Throwing a child’s birthday party usually means supplying bowls of candy, cupcakes stacked with frosting, and a bright orange, ice cream punch to wash it all down.
However, a successful party does not to be based around sugar. If you want to plan a healthy birthday party for your little one, all it takes is a bit of planning and commitment. Throwing a healthy birthday party is easy if you stick to two things: keep the snacks healthy and keep the kids moving.
Forget the Salty Snacks
Offer some healthy munchies in place of chips and pretzels. Consider only putting out a vegetable and fruit tray with a Greek yogurt dip. If vegetables and fruits are the only thing out, children will grab a handful. If they are next to a salty snack, they won’t look twice at the produce. If you are planning to serve dinner, do a mini taco bar, packed with fresh tomatoes, corn, guacamole, and so forth, and let children serve themselves. Children love to feel independent and they’ll jump at the chance to “cook” their own dinner.
Do Your Own Drinks
Most kids are probably searching for soda or punch at a birthday party, but most parents would prefer to avoid both. Instead, make homemade lemonade where you can control the amount of sweetener going into it. You can also make homemade smoothies in different flavors. Word of advice, strawberry and banana is usually a hit with kids. Give them fun names, such as “strawberry shortcake smoothie” which can typically entice children to give them a shot. You can also serve water with fresh slices of lemon and lime to give it a bit of flavor.
Serving the Sweets
You can’t throw a birthday party without cake, but there are plenty of online recipes for cakes that can be made with healthier ingredients. For example, you can swap butter for avocado. If you want to skip the cake and think the kids will survive without it, there are other options of sweets that can be served as dessert. Consider serving chocolate covered fruits, homemade fruit and yogurt popsicles, or a cake made entirely from fruit.
Make Them Move
If you want to encourage a healthy birthday party, an important part of that is encouraging the children to get moving! Consider renting a bounce house from Total Entertainment which will keep kids jumping for hours, burning off energy and calories. We have a variety of bounce houses, obstacle courses, and water inflatables that will keep children entertained. We also have a variety of DJ rentals available which can get both adults and children moving in minutes.
Call Total Entertainment today to book your next birthday bounce house or expert DJ.