What foods to serve at a baby shower

25 Perfect Baby Shower Food Ideas on a Budget – Instacart

Throwing a fun, memorable party to celebrate the new arrival in your life doesn’t have to break the bank. You can decorate a party or backyard and prepare a tasty menu affordably without compromising on quality—it just takes planning. If you’re stuck and don’t know where to start, these baby shower food ideas on a budget will get the ball rolling.

How to throw a baby shower on a budget

Before we get into baby shower food ideas, these are our cost-cutting tips for throwing a wonderful baby shower on a budget.

1. Don’t host at mealtimes

If you host a baby shower at mealtimes, you’ll have to serve full meals, which can be expensive. Instead, throw your baby shower between meals, so you can serve only appetizers and sweet snacks. 2 p.m. is a popular time for these events.

2. Keep a pared-down guest list

On average, guests eat around 5 pieces of food at baby showers. The more people you invite, the costlier the event will be.

3. Ask guests to bring food or drinks

If you still want a full party but can’t afford to feed everyone, ask your guests to bring over food or drinks. It will be a baby-shower-meets-potluck type of event, which can be a lot of fun.

4. Choose local, seasonal ingredients

The cheapest food for a baby shower is the one that’s local and in season. Research what fresh produce is cheapest, then come up with recipes using those ingredients.

Following a themed menu can help you pinch pennies. For example, if you’re using chicken for 1 appetizer, make sure to include it in another snack. This way, you don’t have to buy as many ingredients and end up saving money.

6. Ditch the fully stocked bar

Choose just 1 or 2 drinks to serve—preferably non-alcoholic for baby showers. No need to keep a handful of spirits and mixers on hand.

7. Make your own decorations

DIY the décor using things you already have at home. Visiting a thrift store can also help you throw a stylish baby shower for cheap.

Affordable appetizers for a baby shower

Plate up these tasty, budget-friendly appetizers for your guests.

1. Ham and cheese sliders

Ham and cheese sliders are simple, easy to make, and affordable.

2. Pulled pork buns

Pulled pork sliders are also a popular snack for baby showers. Don’t skip out on the barbecue sauce.

3. Turkey cheddar hot pinwheels

With pre-made pizza dough, deli turkey slices, and cheddar cheese, you can make this comforting finger food.

4. Tomato and broccoli mini quiches

Quiches are sophisticated but surprisingly cheap to make. For this version, use ripe sliced tomatoes and broccoli florets for the filling.

5. Hummus and roasted veg toast

Spread homemade or storebought hummus on toasted bread and top with an assortment of roasted veggies.

6. Build-your-own chili

If you’re looking for a more filling snack, chili is the way to go. Let your guests add their own toppings.

7.

Potato skins with bacon

Hollowed-out baked potatoes, bacon, and sour cream make the perfect appetizer. It’s easy to eat and packed with flavor.

8. Summer pasta salad

For something lighter, serve individual portions of pasta salad. Toss fusilli and whatever veggies are in season in olive oil and a pinch of salt.

9. Deep-fried pickles

Pickles are a popular satisfying snack among many moms-to-be. Set out a plate of deep-fried pickles with ranch dressing on the side.

10. Babies in a blanket

Give pigs in a blanket a twist. Wrap the dough around the sausage so it looks like a swaddled baby and add chocolate sprinkles for the eyes.

11. Grape jelly wieners

Toss smokies in a grape jelly and ketchup mixture, then serve on toothpicks.

12. Barbecue meatballs

Another hearty appetizer, meatballs doused in barbecue sauce are a crowd-pleaser.

13. Tater tot casserole

Tater tot casserole is pretty inexpensive to make. Use a blend of affordable cheeses to take this comfort food to the next level.

14. Chicken salad sandwiches

Spread chicken salad on soft white sandwich bread and serve with an olive and a toothpick on top.

15. Pesto chicken tea sandwiches

Grilled chicken and basil pesto is another great combination. Cut the sandwiches into quarters so they’re easier to eat.

16. Hamburger meat empanadas

Pie crust and hamburger meat can be turned into delicious empanadas. Salsa makes for a great dipping sauce.

17. Cheese pizza bites

Make finger food pizza bites using a cupcake tin, pizza dough, pizza sauce, and shredded cheese.

Cheap desserts and treats for baby showers

What’s a party without something sweet? These cheap recipes for a baby shower will satisfy your sweet tooth without going over budget.

1. Gendered rice crispy treats

Rice crispy treats are cheap to make. They only call for margarine, marshmallows, and puffed rice. Add red or blue food dye for a gendered twist.

2. Carrot cupcakes

Not into gender-themed desserts? You will probably love carrot cupcakes. Making your own is cheaper than getting it from the store—and surprisingly easy!

3. Fruit on a skewer

Pierce a skewer through pieces of fruit for a healthy snack. Grapes, banana, strawberry, apple—whatever is in season.

4. Caramel apples

In the fall, when apples are abundant, caramel apple slices hit the spot.

