Super Snacks for Classroom Parties
Classroom parties are a great opportunity to introduce new, healthy foods to your child and his/her classmates. While having an occasional treat is great, putting an emphasis on less healthy choices makes those items more appealing. Try incorporating healthy snacks into your child's next classroom party, so that he/she can be a healthy role model.Halloween
- Ants on a Log: Cut celery into pieces about 5 inches long, spread low-fat cream cheese over the length of the celery, press raisins into cream cheese.
- Spooky Pizza (pizza shell, jar pizza sauce, 2 slices of mozzarella cheese per pizza, Halloween cookie cutter shape): Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare pizza shell with sauce. Cut Halloween shapes out of the mozzarella cheese. Arrange shapes on the pizza. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted.
- BooBerry Shake (2 ½ cups blueberries, 1 1/4 cups apple juice, 1 cup low fat vanilla ice cream, 1/4 cup milk, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon): Place all ingredients in a blender. Pulse until berries are cut up and then blend on medium/high until smooth. Serve immediately. Makes 4 one and a quarter cup servings.
Christmas
- Yogurt Dipped Clementines
- Red & Green Kabobs (red apples, green grapes, and mozza cheese or cucumber, red peppers, and cheddar)
- Smoothies (teacher brings a blender, each student brings either a banana, fruit cup, yogurt cup, strawberries, juice pack, etc.)
- Fruit or Veggie Platter (each student brings one fruit or vegetable) served with yogurt or low fat dip
- Apple Dip (1 tub of spreadable fat free cream cheese, caramel topping, and sliced almonds): Spread cream cheese on a plate, smooth a thin layer of caramel topping on top, sprinkle with sliced almonds. Serve with loads of sliced red and green apples for dipping.
- Salsa with oven roasted pita chips (pitas cut into wedges and baked in the oven until lightly browned and crispy)
- Philadelphia Xmas Tree (1 pkg. of low fat cream cheese, 1/4 cup of pesto, 1 tbsp. chopped red peppers, cinnamon stick): Cut block of low fat cream cheese diagonally in half. Place triangles together to resemble Xmas tree. Cover with pesto. Add peppers for tree ornaments. Insert cinnamon stick at base of triangle for the tree trunk. Serve as spread with crackers.
Valentine's Day
- Heart Shaped Pizzas (Pre-made pizza dough, pizza sauce, low fat mozza cheese, large heart shaped cookie cutter): Cut pizza dough into heart shapes. Spread sauce on dough and top with cheese. Bake until cheese is melted.
- Valentine Roll-ups (Strawberry flavored cream cheese, Strawberry jam, Whole Wheat Tortillas): Spread cream cheese and jam on a tortilla. Roll the tortilla into a log and cut into 1 inch thick slices.
- Strawberry Smoothie (1 cup low fat strawberry yogurt, 1 cup mixed berries - fresh or frozen-strawberries, blueberries, etc, ½ cup 100% orange juice): Combine in a blender and mix until smooth. Thin with more orange juice if desired.
FRUIT & VEGETABLES
- Raw vegetables with low-fat dip
- Fresh fruit with yogurt dip
- Dried, canned, or frozen fruit
- Unsweetened applesauce cups
- Fruitsicles: fruit juice frozen on a stick
- Fruit kabobs
GRAIN PRODUCTS
- Cereal with low fat milk and sliced banana
- Whole grain muffins with milk
- Pita bread stuffed with chopped vegetables and low fat dressing
- Mini pitas stuffed with pieces of fruit and low fat cream cheese
- Mini bagel or muffin with nut butter (where appropriate)
- Rice cakes
- Popcorn (plain, low-fat) or pretzels
MILK PRODUCTS
- Smoothie with milk, fresh fruit, & low fat frozen yogurt
- Low-fat yogurt with fresh fruit or granola
- Yogurt tubes
- Cheese strings or cubes with crackers, buns, or fresh fruit
- Milk-based puddings
MEAT AND ALTERNATIVES
- Mini kabobs with cubes of ham or chicken, cheese, and pineapple
- Trail mix (where appropriate)