoli, cauli, celery etc with fondue, I don't have a fondue set so I just make a runnyish cheese sauce and put it in a bowl, then you know they will be eating healthy food, or hummus for the dairy intolerant one.

Feeding 8 kids under 5 - some with allergies! Help

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