Fun Party Food

Party Food
Even if you're a gourmet cook and really enjoy cooking, my advice is to save your skills for grown-up parties. Instead, keep the food simple and rely on standard kid foods. Food is a must-have, but much lower on the priority list for kids than playing games with friends, opening presents, and eating cake and ice-cream.

Plus, even if your child isn't a fussy eater, other kids will be. It's no fun making food that goes uneaten. Be prepared to let your nutrition standards slip a bit. My child consumes more sugar at a party than he does in an entire month, but fortunately it doesn't happen that often.

For added food fun, incorporate refreshments into party games. Have the guests follow clues to find treats.

What Kind of Food?
Party food can range from just cake and ice-cream to full meals. I've made full meals and it's a lot of work and usually isn't necessary. However, just cake and ice-cream seems a bit skimpy to me and I'd feel guilty giving kids that much sugar and nothing else.

I prefer to have a variety of kid-friendly snacks available during the party. I find that snacks are easier, less expensive and more popular with kids than full meals.

If I have a party during meal time, I keep it pretty simple... peanut butter & jelly sandwiches for lunch, pizza for dinner, etc.

The time of day influences the type of food you'll want to serve... unless of course you're having a Weird and Wacky party in which case you should certainly serve pancakes in the afternoon and pizza in the morning!

Your party theme may also influence the type of food you'll want to serve. Some parties, such a Mexican Fiesta, Tea Party, and 4th of July Party, need certain foods to support the theme.

Keep in mind if you have a slumber party or overnight camp out you really need to provide dinner, evening snacks and breakfast.

Everything should be ready to serve before the party. I've never had time to cook during a party. Plus, I'd rather be with the kids than in the kitchen. Sometimes it makes life a lot easier to buy pre-prepared, take-out or delivered foods for a party.

Many pizza restaurants will deliver to just about anywhere, including parks, sport fields, and schools. Although fast-food restaurants aren't my favorite places, I can't deny that kids think a boxed kiddie meal is pretty cool.

How Much Food?
After a few years of having way too many leftovers, I've learned to scale back the amount of food I make. Unless food is a major focus of the party (Restaurant Party or Chef Party) kids seem more interested in playing than eating.

However, because I wouldn't want to be caught with too little food, I buy extras of food that I can use later (individually packaged string cheese, granola bars, and fruit leathers). What doesn't get eaten at the party goes back into the pantry for snacks and lunches.

Keep in mind if the parents are likely to stay, you'll need extra food. I don't usually make special food for the grown-ups, but instead choose food that is both kid and grown-up friendly (fruit, veggie sticks and dip, cheese cubes, and pretzels).

Plan on 2 drinks per child and have extra on hand. If they're playing hard, they'll consume a lot of beverages. If you're serving drinks in cups, instead of single serve boxes or pouches, write names on the cups to avoid mixed-up drinks and having to provide multiple cups per child.

Buy or Make?
This decision depends not only on what kind of menu you plan, but also how much time and money you have. I usually strike a balance between pre-prepared and home made foods.

Conventional wisdom says that making food costs less than buying pre-prepared foods. However, I inevitably find that when I make food from scratch I spend more on ingredients than I would have spent on pre-prepared foods.

However, sometimes a food you really want for a party just isn't available pre-made or is outrageously expensive. For example: if you decide you want chocolate covered strawberries for a tea party, you may have a heck of time finding them and if you do they'll be $2 each! In this case it's easier (and more fun) to make them yourself.

Once you've planned your menu, look at it to identify the foods you can purchase pre-prepared that will be of acceptable quality and not cost too much. Focus your cooking efforts on the remainder of the list.

Of course if you really don't like to cook or know you don't have time to spend on the kitchen, you can design the menu to rely on pre-prepared foods.

Going Out
If it's convenient, within your budget, and fits in with the party plans you can take the guests out to eat. This might include stopping for pizza to celebrate the end of Little League season or stopping for ice-cream on the way home from a Movie Party.

In some cases a restaurant can be the primary party location with most or all of the party activities taking place at the restaurant. In other cases, a party place may sell acceptable food even though food is not their expertise.

Cake & Ice Cream
Cake and ice-cream or other sweet treats are usually a requirement for most kids' parties. Visit Birthday Express for fun cake decorations.

