A healthy birthday party - by a foody 'control freak'!

Is there such thing as a 'healthy children's birthday party?'

I thought i would write a bit about how i host children's birthday parties without processed, packaged foods.  As a Nutritionist, and a parent, i don't condone feeding children any processed foods - least of all my own children. I figure that they are under my supervision for at least 15 or so years so this time is my chance to build their body up with nutrients before they develop the decision making ability of choosing the less desirable options. They have the rest of their lives to eat what they like but they only get one chance to build healthy foundations and i believe 3 months prior to conception up until 5-7 years is the most important time for ensuring adequate nutrition. I have heard people say 'once and a while wont hurt' and i know i have said it in the past, but this being my call, at this time, i cant justify it, knowing what i know now and the effects these processed foods have on our children's health and behaviour. I cant and wont turn a blind eye for any length of time, even 1 event in 1 day.

Today we hosted my sons very low key - 2nd birthday party - our baby is growing up :( He's a major fan of the wiggles so we used wiggles colours as the theme. We played pass the parcel, played and jumped on trampoline.  Nothing flash - just friends together for a play and some healthy treats:)

We generally eat Paleo and the reason for this is: we just eat real food, unprocessed, unrefined foods.  We thrive on a diet consisting of moderate fat and moderate protein, so grass fed meats, nuts, plenty of vegetables and very little fruit and no grains. This is the type of foods that keep us well, happy and in a healthy weight range. We did have some vegetarians at the party, so i may have gone a little overboard on the fruit as i ran out of unprocessed options for them :( Vegetarian options is not my strong point.  I don't want my children's friends going home feeling sick or bouncing off the walls and my children don't eat rubbish, so i wasn't about to serve it at the party!

You may be asking yourself 'what did she serve then?' Let me tell you first that i had lots of colours on that table!  I used some silicon ice cube trays for a different effect and more colour on the blue tablecloth.  I had the cake pops in their stand behind the food which also added colour, some balloons and the different foods, all added colour.

You may also be asking yourself, what's a party without cake? Well i can tell you now, that almost all our guests complimented me on the food and all the kids were 'getting amongst it'. AND we did have cake - well...cake pops, but they were healthy ones! The recipe is coming up!!

This is what was on the menu - all prepared at home!!
-sausage fingers
-rosemary and cinnamon chicken

-carrot sticks
-capsicum sticks
-avocado dip 

-watermelon
-strawberries
-grapes
-cookies http://rejuveneat.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/paleo-chocolate-chip-cookies-grain-free.html

-almond crackers

-strawberry sorbet

What did we drink?
-watermelon and strawberry drink - homemade. Sorry, Thermomix have copyright over recipe but its in the festive flavours cookbook! This was my first attempt and i can confidently say its incredible!!

And now the long awaited....
What did we use instead of 'cake'?

-cake pops http://rejuveneat.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/no-bake-carob-seed-balls-grain-gluten.html coated in home-made, raw cacao chocolate and sprinkled with hoppers natural hundreds and thousands. Now do these look tasty or what?

And it doesn't stop there! I find myself calling the 'goody bags' lolly bags, as that's what they usually contain. Lollies! Not mine! 

This is one of the boys goody bags, i wasn't quick enough to snab a photo of the girls version. Basically, Big W and Kmart sell party fillers, and these are all I used.  You can get plastic jewellery, bubbles, yo-yo's, plastic cars etc, whistles, plastic musical instruments. You can also make little treats to go in them if you wish (and have time for).  We also used lip gloss, money purses and cars in our pass the parcel - no room for rubbish then:)

I thought i would blog this to give you ideas and encourage you, there is such thing as a healthy children's birthday party! Its up to you if you serve healthy or unhealthy foods to the children in your life.