Catering for children at parties

I love to cook.

And I presumed that once I became a mother I would be making my children the most fabulous food. Turns out I’m often raiding the fridge for scraps to give my hungry children. Cheese on toast anyone? And then when we were entertaining it was the same – I’d cook something wonderful for the adults while the children were subsisting on popcorn and a bit of fruit (not that they were complaining!).

But recently I made a concerted effort to do something special for the kids. I love doing a cheese platter for the adults, so why not the same for the children? I got a big wooden board and gave them a little blue cheese, cheddar, some strawberries, melon, olives and hummus. I served it alongside the adult platter and they felt extra special having their very own dish. And on the upside, they didn’t eat the more expensive cheese I’d served the grown-ups!

Here are a few other fast and healthy options for children at parties:

• Home-made sausage rolls – buy some all-butter puff pastry to make your own sausage rolls using some gently spiced pork mince. Watch this space for a recipe soon!
• Chickpea Flour Pizza Squares – get the recipe for our bases here and then use toppings of your choice.
• Fruit Kebabs – load up skewers with seasonal fruit.
• Raw Veggie cups – put a heaped tablespoon of hummus at the bottom of a small cup, then fill with carrot and celery soldiers.
• Instead of juice or soft drink, offer flavoured waters instead. Fill a jug with water and throw in chunks of strawberries or watermelon. Or make some flavoured ice. See our recipe here.
• Frittata muffins filled with zucchini and free-range bacon.

By Victoria Thaine,
Recipe Contributor