The couple are also delivering Sunday brunches, miniature birthday cakes and sweet and savoury afternoon teas.
“We just want to make it special for children...and adults too,” says Fan Johnson of Peanut Parties near Woodbridge, which has just launched a £5 Halloween treat box.
With the rule of six putting many families’ spooky parties on hold, and with parents seriously thinking about whether they should let their children trick or treat this year, Fan hopes her idea will bring a smile to people of all ages as they celebrate the day at home.
“We try to do something new every single month and obviously it’s October, so it had to be Halloween. We wanted to make it a real treat, filled with cakes, sweet and chocolates. Lots of goodies. In the boxes we have a webbed brownie, Victoria scream (which is a Victoria sponge cake), a Mr Jelly Head pot of apple jelly, a vanilla cupcake decorated with pumpkins, and lots of little sweet things to make it more generous. So far we’ve had a really good response. I think we’re going to be busy, but it will be so nice to be able to bring this to people.”
Fan, who has worked in catering for many years, set up Peanut Parties in lockdown alongside husband Richard (a private dining chef).
“Our plans looked quite different originally,” she says. “I wanted it to be a children’s birthday party business, making cakes and food...then lockdown happened and we had to adapt. It’s ended up being a two-person job!”
The cook, from Pettistree, began making small party buffets, lunchboxes and lovely little birthday cakes. “We saw all these children with their parties cancelled and it was so sad really, so we came up with small birthday cakes to feed a family, and adapted from there.”
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Afternoon tea boxes came next, priced at £12 per person, including three finger sandwiches of your choice, Victoria sponge, a chocolate brownie, lemon drizzle cake, apple and cinnamon crumble, red slaw, fresh fruit, plain or fruit scones with jam and cream, and a tea bag.
At the same price point the savoury tea also includes sandwiches, alongside a homemade sausage roll, a whole Scotch egg per person, red slaw, brie with crackers, a cheese scone, butter, mixed olives, caramelised onion chutney and a tea bag.
“Then we started talking about perhaps doing something you can’t find anywhere else,” adds Fan. “And we thought of Sunday brunch – to put a smile on customers’ faces.
“In the brunch box you have a homemade sausage roll made with Revetts sausage meat, a croissant with jam and butter, Greek yoghurt with granola, fresh seasonal fruit – I’m getting that from Woodbridge Greengrocers because I used to work with them – a roll filled with smoked salmon and cream cheese or egg mayo with bacon, fresh orange juice and a tea bag.”
Brunch (Sundays only) is £10 per person with free delivery within a 12 mile radius (Woodbridge, Ipswich, Framlingham, Saxmundham).
The other boxes are available from Wednesday to Sunday.
“We have our Christmas boxes in the bag already. We know Christmas parties for offices or families are going to be a bit different so we’ve come up with a box like an afternoon tea with a turkey roll, mince pies and lots of other nice Christmassy things. That could be delivered to an office or to people’s homes. We’re working on a special cake for December too. We have lots of good things coming up!”
Find out more at peanutparties.co.uk
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