5. Waffle bites

Waffle mix is inexpensive, so why not make waffle bites? Cut a waffle into fourths and top with fruits, caramel, or chocolate.

6. Decorated sugar cookies

Take sugar cookies to the next level by decorating them. All you’ll need is icing, food dye, and a piping bag.

7. Ice cream sundaes

Sundaes are perfect for summer baby showers. Choose 1 ice cream flavor and let your guests pick their toppings—pretzels, caramel drizzle, and chocolate chips are just some of the options.

8. S’mores bar

Set up a s’mores bar for a DIY dessert. You’ll need graham crackers, chocolate bars, and marshmallows. Don’t forget skewers and a few candles.

Save time and money with a little help from a friend

You probably have a clearer picture of what you’ll serve at your budget-friendly baby shower, right? Now comes the fun part: creating invites, making a playlist, and decorating the space. What’s not so fun is doing the grocery runs—but, fortunately, you can leave that to Instacart. Order everything you need with just a few clicks and focus on the party. You may also want to check out current deals from our retailers.

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37 Crowd-Pleasing Baby Shower Food Ideas

Planning a baby shower is lots of fun, especially when it comes to brainstorming food ideas. Whether you’re looking for food ideas that match your chosen baby shower theme or you’re just looking for quick, easy, and flavorful options that everyone will love, you’ve come to the right place. Check out our 37 baby shower food ideas, including savories, sweets, and thirst-quenching drinks.

9 Tips and Ideas for Planning a Baby Shower Menu

When planning a baby shower, you can be as creative as you like with the food ideas, but it’s also important to consider some practical aspects.

As the host, you’ll have a lot to take care of, including decorating the venue, so it’s good to plan food that is quick to make and easy to serve and eat.

Here are some tips to help you think about the types of food to choose, how to serve it, and more:

Savory Baby Shower Food Ideas

Whether you plan on having only finger foods or an entire menu at the baby shower, here are some ideas for the savory food:

Baby Shower Dessert Table Food Ideas

Besides having a baby shower cake as a centerpiece, you may want to have a dessert table with an assortment of other sweet offerings. Here are some ideas for crowd-pleasing sweets and desserts:

Drinks

Beyond serving the usual wine spritzer or sparkling wine at the baby shower, consider some alcohol-free drinks, like mocktails, punch, and homemade sodas:

The Bottom Line

You’ll no doubt have lots of fun planning and serving the food for the mom-to-be’s baby shower.

If you’ve decided to prepare most of the food, round up some of the mom-to-be’s friends and family to help. Make it easier on yourself by using some store-bought elements, too. You could also make some of what’s on offer but ask each guest to bring a small plate to share.

Set up food and dessert tables so that guests can serve themselves buffet style, and stick to foods that aren’t too messy to eat while standing up and mingling.

If you have a set theme, you can tie the food into the theme by using colored frosting, or by piping lettering onto foods like “Oh, Baby!” Cookie cutters are your friend! Cut everything from brownies to sandwiches into shapes that match the theme. You can also connect the food and drinks to the theme based on the colors you choose for the straws, napkins, and cupcake liners.

Having a chocolate fondue fountain or a soda bar can create an interactive element that guests will love.

Have fun with it! Your options are endless, and you might find you really get into it once you get started. And, always remember, no matter what food and drinks you serve, your guests — especially the guest of honor — will really appreciate your efforts and thoughtfulness.

While you’re here, check out our baby shower checklist to double-check that you’ve covered everything for the upcoming event.

10 dishes for a children's party

Deciding on a place for a holiday

Before thinking about the menu, you need to think over the plan of the event. There are a lot of options for organizing a children's celebration, and each format requires a different budget.

The most popular option for organizing a holiday is a birthday party at home. Celebrating a celebration in the apartment, it is possible to decorate the room in advance. Children love themed holidays, parties. In this case, you need to decorate the room in the style of the birthday boy's favorite cartoon and prepare holiday paraphernalia for guests.

Some people prefer to have their birthdays in nature. To organize a festive picnic, you will have to think through many details, take care of tablecloths, disposable tableware, napkins, folding furniture, etc. in advance.

Another great choice is a buffet table for children. Here, the space for a flight of fancy is almost limitless. The main part of the buffet table is snacks, sandwiches, canapes, sweets, fruits. This format attracts kids with bright and colorful design, simple presentation. The buffet table does not oblige you to take your seats - for active and restless kids, a holiday is better and difficult to come up with.

Planning a budget

Treats for a child's birthday will cost as much as you are willing to pay for them. Holding any holiday is always reflected in the thickness of the family wallet. To save money, the celebration is organized at home. To do this, it is desirable to include in the menu more salads and snacks from affordable and inexpensive products, without exotics and delicacies.

When organizing a children's party, it is important to understand that the atmosphere of fun and joy is more important for children than salads in plates. In order for the birthday to be remembered by the birthday man and his invited friends for a long time, you need to focus on three points:0006

room decoration;
entertainment and games;
sweet table (cake and desserts).

