As I’ve been talking about for a few weeks (okay okay, I’ll change topics next week!), we celebrated our daughters 1st birthday party a few weeks ago. I blogged about the cupcakes, icing, and natural food colouring we used at her party, but today I want to talk to you about the rest of the food we served. It is possible to make delicious & healthy birthday foods!
The cupcakes were a fairly simple choice since we were only going to be serving them to our daughter, and for right now she loves any and everything we place in front of her. The rest of the guests got homemade and fairly unhealthy cupcakes, so I didn’t have to worry about whether they’d turn their noses up at our healthy option. But what about snacks?
Pick Your Theme
I’ll admit that when I initially sat down to plan the food I got all caught up in the excitement (we were doing Harry Potter themed food so it was pretty fun) and ended up with a list full of sugary, processed snacks. “Licorice Wands” (Twizzlers), “HufflePUFFS” (Cheezies), “Golden Snitches” (Ferrero Rocher), and “Slytherin Snakes” (gummy worms). They all seemed so simple and cute, and full of sugar! But then I took a step back and realized that if we really and truly believed in healthy food, this isn’t the type of birthday party we would throw. We want to live the life we want every day, and that means birthday parties too!
So I went back to the old drawing board and I can honestly say that the food we served was way more delicious than the stuff I’d originally planned on. It was super fun to make and I came out of the party with a few new recipes under my sleeve.
Here’s a look at our birthday snacks (you’ll love it even more if you’re a Harry Potter fan. And let’s be honest… who isn’t?!)
Forbidden Forest Fruit
Super simple to make! Just pick a couple of your favourite fruits, cut them into bite sized pieces, and put them onto a skewer. I thought I made way too many of these, but they were all gone by the end of the party.
Ollivander’s Caprese Wands
Another super simple one. Baby tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella on a skewer with a light drizzle of balsamic vinegar.
Professor Sprout’s Veggie Garden
Fill the bottom of the cups with hummus (or another veggie dip you like) and stick in some cut up veggie sticks! I sued cucumber, carrots, celery, red peppers and lettuce.
Nagini’s Banana/PB Bites
Spread natural peanut butter and a touch of honey on a wrap. Sprinkle with chia seeds. Roll up a banana and cut into slices.
Golden Snitch Cheeseballs
I actually got my mom to make these so I don’t know the exact recipe. Cream cheese, bacon, and nuts were definitely part of it though! Put some triangle tortilla chips in to make the wings and viola!
Hungarian Horntail Eggs
Any deviled eggs recipe will work here (again I don’t know the actual recipe because my mom made these!). You could just make normal deviled eggs of course. But to give them a dragonish touch after you hard boil them, crack the shell a little and put them into a bowl with a tablespoon of vinegar, food colouring, and enough water to cover the egg. Then add food colouring to the filling as well.
Herbology Bites (with Great Lake Shrimp)
These ones were a bit more work, but I’d say they were worth it (according to my husband anyway, they were his favourite!). Basically you slice a sweet potato thinly, drizzle with olive oil and bake in the oven until slightly crispy. Top each one with homemade guacamole and cooked shrimp in your favourite spices. Delicious!
Overall I’m thrilled that I took a step back and re-evaluated our snack list. It was a bit more work than buying a pack of Twizzlers and a bag of chips, but everyone really enjoyed the food and (best of all) we didn’t feel awful after the party! I don’t know about you guys, but I usually leave events like that feeling bloated and a bit sick with the amount of sugar and processed stuff I’ve just put into my body. But we felt great after this birthday and we’ll definitely be doing the same sort of thing for any future events we host.
How about you guys? Ever hosted or been to a party with healthy options?
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Until next time, stay happy, healthy and hungry for improvement!
~Teanna
