By bucking the tradition of serving cake and ice cream, you can make your children's birthday party reflect their personal tastes and favorites items. Take a creative approach to the menu. Kids will talk for days about unusual appetizers and desserts. Show your child how much you care by serving inventive food at the party. Does this Spark an idea?
Appetizers
Ask your child to make a list of her favorite meals. Many of her choices can be turned into handheld appetizers. Does she love peanut butter and jelly? Spin a twist on this old classic by cutting up the sandwiches into 1-by-1-inch pieces, leaving off the crusts. Thread small skewers with sandwich and banana. Instead of the usual hamburgers, go the trendy route and make sliders. Sliders are mini hamburgers that can be filled with ground turkey or chicken---easy to hold and different from the norm. You can even arrange them on the plate to resemble your child's most loved animal. Cut some through the middle and assemble. Use olives for eyes, pickles for ears, and pimentos for a nose. Is there a particular cuisine your child enjoys? You can reinvent some of there favorites and make dishes like egg roll s'mores. Take each egg roll wrapper and roll over marshmallow fluff with chocolate. Wet the edges so that it will stick and fry. You'll have a tasty treat that plays off Chinese cuisine.
Entrees
Is your child's birthday around a holiday? Holiday-themed birthday parties offer a whole host of entree possibilities. Even if Halloween is months away, why not celebrate it anyway? A great spooky dish can be made with a fiesta flare. Prepare tacos and top with sour cream; then construct decorative spiders from olives. Make one whole olive the body and slice olives for legs. Give your spider some friends by using guacamole caterpillars with cherry tomatoes for heads. Bring in your child's heritage as a theme: Many entrees can be specially personalized to represent your family's background. Mini pizzas are great kid entrees, and you can have more fun by making them into shapes. Roll out dough and use large cookie cutters. Coat each pizza with a small amount of sauce and cheese. The kids can help decorate the pizzas with savory toppings like olives, peperoni, sausage, green onion, and pineapple.
Dessert
While cake and ice cream are always the true stars of the birthday, this ending can be made even more exciting with "mice" ice cream cookies. To make them, use one large cookie of your child's choosing and top with his favorite ice cream. For the ears, use two smaller cookies standing up. Make eyes with chocolate chips and whiskers with small pretzel sticks. Cupcakes are delightful and children often love having their own sweet treat. Prepare the cakes with the child's favorite flavor and icing. In frosting, write one letter of his name on each cupcake, then line them up. Use some cupcakes for candles. You'll have a deconstructed birthday cake that everyone will enjoy. For the kids who aren't fans of cake, cookie cakes are a great replacement. By using one huge cookie, you give yourself plenty of room to be able to decorate. Use icing to draw their favorite sports, movie characters, or people. If you're not an artist, purchase ready-made decorations for cakes and cookies at a hobby store. Taking a unique, thoughtful approach to your child's birthday will help him or her feel special and give party goers something to remember.
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