Food-related party activities are a great way to incorporate healthy foods into a party while making it fun! Engaging children in making or growing their own foods is not only a great learning experience for them, but also can be a more memorable and rewarding one.
Choose your favorites from the ten fun activities listed below:
- Smoothie Bar. Offer yogurt, milk, juice, various fresh or frozen fruits, other desired ingredients, and ice. Allow kids to assemble their own smoothie ingredients and blend them in a blender.
- Pizza Making Station. Prepare dough or purchase crust ahead of time. Set out a bowl of pizza sauce, a bowl of grated cheese, and bowls of various sliced vegetables and other toppings of choice. Have children build large pizzas together, or if you prefer to do individual pizzas, use whole-wheat tortillas, pitas, or English muffins instead of the larger crusts. Bake in the oven, or trying grilling the pizzas on the grill!
- Taco Bar. Provide taco shells or tortillas, ground meat or beans, diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce, shredded cheese, and salsa. Have kids build their own tacos.
- Sandwich Station. Cut whole-wheat bread into fun shapes with cookie cutters and set out jars of peanut butter, honey, and jelly, plus a bowl of sliced banana. Let kids make their own sandwiches.
- Salad-on-a-stick. Set out bowls of cucumber chunks, grape tomatoes, bite-size lettuce pieces, yellow peppers, broccoli, and cubed cheese. Have kids assemble their salad on skewers. Have individual portions of ranch dip on the side for dipping.
- Fruit Kebabs. Offer bowls of different fruits cut into bite-size chunks, and have kids assemble their own fruit kebabs. Have individual portions of vanilla yogurt on the side for dipping.
- Prepare a Punch. Set out a punch bowl filled with sparkling water, a few small pitchers of different juices, and a bowl with slices of oranges and strawberries. Have kids ladle the sparkling water and choose their favorite juices to make the perfect punch. The orange slices and strawberries will serve as a fun and tasty garnish.
- Plant an Herb. Mint is a great herb for this activity, since it is hardy and grows quickly. Before the party, root stems of mint enough for the number of children at the party, and purchase small potters and dirt. When rooting stems of mint, place fresh stems in a glass of water about two weeks prior to the party; you should notices tiny roots forming from the ends of the stems at the end of the two weeks. At the party, have kids plant a stem of mint in their own pot and water it. Give each child a pot, some dirt, and a stem of mint. Demonstrate how to plant the stem, placing stem about one to two inches into the dirt and filling the pot in with more dirt. Allow the kids to water their own pots. Kids can take the mint home and watch it grow. Discuss different ways you can use mint, e.g. to flavor water or lemonade, put in a salad, put in your tea. If you are really ambitious, you can have kids paint their pots too!
- Smell the Spice. For this game, set out bowls of different spices, extracts, and herbs like cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin, ginger, vanilla, and mint. Cover it up so the kids cannot see which it is. Then, blindfold each child and have them smell a spice, extract, or herb. Ask them what food it reminds them of and ask if they can identify the spice.
- BBQ Options. Have kids husk the corn on the cob or assemble meat and veggie kebabs while the grill is warming up.
