Finger foods/Apps for 5Yo Birthday Party

Fruit, Cheese & Crackers, Veggie Trays, etc. all can be kept cool with some ice.

I assume you let people know that lunch won't be served? If I was invited to a party at this time I would think they might be serving lunch towards the end.

Not sure, but if you do have a dip or something that you want to serve that needs to be kept cool you can do it.
Just get a larger shallow plastic dish and fill it with ice. Then seat the dip container or whatever into the ice "platter".
:)

My kids' karate school does this every summer when they have their annual beach picnic party. They use those huge under bed storage boxes and line up several across the tables that the food is set up on. Lots of "chilled" foods get set into the ice and it works great! It's super for setting dishes of sliced watermelon wedges. :) Maybe you could serve those?

You could do fruit kabobs...just get the small kabob sticks and put on slices of your kid's favorite fruit. They are simple but festive looking. That's about all I can think of, besides crackers and chips, that doesn't require refrigeration.

Honestly though, I think as long as you packed the stuff in a cooler to take to the park, it would be fine sitting out for an hour or so without refrigeration. If it really worries you then either skip it or use some of the other suggestions of bowls of ice. You could even just take a frozen ice pack and put it under a bowl, less mess.

Hummus and veggies was also a good suggestion. You could pita, bagels and pita chips also. If you don't have any nut allergies you could put out bowls of nuts. You can also make your own trail mix...which might be a cute thing for the kids to do and get all kinds of fun stuff for the kids to mix into their bowl. Goldfish, Fruit Loops, Chex, Teddy Grahams, raisins, dried fruits, yogurt covered nuts (or raisins), etc. This could be an acitivity/snack or even a take home if you give them a fun and funky container they can keep it in. It sort of goes with a "park", you know trail mix to keep them energized sort of thing.

Do some healthy things - grapes, baby carrots, slivers of green and red pepper, strawberries, chunks of watermelon, etc. They don't need to be refrigerated. You can use humus as a dip for the veggies as it really doesn't go bad. Use mild humus for the kids and maybe a spicier one for the adults. You don't need a dip for the fruit but if you want one, just put it in a smaller bowl and set it in a larger bowl of ice. You'll have a cooler so you'll have ice. Watch the littlest kid with the grapes.

If you want to make something fun, take a half of a seedless watermelon and scoop out the fruit. Wash the outside of the rind (you'll see why). Try to get as much of it as possible out in long sections so you can cut it into bite-sized cubes. You can scoop the rest out, all the way down to the rind, and use it in a blender to make a refreshing fruit drink - mix with any other fruit juices that mix well in terms of flavor (any berry-based juices are fine). Then cut chunks of different colored fruits - the watermelon you just scooped out, cantaloupe, honeydew, strawberries (hulled and cut in half or quarters), large blueberries, green and red grapes, some pineapple, peeled kiwi -- whatever you like. I don't this raspberries hold up very well but if you find some large ones, you can do that. Turn the watermelon shell over on a round plate or platter so it's rind-up (that's why you wash it - the edible fruit will touch it). If it's still leaking juice, just stick a couple of paper towels underneath - they won't show and will soak up the juice. Take a skewer or nut pick and pierce holes all over it about 1.5 inches apart. Take your multi-colored fruits and put 3-4 pieces on a long toothpick (about 3 inches long), mixing up the colors. Then put those different fruit picks into the holes you pierced - the whole thing looks like a giant rainbow fruit porcupine. The parents will have to supervised the littlest kids with the used picks, but it's a good way to serve fruit without the kids putting their yucky hands on everyone else's stuff!

You can serve a few chip or cracker snacks, but the fruit will offset the cake/ice cream and make it a healthier party that's not all carbs.

If there are no allergies involved, you can serve some whole almonds or a granola/nut trail mix with little tiny paper cups (like bathroom size Dixie cups, I think they are 3 ounces).

Have fun.

If I was going to a 10-12 party I would expect lunch :) We get hungry and eat lunch around 11:30.

But for snacks
I say a bowl of watermelon
carrot and celery
pretzels
goldfish
popcorn

I agree with a couple of the other moms who said that lunch would be expected at that 10-12 time slot and it's actually just as easy to make some little tea size sandwiches and serve some chips on the side. Just make a regular sandwich and cut it into 4 parts. Or if you want to be creative you could cut the bread out with cookie cutters (hearts, diamonds, scallops, etc.) which would be very pretty for a birthday party and the kids would like the various shapes. Best of luck whatever you do.

grapes and other fruit, cheese cubes, apple slices with peanut butter/plain yogurt dip, grape tomatoes, baby carrots & celery with ranch dressing, crackers and hummus.

How about a small veggie and cheese tray? You can put that in the top of the cooler and then use a bowl of ice to display it and keep it chill during the event. The veggies were a big hit at both our girls' parties, surprisingly. We put out crackers vs chips to go with the cheese. You can also use dried fruit if you don't want to bring fresh fruit. Chex Mix could be fun, too.

They're five. Give them cake and ice cream and call it done. The adults can fend for themselves.

Gauc, salsa and chips.

Hummus and pita chips.