Main course: cutlets and salad - crabs, hedgehogs and fish

Initially, we agreed that children are not prone to drastic experiments, but they are susceptible to playful presentation of food. This combination makes cooking easier for us and opens up scope for creativity.

Cutlets can be prepared in advance. Just before serving, you will need to make a decoration. And this is quite a feasible task if you are not the only adult at the birthday party. Mom will get the kitchen chores, and it’s quite possible to assign the responsibility of entertaining the children to dad, sister or girlfriend.

So, funny meatballs! Make cutlets according to your family's usual recipe.

Or lighten it up by choosing poultry meat, steamed in a slow cooker, fried without breading. Decorate the cooled cutlets as shown in the picture below. Crab paws can be strips of boiled carrots, zucchini, canned in large rings or canned bell peppers, for eyes - cloves or circles of dark olives:

It is also easy to make hedgehogs from cutlets. The serving of two hedgehogs on one plate will be curious:

Hedgehogs can be different when lettuce settles next to meat. Ideas for creating a salad hedgehog can be found in our article "Children's Hedgehog Salad".

Make portioned animals out of your child's favorite salad and serve the cutlet + salad hedgehog pair on a separate plate for each guest.

Another version of fish cutlet. It can be not only a meat product, but also a potato, the ingredients for which are always at hand even in winter:

Making the main menu

So, what delicious food can you cook for a child's birthday? Treats can be varied: sweets, fruits, sweets, desserts... Kids are madly in love with all this, but when compiling the menu, it is important to consider that children cannot be fed with any food.

Going to the grocery store for children's feast, you need to think through everything to the smallest detail. The likelihood of an allergic reaction in invited children cannot be discounted. To avoid unforeseen consequences and difficulties, it is advisable to find out from parents in advance about the restrictions in the diet of their children. So it will be possible to plan in advance the optimal menu and the amount of food.

Children's birthday treats should not include overly spicy, hot, smoked or marinated dishes. Even if such products are fresh, they can cause abdominal pain and upset stools in children. However, this does not mean that you need to prepare everyday, familiar dishes for everyone. Soup is not the best culinary idea for a children's party. It is better to give preference to a delicious hot dish, choosing meat by age. Usually children are delighted with chicken and turkey. Children will hardly appreciate chop or goulash. An excellent alternative would be light cutlets, meatballs, kebabs baked in the oven.

Fish dishes on the children's holiday table should be avoided. This is a rather dangerous product for babies, because children can choke on small bones. In addition, fish dishes have a specific flavor and not all kids are delighted with it.

Salads for children should be neutral. Kids may not appreciate the variety of ingredients. It is better to choose dishes that include no more than 2-3 components. For example, a salad of Beijing cabbage, carrots and sweet corn. Low-fat tender cottage cheese and fruits are the perfect combination for a snack with which you can start a children's feast. Care and foresight must be exercised when choosing dressings and sauces. Since children often have intolerance to dairy products, salads with different dressing options should be on the table - with vegetable oil, sour cream, yogurt. But mayonnaise is better not to use.

Drinks for a child's birthday are no less important than the main meals. Children love sweet soda, but it is still better to opt for natural homemade fruit drinks, jelly, compotes from berries and fruits. By the way, fruit drinks can be diluted with mineral water, garnished with a slice of citrus, a cocktail umbrella or a straw.

What should be the table

The menu for the table on the birthday of the baby should be special. In this case, it is necessary to take into account the preferences, tastes of the birthday man himself and his guests, their age and possible food restrictions. Everything should be tasty, festive, but at the same time useful.

When preparing hot dishes, it is worth showing imagination. It is better to make everything beautiful and unusual.

The table for children should not contain salty, spicy and too fatty dishes (it is better to minimize everything fried, abundantly poured with mayonnaise, with the addition of garlic and hot pepper).
Do not prepare new salads with an original combination of ingredients, because all children love traditional dishes that they have known for a long time.
If very small children are visiting, then it is better not to put a lot of fruits (especially bright ones), otherwise you can cause allergies.
It is better not to give carbonated drinks to children, they are harmful for a small stomach, it is best to put natural juices and compotes on the table.
If there is fish on the menu, then it is necessary to cut it carefully, getting rid of the bones.

Remember that a children's holiday should not overshadow anything. It is better to find out the preferences and allowed dishes from the parents of the invited children in advance so that trouble does not happen.

Sweet table: the main nuances

The choice of desserts cannot be overlooked. A table of sweets for a child's birthday, as already mentioned, is one of the main elements of the holiday. Despite the fact that today you can buy a variety of ready-made confectionery products in stores, it is better to bake a cake yourself for a children's holiday. So you can be calm, because you will be sure of both the expiration date and the composition of your creation. You can buy cakes and children's desserts for children over five years old, but only if you do not doubt the quality of the purchased products in the slightest. To dispel doubts, first read customer reviews.

