Food & Drink: Kid Catering

FOOD & DRINK

A cauldron of creamed chicken, a hogshead of ice cream, and equal dispensation of paper hats, balloons and noisemakers used to be enough to ensure the success of any children’s party. The whole affair was handled by Mother and was over, seemingly weeks later, with headaches all around. Today, though the ingredients remain standard (there will never be anything to replace creamed chicken or ice cream for hurling across the table or sloshing onto the floor), the service has changed. Catering has moved down from the specific realm of the high-tea, highball set to a level no higher than knee, and Mother is gratefully relinquishing her place to the Party Coordinator, whose package deal, along with ordinary old balloons and the rest, most often includes a couple of puppets, a clown, sometimes even a pony.

The Omelet Period. Among those who can afford it, the new impulse is: when in doubt, cater. The kind of entertainment offered varies across the country. A Washington, D.C., firm called Parties Unlimited has about a dozen basic-package parties, ranging in theme from Prehistory (with paper dinosaurs as individual favors) to Outer Space (a launching pad with rocket balloon for centerpiece). Last November it supplied the circus decorations for Caroline and John Kennedy Jr.’s joint birthday party at the White House. Average cost for a complete party, including extras, for 20-24 children: $80.

New York children are no longer interested in hot dogs, hamburgers or toasted cheese sandwiches for party fare. “Today it’s the omelet period.” reports Caterer Rudolph Stanish. “They’ve become the chic thing, either plain or a combination of bacon, caviar, mushrooms, something like that. The six-year-olds prefer tiny jelly omelets.” He sighed: “And. of course, there is always some child who will request a truffle.” Stanish, whose parties can handle from 60 to 150 children and can cost anywhere from $35 to $500, often provides a dance team (who twist and then teach it to the tots) along with his repertory of 120 different omelets.

Keep It Short. Clowns are perennials; Chicago Caterer Harry Oppenheimer, 21, doubles as one, and Los Angeles’ Jingles, the Singing Clown, charges $1 per child per hour, provides games, prizes, whistles, and his own merry-go-round. Says Jingles objectively: “Jingles sings with the kiddies and he dances the twist with them. This is important.” More important, according to Los Angeles Party Coordinator Gertrude Durand, is the time element. “Very young children have a limited interest span.” says she. “I try to keep the parties short, provide the basics—puppets, merry-go-rounds, ponies and carts—and often rent a movie.” Price: $150 to $175 an hour, for a group of 14.

With the burden shifted to hired shoulders, there are parties for younger and younger offspring. Says Parties Unlimited’s Coordinator Dorothy Hochman: “We try to discourage parents from one-year-old parties, but still they have them. A mother recently wanted to ‘do’ her 17-month-old child’s birthday. I asked if she felt she really ought to. ‘I have a very sophisticated ly-month-old baby,’ she said, and that was that.”