CHILDREN'S PARTY MENUS RUN WILD

Interactive desserts, themed-box meals, banana sushi-caterers are giving children's parties a culinary spin

- Avantika Bhuyan

When I was growing up in the 1990s, most birthday parties followed a homogenised template. We would spend most of the evenings playing stapu, tippy tippy tap, random ball games, cricket, and musical chairs. This would be followed by a sitdown meal of wafers, chowmein, samosa, chhole bhature or idli sambar.

Today, children's parties are events that families plan for at least a couple of months in advance, finalising the theme, venue, guest list.... Some do it themselves, others rope in caterers for the one area that has seen most innovation-the food menu, supervised by discerning Gen Alpha kids. It can set them back by more than 20,000 for a party of 12, minus the cake.

As the parent of an 11-year-old, I have observed this change from close quarters. My daughter's hyper-energetic classmates, whose sole job is to sweep across the house like a hurricane, refuse to rest at one place to eat. So, a sit-down meal is out of the question. There are as many allergies in the room as there are kids-gluten, nuts, lactose, kiwi, eggs, etc. The food menu needs to cater to each of these.

When I was growing up, cake-of any kind was the highlight. Now children are specific about what they don't want-no fondant, less buttercream, low on sugar, only jaggery...you get the drift. So it's not surprising that caterers and professional chefs are now putting together contemporary menus even for birthday parties, be it creating finger foods meant to be eaten on the go, options that combine nutrition with taste, innovative live counters, or boxed meals to be consumed during plays or movies.

Chefs believe such events give them free rein creatively too. So, chef Varun Mathur of Birch by Romeo Lane, Delhi, crafts vibrant and whimsical menus-both for external venues and parties within the restaurant with mini mac and cheese cups, rainbow fruit pizzas and DIY tacos.