If the birthday boy is allergic to egg yolk or milk, mom can choose any other suitable recipe. Home cooking leaves the opportunity to choose the original decoration to your taste. Fruits for a child's birthday must be present on the table, but it is advisable to choose fruits without small seeds.

Table decoration: bright ideas

To make a children's holiday a success, you will have to work hard: the kids need to be entertained and fed with various goodies. What exactly - more on that later. In the meantime, we have an important task ahead of us - decorating the children's table.

If you are organizing a themed children's birthday party, then the table decoration should match: plates, cups, napkins and other attributes for young princesses or Winx fairies will clearly differ from the table accessories of pirates, fixies or smeshariki.

Elegant adult tablecloths are of no use to us - children will obviously ruin them. Bright options from oilcloth, even from paper, are perfect - they can be decorated with appliqué or invite children to draw something as a gift to the hero of the occasion.

It is better to prefer plastic dishes, they are produced in a wide variety of colors.

Children use elegant paper napkins for their intended purpose, and at the same time they are an excellent table decoration.

Candles and vases with natural flowers are certainly beautiful, but we will leave them for adults, and decorate the children's birthday table with bouquets of lollipops and sweets scattered between plates, such as M&M's.

It is better to serve children's meals not in large plates and salad bowls, but to arrange many small dishes with treats on the table so that it is more convenient for children to get them.

Favorite sweet treats such as jelly can be served in creatively decorated baby food jars.

The main thing is to decorate the children's table in such a way that it is not only elegant and beautiful, but also comfortable. Let every child be able to easily get out that cheese basket or a funny hedgehog (cutlet in the form of an animal).

Menu for a 1-2 year old birthday boy

At this age, there are serious dietary restrictions for children. You can serve only those dishes that are prepared from neutral products familiar to kids. Any potential allergens should be banned. These include seafood, honey, peanuts, strawberries, chocolate, various spices, etc.

The festive table does not need to be reloaded with salads and heavy meat dishes. Children of this age will like miniature tartlet or cracker sandwiches with chicken pate, light chicken meatballs and mashed potatoes. From drinks, apple compote or diluted juice is perfect.

For babies of this age, instead of a cake with rich cream, it is better to choose a healthy and light dessert that is quickly digested and does not cause digestive problems. It can be sweet soufflé, creamy jelly or baby formula candies. There are a lot of recipes for making dessert from "Baby" or "Baby". Such sweets are completely safe, as they can be treated to the smallest guests. Sweets from baby formula, unlike regular chocolate ones, do not contain preservatives, chemical additives, flavors and flavor enhancers.

Ministry of Health warns!

A festive table can be called an obligatory and invariable attribute of a birthday. However, the choice of menu will depend on a variety of parameters and conditions. In the case of a children's banquet, you need to take into account such important features as the age of the children, taste preferences, as well as the requirements for healthy and safe food.

Useful and informative about delicious — How to organize a buffet for a child's birthday

At the age of two, a child still has quite a lot of culinary restrictions. First of all, the restrictions apply to preservatives, synthetic additives, food allergens, hot spices, concentrates, bitter, sour and salty foods, high sugar content, difficult to digest, fatty foods, foods high in nitrates and other dangerous chemical elements. Be sure to check the expiration date and quality of products, since the digestive system of a child at this age is very vulnerable.

What to cook for a 3-4 year old child

At this age, babies become more demanding. For guests in this age group, more birthday treats should be prepared at home. Children especially love snacks, so you can start with basic sandwiches. For example, canapes with tomatoes and lean meat, skewers with grapes and cheese. To make appetizers have an attractive appetizing look, they can be decorated with half a boiled egg, making a boat, or a cherry tomato, turning a sandwich into a ladybug or a bright mushroom. A variety of ingredients and culinary decor will not leave guests indifferent.

For hot dishes, turkey or chicken is more suitable. And it is better to pay attention to serving portions. For example, skewers baked in sour cream sauce can be garnished with pineapple or apple slices. In the summer season, a meat dish must be served with a salad of fresh vegetables seasoned with vegetable oil.

Of all the sweets for a birthday, a child who turns three or four years old will look forward to cake. Returning to the topic of home cooking, it is worth noting that home-made confectionery usually does not turn out as bright and colorful as factory-made ones. In the confectionery shop, you can order a cake with any figures and images of cartoon characters. The main thing is that the cream in the cake should be airy and not greasy (cottage cheese, yogurt, sour cream).

Cottage cheese snack: suns in corn chips

The beauty of this sweet snack is that it can also be chopped on a skewer or glazed straw.

The recipe contains the same cottage cheese that most parents believe in. At the same time, the taste of the appetizer is peach-corn. We are sure that children and their parents will appreciate your ingenuity!

We will need

500 g cottage cheese,
4 tbsp sugar,
6 tbsp decoys,
2 tbsp flour,
2 yolks,
vanillin,
canned peaches - 2 pcs,
corn sticks - pack 200-300 gr.

