Parties are a great part of growing up and are hugely significant for children. As parents we don’t want to deprive our children of treats, but parties can seem like a minefield when it comes to finding the balance between fun and nutrition.
Below are some tips which should help you find that balance, whilst still giving your child a party to remember!
- Only offer savoury snacks to start…otherwise they’ll fill up on the cakes and party rings!
- Plates of chopped carrots, cucumber, peppers, celery, pitted olives, cherry tomatoes, hoummous and breadsticks are all great choices.
- There’s nothing wrong with old fashioned pineapple and cheese on sticks!
- Use wholemeal bread for the sandwiches, or half and half. Choose fillings such as cheese, ham, tuna, egg. If you have the inclination cut them into fun shapes with cookie cutters.
- Look out for crisps and snacks that do not contain monosodium glutamate. This is often used as an additive in flavoured crisps and is considered to be a neurotoxin and can affect behaviour. Stick to plain crisps for this reason.
- Keep brightly coloured processed foods to a minimum, unless they are naturally coloured. In particular avoid bright orange, blue and green coloured foods.
- Don’t serve anything containing artificial sweeteners as these are toxic, and can cause behaviour problems eg No Added Sugar Squash, Robinsons Fruit Shoots.
- Serve water to drink as kids are often very excitable at parties and spend a lot of time running around, and are therefore really thirsty. Water also creates far less mess than fruit juice or squash!
- Offer fruit before cakes. Tiny satsumas, grapes, berries, slices of watermelon, chopped pineapple, mini bananas are all favourites with young children
- If you can, and have time, bake your own cakes – at least you’ll know what’s in them. Shop bought cakes are often full of preservatives, colourings, hydrogenated fats and artificial sweeteners. Great ideas are flapjacks, melting moments (very retro), chocolate crispies, carrot cake, blueberry muffins
- For party bags try to buy sweets that are free from artificial colours, flavours and sweeteners. They’ll be high enough anyway at the end of the party! Good brands are: Marks & Spencer, The Natural Confectionery Co (http://www.naturalconfectionery.co.uk/guzzle-puzzle.aspx?campaign_id=PPC_guzzle-puzzle_, some Rowntrees products
- Depending on the age of the children, it’s often more economical to provide each child with a cardboard lunch box filled with their own food than to make endless plates of sandwiches that end up uneaten
If you are feeling adventurous why not try this Courgette and Chocolate cake as a nutritious alternative to a Victoria Sponge Cake:
Chocolate courgette cake
This cake is a perfect example of how healthy food can be delicious and nutritious. The recipe is taken from Patrick Holford and Fiona Macdonald Joyce’s Food GLorious Food – a great cookbook of low GL recipes.
The recipe uses olive oil instead of butter or margarine, providing healthy fat; xylitol instead of sugar (xylitol is a natural sugar replacement which has less effect on blood sugar levels and fewer calories than sugar and is kind to teeth); the courgettes improve added fibre and nutrient content; and the walnuts provide essential fats and a little protein.
You may want to leave out the walnuts if you are worried about nut allergies.
Serves 10
- 200g plain flour
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 100g xylitol (or brown sugar)
- 2 medium free range or organic eggs
- 180ml olive oil
- 170g good quality dark chocolate
- 225g courgettes
- 55g chopped walnuts
For cream cheese frosting:
250g low fat cream cheese
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp of xylitol (or caster sugar)
- Preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas Mark 4. Line a 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin with baking paper and grease the sides
- Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Stir in the xylitol
- In a separate bowl, beat the eggs into the oil
- Melt the chocolate over a bain marie or in the microwave
- Grate the courgettes
- Stir the eggs and oil into the dry ingredients, then mix in the melted chocolate, courgettes and nuts
- Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 25 – 30 minutes or until the cake is well risen, firm to the touch and a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool before icing
- To make the cream cheese frosting, mix together the cream cheese, vanilla extract and xylitol until smooth and spread on the cake. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.
- Enjoy!
To contact Emily Fawell ring 07967 639347 or email Emily@4wellpeople.co.uk, or visit www.4wellpeople.co.uk
