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Fun Finger Foods for Kids' Birthday Parties
Looking for quick, creative starters and main courses that'll delight your little guests – and create less stress for you, mom and dad? Try these six recipe ideas.
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Planning a party for your kids? If you're feeding the guests – beyond cake and ice cream – chances are the first food that comes to mind is pizza. Cheesy, easy-to-order pizza often makes the rounds at children's parties. But why not try something different? With a little extra planning and creativity, you can pass on the standard pie – and have something tastier for your bash.
My criteria for kids' party food is fourfold: It should be easy, bite-sized, get my kids involved (see: easy) and be fun to put together. Have your kids help you prepare the treats beforehand – or even better, make the food part of the party activities and let all the kids get involved. Chances are good that if they make the food, they'll eat it (even if it's something new for them).
Starters with pizzazz
Bagel Faces
What you'll need: Six bagels, mozzarella and cheddar shredded cheeses, olives, red pepper
Kids love bagels. Make them even more popular by adding smiles! Split the bagels in half. Line a cookie sheet with foil (for quick cleanup) and preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Let your kids create faces on the bagel halves by putting one layer of mozzarella cheese all over the half. Add cheddar cheese to the top part of the half as "hair." Place sliced – or whole – olives for eyes and use red pepper strips to make smiles. Let your kids make goofy faces or form red pepper noses. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until all the cheese has melted. Allow bagels to cool before you serve.
Celery Fingers
What you'll need: celery sticks (cut into thin, long pieces), cream cheese, large pitted olives, ranch dressing mix (optional)
Despite the stereotype that kids hate vegetables, I find that if you offer a little ranch dressing or something else that the kids can dip their veggies in, the carrot slices and cucumbers disappear. Add these celery fingers as a centerpiece to your veggie tray or just put them out in clear glasses on your food table. To make the fingers, allow the cream cheese to soften to room temperature. Add dried ranch dressing mix to the cream cheese (or skip this step). Place a small amount of cream cheese on the tip of the celery stick. Push an olive onto this end. This is a great snack to let kids put together while you're finishing putting up party decorations.
Pretzel Mix
What you'll need: pretzels, marshmallows, M&M's, peanuts, raisins
Chex mixes are great, but not all kids like the flavors – plus it can get expensive to buy all the ingredients. I make a pretzel mix and let my kids add all their favorite bite-sized treats. Our pretzel mix usually includes the ingredients listed above, but let your kids come up with other combinations – dried fruits like cranberries, banana slices and apricots are also fun additions.
Main course food
Peanut Butter and Jelly Cut-Outs
What you'll need: bread, peanut butter, jelly, cookie cutters, regular and mini-sized chocolate chips (optional)
It doesn't take much to make a staple food exciting and party-worthy. When she was 5, my daughter could (and would) eat PB&J sandwiches at every meal if I let her. Come party time, I dress up the sandwiches by using cookie cutters to make them into shapes like stars, hearts and animals. For an added treat, we sometimes make designs with regular chocolate chips on the outside and pepper the inside with miniature chips.