Preparation

Beat eggs with sugar.
Dice canned peaches.
Combine cottage cheese, semolina, flour, eggs with sugar, vanillin and mix thoroughly.
Form a ball from curd mass by putting 1-2 pieces of peach inside.
Cook the balls in boiling water for 2-3 minutes.

Prepare the breading: Grind the corn sticks in a blender. In this breading, roll slightly cooled cheese balls.

Festive table at a birthday party for a child aged 5-7

At this age, children can eat everything, which means that the list of allowed dishes and ingredients becomes much wider. For the festive table, you can serve several vegetable salads from vegetables and boiled chicken, turkey. As an appetizer, canapes with fruits, melted cheese, vegetables, lightly salted salmon, salmon are perfect.

For children it is better to prepare steamed beef meat rolls with champignons or prunes, and for a side dish - rustic potatoes baked in the oven, croquettes or multi-colored mashed potatoes, which are actually easy to prepare. The recipe is simple: divide the mashed potatoes into three parts, add boiled beet juice to one of them, spinach juice to the other, and leave the third as it is. You can beautifully arrange a portion on a plate with the help of cherry tomatoes, dill sprigs, cranberries, etc. None of the children will remain indifferent to such a side dish.

Sweet treats for a child's birthday should also be considered in advance. The most banal option is a beautiful cream cake. If you want something more dietary, you can cook a honey cake for a child. At a birthday party, even those children who are diabetic or obese can eat it. Honey, unlike beet or cane sugar, contains more fructose than sucrose, so it requires less insulin to digest. You can also serve pudding, fruit jelly, milk soufflé with vanilla and other options for a light children's dessert.

Trick No. 4. Meals - according to the age of the child

A five-year-old child will be surprised by a sandwich with sausage and cucumber, which will resemble a typewriter. It is not necessary to expect the same reaction from a ten-year-old child. Therefore, when thinking about how to decorate a table for a child's birthday, remember some age preferences.

Don't get too carried away with fast food: yes, kids love French fries, but regular baked potatoes can make them just as happy when served appropriately.

Whatever the age of the children, try to put not only sweets on the festive table. Vitamin salads, sandwiches with red fish, vegetables, cold cuts, let them also take their place among the treats.

Birthday for schoolchildren

When organizing a birthday party for a child over seven years old, it is necessary to consult with him/her. Let the birthday boy tell you what plot for the party he likes. As for the holiday menu, it should be based on a variety of salads and snacks. A hot dish can be baked veal medallions with a vegetable side dish, rice or spaghetti with a homemade aromatic sauce.

Today's schoolchildren are crazy about pizza, burgers, hot dogs, a variety of nuggets and other fast food that can be easily prepared at home. For example, pizza with a variety of toppings will appeal to all guests. For decoration, you can use olives, herbs, cherry tomatoes.

For dessert, of course, you can bake or buy a cake. The second option is ice cream with fruits and sweets. For a child's birthday, a sweet table can be supplemented with a variety of cakes, eclairs, cookies, chocolate.

Sandwich appetizer: forming canapés

Choosing canapé rods

For birthday canapés for children aged 3 to 5, choose the dumbest rod options. Take the free ones out of sight so that the children do not start playing active games with them!

An edible version for the rod is a glazed baby straw. However, in this case, a multi-tiered sandwich should be pierced right before serving, after making a hole with a skewer.

Materials and shape of the base

When composing canapes, use curly cutting of ingredients: circle, square, heart, pointed oval, star. If the canapes are very small, you can use molds for squeezing cookies.

Classic ingredients for 3-4 layers are at our disposal: white wheat bread, thick crackers, hard cheese, boiled sausage, boiled carrots and beets, hard-boiled egg, marinated courgette and cucumber.

We warn you against using gray and rye bread. If one of the invited children does not eat it at home, then out of habit it is too heavy food.

Toppings and sauces for children's canapés

May be smeared between layers with sour cream or cottage cheese sauce. Options for the sauce: sour cream and herbs, cottage cheese Activia - with herbs, salted or in half with light store mayonnaise. Do not take risks with homemade mayonnaise: it does not keep well. For viscosity, crushed raw nuts soaked overnight can be added to the sauce.

A thin layer of butter, also with additives, can be applied to sausage or cheese bread. For example, with turmeric - for a bright color. Or grated in a blender with pickled cucumber - for spiciness. Or with crushed salted nuts.

Sandwiches can be made if guests are over 4 years old. In size, this option does not require tattoos, is taken by hand and may well look like a hamburger if you choose the right bread. A cheerful design will give drive to the beginning of the meal.

One of the options for a children's hamburger is the cheese Serpent Gorynych:

How to celebrate a holiday in kindergarten?

When a child's birthday comes, you also have to think about what treats to bring to the kindergarten. A child's birthday at home will be significantly different from a festive event in a preschool institution. The choice of treats for preschoolers is an extremely sensitive issue, so its decision must be approached responsibly.

For example, cakes cannot be brought to kindergarten. All products with cream are banned, so the option with a cake can be immediately thrown aside. In some kindergartens, the administration also prohibits bringing homemade cakes, compotes, juices. Therefore, when planning a celebration, you must first consult with the teacher and find out what you can treat the children to and what not.

