Yesterday I gave you some ideas for entertaining home birthday parties on the cheap. Today Cloris will offer creative suggestions for feeding those little tykes. -- AP
Hi! Cloris here. After the kids’ shirts are designed and while they’re drying, it’s time to feed the hungry horde assembled around your table. Prepare peanut butter and jelly, tuna, egg salad, or deli sandwiches ahead of time. Use a soft sandwich bread. Have a selection of large cookie cutters in a variety of shapes on hand. Let each child choose the shape he wants for his sandwich. Depending on the age of the kids, they can either cut out their own shapes by pressing the cookie cutters into the sandwiches or do so with help from you.
For dessert whip up a batch of my No-It’s-Not-Cheating Surprise Cupcakes ahead of time, but don’t ice them. Have several different flavors of canned frosting available in bowls. Let the kids ice their own cupcakes by dipping them into the frosting and twisting as they pull the cupcakes up.
Then set out bowls of sprinkles, chopped cookies, chocolate chips, and candies for the kids to decorate their cupcakes. You can also serve them dishes of ice cream and let them make their own sundaes. An ice cream cone inverted on top of a scoop of ice cream becomes a clown hat. The kids can “glue” candy decorations onto the cone with a dab of icing and press candy eyes, a nose, and a mouth into the ice cream “head.”
Hi! Cloris here. After the kids’ shirts are designed and while they’re drying, it’s time to feed the hungry horde assembled around your table. Prepare peanut butter and jelly, tuna, egg salad, or deli sandwiches ahead of time. Use a soft sandwich bread. Have a selection of large cookie cutters in a variety of shapes on hand. Let each child choose the shape he wants for his sandwich. Depending on the age of the kids, they can either cut out their own shapes by pressing the cookie cutters into the sandwiches or do so with help from you.
For dessert whip up a batch of my No-It’s-Not-Cheating Surprise Cupcakes ahead of time, but don’t ice them. Have several different flavors of canned frosting available in bowls. Let the kids ice their own cupcakes by dipping them into the frosting and twisting as they pull the cupcakes up.
Then set out bowls of sprinkles, chopped cookies, chocolate chips, and candies for the kids to decorate their cupcakes. You can also serve them dishes of ice cream and let them make their own sundaes. An ice cream cone inverted on top of a scoop of ice cream becomes a clown hat. The kids can “glue” candy decorations onto the cone with a dab of icing and press candy eyes, a nose, and a mouth into the ice cream “head.”
CLORIS’S NO-IT’S-NOT-CHEATING SURPRISE CUPCAKES (makes 24)
It’s OK to use a cake mix sometimes, and when you’re baking for a kid’s party, it’s definitely one of those times.
Ingredients:
It’s OK to use a cake mix sometimes, and when you’re baking for a kid’s party, it’s definitely one of those times.
Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix
2 eggs
2 c. sour cream
24 chocolate kisses, unwrapped or 24 small washed and hulled strawberries
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 muffin cups with cupcake papers. Combine first 3 ingredients in a large bowl. Stir together with large spoon until well blended. Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling each halfway. Press one kiss or one strawberry slightly into center of each cupcake. Spoon remaining batter to cover evenly, filling cups to ¾ full. Bake 20-25 minutes or until tops spring back when touched. Allow to cool a minute or two before removing from pan. Cool completely before giving to kids to ice and decorate.
What creative ways have you entertained kids at a party? Let us hear from you. -- AP
MMmmm they sound yummy! I'll have to try this the next time I make cupcakes.
ReplyDeleteMakes me almost wish I had little ones.
ReplyDelete