Healthy Drinks
For cool slushies, simply blend peeled and chopped fruit like watermelon or mango with ice to make the most refreshing and colourful party drink.

To make a creamy smoothie, blend fresh berries, banana or mango with reduced fat milk and flavoured yoghurt. Little ‘princess’ or ‘fairy’ girls prefer delicate-pink strawberry smoothies at their parties. Whilst busy ‘superhero’ or ‘pirate’ boys like energizing banana and honey smoothies with a dash of milo.

Nourishing Party Nibbles
Low fat vegetable sticks like crisp celery and carrot served with an avocado dip (simply blend mashed avocado with lime juice) or a ready- made reduced fat dip make the best nibbles instead of fat-loaded crisps and snack foods.

Team a nutritious butter bean dip with raw vegetables including button mushrooms and halved cherry tomatoes. Veges with butter bean dip.

Alternatively, make a batch of Avocado rice paper rolls. These delicious crunchy rolls can be easily made a few hours ahead of serving and stored in an airtight container in the fridge.  

Sweet Fruit Party Treats
Bursting with natural sweetness, colour and goodness, fresh fruit is the healthiest party food for kids.  The important point is to make the fruit look appealing to kids.  As it’s a time for celebration, the addition of a little chocolate or eye-catching topping adds a ‘special’ touch to the occasion and enhances its appeal.

Try these super-easy fresh fruit birthday treat ideas;

Choc-dipped strawberries
Skewer large strawberries onto paddle-pop sticks and dip the tip into melted chocolate.  Alternatively, lightly drizzle strawberries with melted chocolate (a mixture of white and milk chocolate stripes looks fabulous). Chocolate melts are available in supermarkets and can be easily melted in the microwave ready for drizzling.

Fresh fruit kebabs drizzled with chocolate
Thread wedges of peeled and chopped kiwifruit, melon and pineapple onto paddle-pop sticks and lightly drizzle with melted chocolate.

Fresh fruit jellies
Add fresh fruits like seedless grapes to jellies. Include a marshmallow as an additional treat. Top with halved strawberry to serve.

Strawberry Smoothie Pops 
Terrific for a summer birthday party, the Strawberry smoothie pops can be made in advance using fresh hulled strawberries and yoghurt. Store them in the freezer until ready to serve.

Colourful fresh fruit platter
Kids prefer their fruit cut and ready eat. Arrange a colourful selection of fruit on a large platter for a kids’ party at any age. Add a Caramel dip for older children to dunk the fruit.

The following fruits are perfect for platters;

• Watermelon and rockmelon wedges
• Peeled pineapple wedges
• Whole hulled strawberries
• Small bunches of seedless grapes
• Cherries (for older children)
• Gold and yellow kiwifruit wedges
• Medjool dates (remove seeds for young children)

Berry yoghurt sundaes
Make the delicious Berry yoghurt sundae treats with fresh berries and yoghurt in small plastic disposable cups – they’re particularly appealing to little princesses!

Cool Party Choices
Finger sandwiches are the perfect party food for kids of all ages; simple to make and easy for kids to eat. Include a fresh vegetable or use nutritious avocado in the filling and use wholegrain or wholemeal bread.

Try these simple sandwich filling combinations;

• Lettuce and cheese slices
• Ham, tomato and cheese
• Avocado and shaved ham

Make pinwheel sandwiches using ready-made crepes or tortilla bread (both available from supermarkets). Spread the crepes or tortilla breads with mashed avocado (mashed with a drizzle of lemon or lime juice) and reduced fat spreadable cream cheese. Roll up and cut into thick slices, secure with a halved cherry tomato and a cocktail fork and serve.

Far healthier than sausage rolls or party pies, make little Corn, carrot and chicken rissoles. They can be made up to a day in advance and stored in the fridge. Loaded with kernels cut from the sweet corn cob, they’re terrific served cold. Older children like the rissoles served with sweet chilli sauce for dipping.

Warm Vege Choices
Freshly-baked pizzas with vegetables or pineapple in the topping is always a popular party foods for boys and girls of all ages.

For mini pizzas, use round or shaped cutters to cut shapes into ready-made pizza bases. Girls like heart-shaped pizzas while boys often go for star-shaped ones. Use fresh pineapple, halved cherry tomatoes, sliced button mushrooms with diced lean bacon and reduced fat cheese like grated mozzarella for the topping.

Colourful squares of Sweet potato tortilla are also a good choice for parties as they are easy to pick up and eat.

Boys in particular enjoy a barbecued or grilled chipolata sausage on a small wholemeal roll. Add a small leaf of butter lettuce and a spread of mashed avocado to the roll to make it more nourishing.

Birthday Cupcakes
Kids love to eat little cupcakes. They look terrific arranged on a cake stand and they’re the ideal size for kids to pick up with their hands which minimizes the need for plates and spoons

Healthy options
Whip up a batch of Banana cupcakes or use freshly-grated carrot to make little carrot cupcakes. If you prefer to use a packet cupcake mixture, add a few handfuls of fresh blueberries to a basic vanilla cupcake recipe.

Transform cupcakes by topping with reduced fat cream cheese icing and use colourful fresh fruits for decoration. If you’re making the cakes in advance, decorate the cakes with the fruit just before serving.

For dynamic little boys, use blueberries, whole cherries and seedless grapes, and for little girls use halved strawberries to make appealing strawberry-winged butterfly cakes.