The group may include allergy sufferers and children suffering from diseases of the digestive system. In addition, children under the age of 5-6 do not yet know how to brush their teeth well, so you need to select sweets based on their safety for teeth. As treats, you can not use chocolates, caramel, lollipops, jam cookies, chewing gum.

Kindergarten can give children the following types of sweets:

biscuits with a mark on the package “from 5 months”;
biscuit cookies, "Baked milk", "Jubilee";
donuts and croutons;
muesli bars;
fruits and dried fruits, pitted;
hematogen.

You don't have to worry about drinks: the kitchen of this preschool institution always has compote, jelly, and tea. A limited list of sweets that can be treated to kids in kindergarten is one of the measures to ensure the safety of children's health, and it cannot be ignored.

What to treat classmates?

School is the place with which the childhood memories of each of us are connected. She occupies an important place in the lives of children, so you should not forget about your child's classmates on his birthday. Most children bring treats to school - everyone knows about this tradition. To effectively and originally celebrate the holiday in the classroom, you can use one of the proposed ideas for serving and decorating sweets.

To make the treat not only tasty, but also beautiful, it is not enough just to hand out a few sweets. It's boring and not at all festive. But if the same sweets (Rot Front, Akkond, Babaevskie, Krasny Oktyabr, Yashkino, Kommunarka, etc.) are packed, for example, in a waffle cone, you can surprise all the friends of the birthday boy. It is not difficult to make such a composition:

Pour dragees into ready-made wafer cones or put various sweets, marmalade, gelatins, etc.
Put marshmallows on top of the cone and “glue” it to the wafer with sugar glaze.
Sprinkle the seam with coconut flakes or multicolored Easter cake sprinkles.
Pack the finished treat in festive cellophane with a ribbon.

Instead of waffle cones, you can use transparent plastic cups, jars that are easy to decorate or decorate with cotton candy.

Children's recipes with meat

Meat dishes are served at least twice a day - for lunch and dinner. Modern housewives who want to surprise their family with new tastes every day experiment with different types of meat. Today they serve golden pork schnitzels on the table, tomorrow - cabbage rolls with rice and beef, on Monday - baked chicken, and on Friday evening they have a three-course dinner, where they will solo spinach, rabbit, turkey. There are so many meat dishes that you can hone your culinary skills for the rest of your life and still not grow to the level of French masters. And this is not a problem at all. It is enough that all family members gather at the table at the same time to discuss the past day and try a new homemade delicacy. Meat dishes can be baked in the oven, grilled or pan-fried, constantly coming up with new technologies and interesting combinations. For example, if lingonberry jam is served with a bloody steak, even capricious lovers of the well-done option will be happy to eat it, and the most ordinary boiled broccoli opens up in a completely new way next to a piece of well-beaten pork. Meat is the ingredient that is always ready to come to an agreement. Meat is an indispensable product for those who care about their health and just an ideal component of a good dinner.

The highlight of children's recipes is an interesting presentation and the use of healthy ingredients. Kids may not like meatballs and mashed potatoes, but when mashed potatoes develop green pea eyes and patties become ears, little critics get excited. The balanced children's menu includes a wide variety of soups, fruit and berry compotes, healthy desserts and vegetable side dishes. Delicious recipes for kids require constant inspiration. They should be simple and quick to prepare, but tasty enough that it was impossible to get up from the table without finishing. So, the usual oatmeal has long ceased to be considered a classic school breakfast - today adults eat it with pleasure, adding peanut butter, chocolate or berries to the porridge. Step-by-step recipes for children's dishes on the eda.ru website are especially popular: they can find ready-made ideas for original serving and replace some of the products with more healthy ones.

Search for recipes by selecting a dish category, subcategory, cuisine or menu. And in additional filters, you can search by the desired (or unnecessary) ingredient: just start writing its name and the site will select the appropriate one.

Secrets of culinary decor for a child's birthday

Decorating a children's festive table is an important condition that cannot be ignored if you want your child to remember the celebration for a long time. Both boys and girls are fond of cartoons, serials, movies, they have their own idols.

For example, a child is crazy about a Spiderman cartoon. What can be done in this case? For example, decorate snacks with long thin strips of cheese, imitating a web. On sandwiches, olives resembling spiders will look good. Girls usually like dishes decorated in the form of animals, flowers, fruits (for example, salad "Hedgehog", "Turtle", "Pineapple"). Such dishes look appetizing on the table and delight children.

All kinds of fruit and vegetable canapés are a great way to decorate the holiday table and add bright colors. To do this, you will need multi-colored skewers, colored plates and canapes. The main principle is the harmonious combination of several colors. The brighter the plate, the more appetizing all the dishes on the table will look.

Hot dishes can be beautifully decorated with figures carved from vegetables. It can be hares, kittens, dogs from carrots or cucumbers. To get a clearer shape of the figures, you need to choose dense and sluggish fruits.