Bakery departments in large grocery stores can provide a wide assortment of decorated cakes on relatively short notice. These cakes may not be the highest quality, but it doesn't seem to matter to most kids. Cakes from independent bakeries are often better quality, but expect to pay more. Leave a party napkin with the baker and they'll usually do a good job of matching the cake colors and decorations to the napkin design.

Cakes from store bought mixes taste fine, but you need to have an appropriate pan and some basic ingredients (eggs and oil) to pull off a home-baked cake. I personally think home-baked and decorated cakes are more charming than overly perfect bakery cakes. Something about the choppy icing and the squiggly writing adds character. Visit Birthday Express for fun Cake Supplies.

A tip on icing... if you decide to tint the icing for the cake, stick with pastel shades instead of trying to achieve a deep color. Not only is food dye not very good for kids, but deep colors can really stain little faces and tongues. I have a friend who made a deep red Elmo cake for her child's birthday and watched in horror as all the guests' (children's and parents') mouths turned bright red. I suppose it could have been worse... it could have been a blue Cookie Monster cake!

I use to decorate wedding cakes and to this day I still avoid making cakes, because I dread that moment when you don't know if the cake is going to come out the pan intact or if it's going to get all flaky when you apply the icing.

I avoid these traumas by making cupcakes instead of pan or sheet cakes. To me cupcakes are easier and more fun to decorate than cakes. I usually decorate cupcakes with sprinkles and a piece of candy or an object that ties in with the party theme, such as gummy bears for a Teddy Bear Party or a small plastic dinosaur for a Dinosaur Party.

Fruit leathers (roll-ups) can be cut into shapes, such as gold fish, bunny ears, and dragon tongues for cupcake and cake decorations.

Another easy single-serve "cake" idea is to stack donuts on a platter and put candles on top. Use powdered sugar donuts for a Princess Party and colorful spinkle covered donuts for a Circus Party.

Betty Crocker has fun dessert recipes, including ice-cream cone cupcakes, ice cream cake, and lollipop cookies.

You can also set up an assortment of sprinkles and candies at the party and allow the children to decorate their own cupcakes. Other advantages to cupcakes are that you avoid messy cake cutting and don't have to provide cake plates and forks.

Ice cream cakes are pretty cool (no pun intended), just because they aren't very common and are definitely reserved for special occasions (when was the last time you had an ice cream cake just for the heck of it?). Plus, ice cream cakes take care of both the cake and the ice cream in one shot.

Kid-Friendly Foods
There are some foods that are hits with just about all kids. To be on the safe side include at least some of these in your menu:

snack mix
critter crunch
carrots (baby) with ranch dressing
cheese - cheese cubes and especially string cheese
chow mein noodles
cinnamon buns
cookies
crackers
crescent rolls - jam, cheese, chocolate in side for special treat
finger sandwiches (make sandwich with peanut butter or cheese spreads, trim crusts and cut into 4 squares or triangles)
fortune cookies
floats - ice-cream with root beer, cola or orange soda (buy straws)
french fries
fruit - grapes, strawberries, kabobs, raisins
fruit leathers/roll-ups
goldfish crackers
green beans
hummus (garbanzo bean dip) with pita bread
ice-cream - cones, sundaes (syrup, whip cream, cherries, sprinkles, candy pieces) - buy little prepackaged ice-cream cups or ice-cream bars or sandwiches if you want to avoid the mess of scooping out ice-cream
juice - freeze bright juice in ice cube trays and serve with clear soda or juice. If you're concerned about spills, buy light colored drinks (apple juice or lemon lime soda. Fill cups half full for younger children.
macaroni & cheese
nachos
nuts
olives
pancakes
pasta - spaghetti and other fun shaped pastas (bow ties, bunnies, etc.) - caution some kids don't like tomato sauce, so have butter and cheese as an option
peanuts
peas
pizza - pita, English muffin, if ordering from pizza parlor, order largest size you can use (best value) and ask them to cut it "party style" (small diamonds or squares) to avoid slices that are too big and hard to handle
popcorn - Jiffy Pop is especially fun or a topping buffet with taco seasoning, Parmesan cheese, Italian herbs, and cinnamon sugar
popsicles
potatoes - baked, mashed
pretzels - home baked
sandwiches - open face, peanut butter, cream cheese, shaped, rolled
sherbet - some kids just love this stuff, especially the rainbow kind, make float with clear soda
tater tots

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