Tips For Party Food 

It can be difficult to decide what food to serve at your child’s party. Generally serving a full meal can be tiresome and often unnecessary as the children tend to pick at food rather than enjoy a meal at parties. It can often be a lot easier to serve small snack foods which both adults and children find appetising.

 

Obviously parties are times for celebration so usual healthy eating guidelines can afford to be relaxed. However it would not be wise to solely offer food filled with sugar and additives – for your own sanity! Follow Family Fun’s hints and tips for a combination of healthy snacks and tasty treats for your child’s party.

 

Be Prepared

Try to have as much of the food prepared before the day. Many tasty treats can be made the day before and stored in Ziploc bags or tins.

 

Healthy Choices

There are plenty of ideas for fresh healthy food choices nowadays, and we don’t mean the meat and three veg kind. Try providing some vegetable crudités, some sticks of celery, carrots, cucumber, scallions, cherry tomatoes and many more can be tasty when teamed with a cream cheese dip or spicy salsa.

 

Keep it Traditional

Often it is the most traditional party foods that go down the best! Simple treats like rice crispy cakes, fairy buns, sausage rolls, mini pizzas, marshmallows topped with chocolate and smarties and flapjacks are always enjoyable.

 

Adapt to the Theme

You can easily adapt some of the treats to your child’s party theme using some food colouring, some smarties, M & Ms, sprinkles etc. Ask your child to help with the decorating of the food – you will be amazed at how they can turn a simple bun into a fairy or the Green Goblin.

 

Make it Smooth

Everyone is loving smoothies these days, including children. So join in the craze and make some delicious fresh smoothies for your party – an absolutely perfect way to get some fresh fruit into children. They are healthy, tasty and most of all, easy to make! Check out our smoothie page for some simple recipes.

 

Alternate Shapes and Sizes

Some simple sandwiches can be easy to make and are a little bit more substantial than cakes and crisps. To encourage children to eat some healthy sandwiches try using different types f breads such as pitta, wraps, brown soda bread, bagels etc. You can also stick with traditional bread but cut them into different shapes using a simple cookie cutter – what a difference a new look can make to children’s attitudes.

 

Fruity Goodness

Dried fruit is surprisingly tasty! Some mixed dried fruit in a bowl can be delicious to pick at during the party. They are full of goodness and so easy to get a hold of.

 

Vary the Treats

Instead of the usual cakes for desert try having some mini muffins, mini buns or mini doughnuts for the party. They can be easily sourced in most supermarkets nowadays.

 

Stock Up

Always be prepared for unexpected guests. You never know whose siblings might decide to hang back and that can put a strain on your food supply. Bottom line: Make sure you have plenty of food!

 

Drink Up

When trying to judge how much the children will drink you should probably count on each child taking at least two drinks. If you are using paper cups or juice cartons and want to avoid having to issue numerous cups you can stick name labels on the cups.

 

Presentation
You can adapt your presentation to suit your party theme in some cases. For instance, if you are hosting a hula party you could serve dips or food in hallowed out oranges or pineapples. If you are having a karate party you could serve the food in cleaned out Chinese noodle cartons.
 
Be Aware
Be aware of any allergies that the children may have. The parents should inform you prior to the party if their child does suffer from an allergy but if you want to be sure you should ask parents when they R.S.V.P. (Especially in case you plan on having any food with nuts as nut allergies are highly sensitive!)
 
To Bake or not to Bake
This obviously depends on how much spare time you have on your hands and your natural cooking abilities! If you have the time cooking and decorating the food for your child’s party can be fun for both you and your child. However if time is sparse then shop bought food is often received even better than homemade food, so don’t worry about it if you don’t have time to bake. If you are thinking about your budget, sometimes buying ready made food in the supermarkets can work out cheaper than buying ingredients for your own food if you buy the shops own branded produce.
When it comes to the cake again the decision is yours whether or not you want to bake it yourself or buy it. If you want to save time but add a personal touch to the cake it can be a good idea to buy the cake in a supermarket but then decorate it yourself at home.