Desserts can be decorated with anything - fruits, berries, dragees, whipped cream and chocolates. Rot Front, for example, produces some of the most delicious Russian bars with chocolate and cream flavor. As part of praline, grated peanuts and crispy crushed waffles. Sweets are sweet, but not at all cloying, for which adults and children love them.

What to cook for a child's birthday. Ideas in pictures! | Holiday again!

I'm not only the author of the site "Snova Prazdnik", which describes children's programs and gives free scripts, but also an experienced adult mother of two children. My son is 8, my daughter is 18, and during all this time I spent a lot of children's home holidays.

I always cooked myself, I share my experience.

Main principles

It's beautiful, but fast

there is almost never enough time before guests arrive. On the pictures on the Internet, everything looks cool, but it is insanely difficult to repeat this with an inexperienced hand. For example, design one sandwich, and put the plate to “zapchati”. Children themselves can spread the eyes on their personal sandwich.

It takes a very long time to make these penguins from olives, carrots and cheese. I checked!

It's common

Don't even argue. I had the opportunity to make sure that children do not like the new experimental salads. They are generally alarmed by a mixture of 3 or more products. Of course, you can cook something original, adult guests will eat it, if anything, but you must have “on duty” chicken cutlets, mashed potatoes, pastries with the usual fillings, etc. Fantasy can be shown when serving all these dishes.

This is not harmful

The Internet is full of battles in the comments of parents with different opinions. Some believe that it is not scary to offer pizza, fries and hamburgers once a year, flavored with mayonnaise and ketchup. Others insist that food should not be harmful on any day of the year. Endless argument, I don't interfere. It is definitely worth avoiding too fatty, salty, fried (suddenly one of the guests has problems with the pancreas), soda and other drinks with aggressive dyes.

Corresponds to age

This, I think, is clear. Even now, parents of two-year-old and ten-year-old children read the article. Naturally, there are restrictions for every age. If guests from 2 to 10 years old gather for a holiday (this often happens at family events), it is better to cook several options for dishes.

You can eat it neat

Yes, that's a problem. Children come to the holiday in lush snow-white lace or simply in expensive fashionable clothes. A drop of red juice or ketchup, smeared blue cream on a cake, berry stains, etc. often spoil all this beauty forever.

Plenty of drinking water

Many children can only drink water. Sweet-sweet juice that you have prepared can make you even more thirsty. Be sure to mark small water bottles with different bright labels so that everyone knows “their own water”. After an active game program, you want to drink a lot, make a sufficient supply.

Three rounds

Children don't like feasts. Most guests eat little and quickly. Let there be 2-3 sets of 5-10 minutes. While the guests are gathering - light snacks, then played. Hot meal, entertainment again. Cake, good evening everyone, goodbye. At a home holiday, you can allow such gastronomic breaks, no animator will rush.

"Assemble canapes" constructor

This is also my personal experience. Once I saw enough of beautiful and tasty canapes, I decided to make 5 types of 20 pieces for the children. The result was disastrous. My whole idea with a combination of cheeses, berries, grapes, ham with vegetables and fish with lemon failed.

Comments poured in: “I don’t eat bell peppers”, “Ugh, unhook the fish, I just want an olive”, “I’ll have blueberries, but I won’t eat cheese”, etc. Adults then finished eating this “battlefield” disassembled into its component parts with canapes.

I took into account the experience, suggested next time empty skewers and small bowls with olives, cheese, slices of cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, lemon, slices of ham, chicken fillet, lettuce leaves and sprigs of greens. More squares of white and black bread (3x3 cm).

It was a hit! You could fold your own canape and give it an unusual name. Teach children how to skewer food so that they do not touch the common plates with their hands.

By the way, I have a free script for a home cooking quest, I recommend it! This is "Ratatouille" - about a rat and the spirit of a great cook. Any mother can conduct, all materials (pages of the book) can be downloaded. Lots of puzzles and culinary experiments.

Main course

It's hard to write all the recipes here, I'll throw in a couple of ideas from my own experience.

Chicken skewers (grilled and oven cooked)

This is my go-to dish. Many parents complain, but they themselves do not have time to try the kebabs, as the children quickly eat everything. They are made first in a frying pan, then 30 minutes before serving - in the oven. It is convenient for mom, since there is no need to stand at the stove when guests gather, and preparations can be made in advance. Sparing marinade - sour cream, olive oil, lemon.

Here is a detailed recipe for chicken skewers in pictures.

Piglets

Here you need the ability to sculpt from ready-made puff pastry, but the result is cool.

Defrost a square of dough. Cut the chicken fillet into pieces, thinly beat off, salt and lightly pepper. In some pieces we wrap a block of cheese (this is for piglets), and in other chops we put prunes.

Now roll the ones with cheese , and the ones with stuffing from prunes . If you are worried that not all children will like prunes, do it with cheese only.

Lightly roll out the puff pastry, cut into squares and wrap the meat rolls in it. Ears and nose and tail are sculpted separately and attached to the "carcass".

