A Healthy School Birthday Party: My Wish Come True!
October 19, 2012 | Posted by Stacy under Classroom parties |
Later this morning, my first grader’s class will be having a joint party for all the students with October birthdays–which includes my son, who turned 7 on Wednesday. This is a great change from last year, when each child’s birthday was celebrated individually, resulting in a lot of missed learning time and (not surprisingly!) a lot of cupcakes.
At the beginning of the year, our school (and my son’s wonderful teacher via a note sent home to parents) specifically requested that parents serve healthy food at parties. So the other moms and I came up with this menu:
1) Mini pumpkin muffins Made with whole wheat flour, olive oil and not too much sugar, these mini muffins are a big improvement over cupcakes piled a mile high with frosting. Add a candle, and you’ve got a special birthday treat–with benefits.
2) Apple boats with fruit salad This cored-out apple filled with fruit salad was a special request from the birthday girl in the class–and her mom was happy to comply.
3) Popcorn Bags To make the presentation festive, I printed out photos of the birthday kids and attached them to brown paper lunch bags. I then added stove-top popcorn made with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt.
I’m thrilled to report that I haven’t heard a single complaint about the more wholesome party fare from students or parents–not even from my own son, who has quite the sweet tooth these days. In fact, after the September group birthday celebration (which featured popcorn and watermelon), the only thing he said was: “Mom, can we bring in popcorn and strawberries on my birthday?!?” Oh yes, we can!
In a culture that celebrates junk food, video games and made-in-China plastic toys, I have say “No!” to my kids a lot. So what a treat to be able to say “Yes!” for a change. And for the record, we celebrated my son’s birthday with a very decadent yellow layer cake with chocolate frosting (three sticks of butter total!) at his out-of-school party and also at home. And he enjoyed every single bite.
Hungry for more School Bites?
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