Choose your own Little Steps

Category: Special Occasions

We all acknowledge that celebrating special occasions and food go hand in hand. However, food provided for special occasions, particularly for children, is often based around sugary and fatty foods such as cakes, biscuits, chocolate and sweets. Having an occasional treat is fine but sometimes birthdays and special occasions can be almost everyday events.

Think of alternative party treats

Instead of bringing sweets to school for birthdays, bring non-edible treats such as colouring pencils and crayons.

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Make food fun

Serve party food in interesting ways such as pineapple shells filled with fruit and sandwiches cut into different shapes.

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Flaunt finger food

Think about portion sizes and use mini portion sizes. Younger children find smaller pieces of food easier to handle and it will encourage then to try new things without overdoing it.

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Dance it off

Hold a disco or some other activity so that the children can be active and burn up some of the calories they will be eating.

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Have a themed party

For older children, have a pizza party or a kebab/skewer party and get them to prepare their own food by adding fruit and vegetable toppings. You also could have a themed fancy dress party, for example a Mexican party and serve Mexican food like tacos.

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Go healthy…

Use wraps with healthy fillings such as tuna, lean meat, chicken, salad and cut into small, bite size portions as an alternative to sausage rolls, cocktail sausages and chicken nuggets.

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Fill up before the fancies

Allow children to fill up on other food before bringing out the cake and other sugary foods.

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Dip into healthy treats

Make healthy yoghurt-based dips, for example yoghurt and mango or yoghurt and mint, and serve with a variety of vegetables, carrot and cucumber slices are perfect and plain breadsticks.

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Pack a punch

Make a colourful fresh fruit punch made with unsweetened fruit juice and fruit pieces and serve instead of soft drinks. You can also freeze fruit in ice cube trays and add before serving with the food.

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Always have a back up plan

Be prepared for rainy days! Plan for indoor activities just in case, for example hot potato (or whatever you can find to toss - hot tennis ball, hot cushion), limbo, or teaching the children dances.

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