Roll out the other part of the puff pastry and cut into thin strips. Wrap around the meatballs to form a ball.

Put together on a baking sheet, generously brush with egg yolk. 45-50 minutes in the oven at 200 degrees (at the end can be reduced to 180). What sweethearts… 🙂

Chicken balls

I used to make all sorts of mouse hedgehogs out of them, using pieces of different products. Then it got tired of me, I began to stick bright pictures on sticks (they are called “cupcake decorations”) on the theme of the holiday or ordinary skewers. You can easily find Disney princesses, pirates, and all sorts of different super-heroes. I had to print out Sherlock Holmes and attach it to toothpicks myself, but this can be done in advance.

My recipe: fry 2 onions in sunflower oil, combine with 1 kg of chicken fillet, add 100 g of soaked bread to 100 g of milk. Salt, pepper, remove the minced meat for 2-3 hours in the refrigerator. Fry the balls over high heat until a crust forms, then bring to readiness in the oven for another 30 minutes.

Assembling your own hamburger with a homemade cutlet

It is incredibly difficult to hold a children's party on your own, so I personally rejoice in every way to entertain restless guests.

This 5-minute tutorial on assembling a hamburger with your homemade round patty is sure to please. Here again it is easy to cut off the vagaries “I don’t like tomatoes, pickles, onions, lettuce, cheese”. Let them do what they love. From buns and cutlets. Or vice versa, only with tomatoes and cheese)).

I buy ready-made (small) sesame buns, I don't offer sauce and mayonnaise for small ones.

Small pies with various fillings

Also a good idea, but the pies are better baked, not fried. The size of the pies is "one tooth". My guests, even the most capricious, gladly agree to a pie with potatoes and a meat pie. Experiments with salted cottage cheese and greens, cabbage and fish pies are a success with parents, children do not like it.

Don't be too lazy to mold pies of different shapes so that you can tell by their appearance what kind of stuffing is "flying saucer" or "boomerang".

I always make pancakes too. For adults, I suggest wrapping salmon or caviar, kids eat it with sour cream.

Puree on duty (spaghetti)

This is for the most capricious. Well, the truth is, there are children who categorically refuse to eat something that looks different from what they are used to at home. And only mashed potatoes and pasta give them confidence that it is definitely edible.

Fruits and berries

Fruit pampering (do-it-yourself game again)

This is also like a canape constructor, only from chopped fruits, Let them collect grapes, banana wheels, pieces of apples, pears, watermelon, strawberries on a skewer etc.

Glasses with berries

This is usually placed on a table with sweets (there is no Russian name, we borrow the English candy bar). Just plastic or cardboard cups with a mixture of washed berries. It is better, of course, not to give to children under 5 years old, they will get dirty.

Just put them before the start of the holiday, as this is the first thing children grab. Everyone likes small individual portions of beautiful berries, there is no strength to hold on. Let them eat hot first!

Fruit hedgehogs

With this name and this example, I call for a simple cooking class. Everyone always gets a hedgehog, you can even take it home for mom in a small gift bag. You can not eat right away, just use the fun at the moment when you need to pacify overexcited guests.

Sweets

There is no consensus here either. Of course, in all the beautiful photos of children's birthdays there are breathtaking cakes with mastic to order. They are not only beautiful, but also delicious, with natural dyes, with low-fat yogurt instead of cream, etc.

My ideas are for ardent opponents of such cakes. And in general, any products with cream at children's parties.

Sour cream casserole

Naturally prepared for very young guests (2-3 years old). Instead of cakes - layers of casseroles. Cream - fresh sour cream with sugar. Decorations - fresh berries and colored sprinkles.

Meringue

Safe and can be prepared in advance. There are few secrets: cold proteins, into which not a single drop of yolk has fallen, a whisk mixer at medium speed (a blender will not work), add sugar gradually. Beat the egg whites into a strong foam (4 egg whites, 1 cup of sugar), put on greased paper with a spoon or a pastry bag, bake for 1. 5-2 hours at a temperature of 100 degrees. The oven must be turned on beforehand. You can tint part of the protein with beetroot juice or natural dyes in bags.

Gingerbread cookies

It's not the biscuits that matter, but the fun. Painting gingerbread. If you find Dr.Oetker sugar drawing pencils for drawing, it will be great. Most often I make little men “like from Shrek”, the children squeeze the icing out of the tubes and immediately eat it. Here is the prescription.

Marshmallows and berries in warm chocolate

This game is suitable for children from 7 years old. The cafe offers a chocolate fountain or chocolate fondue (a special heated thing), and you can simply melt milk chocolate in a water bath and invite guests to dip pieces of biscuit, marshmallows, strawberries into warm chocolate on long skewers. Fragrant, delicious and fun!

Ready-made sets for decorating a table and a room for a birthday

To decorate a children's party of any subject, there are tablecloths, candles, packages, invitations, caps, napkins, plates and cups, balls and garlands!

It is very convenient to buy themed sets.