Five Family-Friendly Festive and Fun Treats with a Holiday Twist
Between Halloween and Christmas, it seems like there is an abundance of junk food around. For the kiddos and for the adults. When I involved my kids in the making of foods, they are definitely more likely to eat them and devour them. So, I’ve gathered and created some fun holiday food that the kids can help make and will hopefully eat. Of course, these are also way better nutritionally than munching on candy and baked goods all day.
Christmas Tree Veggie Tray
We are very lucky because our kids love to eat vegetables. But, I know not all are in that same boat. But, I bet if you create a Christmas tree out of vegetables with them, and serve it along side some ranch dip, hummus or french onion dip, they will devour it.
I used:
- broccoli cut into pieces shaped like a triangle
- celery for the stem
- bell pepper rings for the garland
- cherry tomatoes and olives for the ornaments
Fruity Christmas Tree
The girls love those fruit deliveries on the shape of fun things. And, while it’s nice, they are very expensive. This is a much cheaper alternative that the kids can definitely help out with. Bonus that it will keep them occupied making it while you are getting things ready for a guest.
I purchased a cone-shaped foam core from my local craft store for around $4. Then I used toothpicks to skewer fruits (pineapple, cantaloupe, strawberries, grapes, and kiwi fruit) and push them into the foam core. I also used a round piece of pineapple to cut into a start shape (if you have a cookie cutter, I’d recommend using that).
Kids will need to be careful with the toothpicks as they easily poked through the ends of the fruit. I would purchase blunt-ended toothpicks next time to make it easier. I recommend starting with the larger fruits and then using smaller ones to fill in. I would add blueberries, too if I was able to find them.
Snowmen Milk with Magic Straws
We aren’t big milk drinkers (dairy, soy, rice or otherwise), but I know it is a good source of calcium. When you add in a fun flavored straw, put on some buttons and a scarf and add a marshmallow snowman face, milk becomes fun. The kids can be involved in this, too. They can place the gem stickers for buttons on their bellies, wrap the ribbon scarf around the top and tie it and even draw the face on the marshmallow (ideally using food markers, but you can cheat using regular markers, just don’t eat the marshmallow). Then, slide the marshmallow up the straw from the bottom, place it in the glass bottle (these are Starbucks Frappaccino bottles) and you are good to go.
Strawberry Santas
While the strawberries are the sweetest this time of year, this is a cute little display of them, with a little added sweetness making them a great dessert alternative.
I washed and cut the stems off the berries. Then cut the bottom 1/4-1/3rd of the strawberry off. Then you put a dollop of icing (my favorite cream cheese frosting works best as it’s nice and dense. I tried “whipped” toppings and they went flat very quickly). Then add the other piece of the strawberry and place one more smaller drop of icing on top for Santa’s hat. I used sprinkles/jimmies for the eyes., but mini-chocolate chips would work well, too.
Disney’s Olaf Inspired Mashed Potato Snowmen
It wasn’t intentional that these looked like Olaf, but once they came together, I couldn’t help but think of anything else. I cooked some mashed potatoes, waited until they cooled and then rolled them in to a ball. Then we placed cut up olives for the eyes and a small piece of orange bell pepper (or carrot would work) for the nose. These are super cute and fun. I guess you would probably want to microwave them if they are to be eaten. I like the idea of just using them as a decoration at the Christmas table.
Let me know if you end up making or doing any of these for your Christmas celebrations. We are headed to a Christmas party this weekend and I’m thinking of bringing the Christmas Tree Veggie tray for the adults to snack on.
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Those are adorable! I love it! Thank you! 🙂
These are so so stinkin’ cute!
I really love the Snowman . We would have to do soy and whole but I think we could make it work.
oh my lil guy would go bonkers over the fruit tree. Cute ideas. 🙂
These are so cute! I make those little strawberry santas every year for our holiday parties!
Fir some reason, my kids do not eat mashed potatoes…I will have to try these snowmen and see if I can fool them! 😉
That should be ‘for’. And what did you use for eyes??
My girls don’t like mashed potatoes, either!
I used black olive pieces for the eyes and orange peppers for the nose (but you could use carrots/red peppers, etc). Really, anything you have around that is around that same color would work.
omg! What a great idea! I love that Christmas tree veggie tray and the fruit christmas tree!
What a cute idea!
I love the snowman potatoes! Just too cute!
That fruity Christmas tree is pretty darn awesome and make a fun, healthy center piece!
Oh my gosh! These are so adorable!
I will have to incorporate these into our school break activities. SO COOL
I’ve done the Christmas tree with fruits and veggies, but I will have to do the snowmen milk with magic straws. That is just too cute!
I’m totally trying those mashed potato snowmen with my son! He will love them!
The milk with the straw is the cutest thing ever.
I love the Strawberry Santas and the mash potato snowmen. Never thought to use mashed pot.! The fun part is making them, uh!! Happy Holidays
These are such cute ideas. I love that they are not heavily focused on candy as many holiday treats are.
These are so super cute! I know my kids would just be delighted!
I like the snowman milk idea. I have some straws with chocolate milk mix inside and this would be a great edible craft idea for my kids.
What a cute round-up! I need to find some milk bottles so I can make those snowmen milk drinks for my daughter. She drinks milk all day, and that would be a special way to serve it on Christmas Eve 🙂
oh dear… those snow man are so so cute!!!
I love that fruit tree best! I am going to make one for Christmas this year, wonderful idea.
I love these. I have seen the Santa strawberries before but I really love the fruit tree.
These are all so cute! With the way I’ve been juicing and eating fresh fruit lately, I could have that tree gone in seconds. I think the only thing my picky 3 year old would like is the Snowman Milk.
All of these look so fun! I think my fav is the marshmallow snowmen. Thanks for sharing!
fun with food and good food at that
What super cute holiday treat ideas. I love the fruit idea. Reminds me of edible arrangements. My girls always beg for one of them. I will have to try to construct one of these. Thanks for the tips.