Blog from Cheshire Franchise
You might be super watchful of your child’s diet all year long, but when it comes to Christmas, it is too easy to let restrictions fall by the wayside. And it’s ok to enjoy the festive season, but if you have a school-age child, you’ll be all too aware that they will be given sweets and chocolates at every opportunity - from friends, club leaders, school teachers, grandparents… even the elves!
And all your hard work trying to keep an eye on their sugar intake, making sure they have a good sleep so they aren’t too tired for the hectic Christmas schedule, and trying to feed them nutritious food so their immune system is strong enough to fight off those pesky winter bags, amounts to nothing.
Though this can feel demoralising, the good news is there is something you can do about it. You might not be able to prevent all the sweets and chocolates being handed to your kids when you’re not there, but you can certainly make sure the snacks you feed them and the festive bakes you make with them are healthy, and still as much fun as more sugary options.
Here are some suggestions on nutritious festive foods you can make with your child this Christmas:
Banana snowmen
Kids love turning everyday foods into different shapes and figures and this banana snowmen snack is not only full of healthy nutrients, like potassium, fibre and carbohydrates, but it is incredibly simple to do.
Simply slice a banana and pierce three slices on to a skewer with the flat side facing upwards. Use a strawberry for its hat and raisins for its eyes and buttons, and a piece of chopped dried apricot for its nose. Easy!
Snowman bites
Energy balls are a fantastic snack for children, as not only are they packed with protein and carbohydrates, but they are easy to make and can be turned into a number of characters.
For instance, you could create reindeer bites, sticking pretzels into the date and peanut butter balls for antlers. Or you could make them into snowmen by rolling them in desiccated coconut and skewering three balls together to make a snowman.
These are great, as you can swap the ingredients to make a variety of different flavours. For instance, you could make these balls out of carrot and rice cake, cranberry and oats, coconut and almond butter, or chopped peanuts and honey.
Watermelon Christmas trees
A great way to get your children to eat enough fruit this season is to make them seem more exciting and festive. For instance, you could chop a watermelon into Christmas tree shapes and add some yoghurt as tinsel and dried fruit as baubles.
Alternatively, you could make Grinch fruit kebabs if they are big fans of the film, using grapes as the face, and making the hat out of a strawberry, banana slice and mini marshmallow.
You could also turn kiwi slices into Christmas wreaths by cutting them with a pastry cutter and making a bow out of chopped strawberry.
Apple slices are also easy to get into children during the festive season, as they can be transformed into Christmas trees or cute reindeer faces.
Simply put a layer of peanut butter on top of the apple slice, add edible eyes, a raspberry nose and pretzel ears and you have your own Rudolph!
Penguin crackers
If all your children want when they come out of school is a packet of sweets or Advent calendar chocolate, why not offer them a penguin cracker instead?
These crackers are covered with cream cheese, have olives for the penguin wings, sliced carrots for the feet and nose, and peppercorns for the eyes. A savoury snack means they won’t become dependent on sugar and won’t suffer from a sugar crash later on in the evening.
Another healthy snack that helps regulate their blood sugar, while also giving them protein, healthy fats, and plenty of energy are celery reindeer.
Your child might turn their nose up at celery normally, but slice them in half, fill them with peanut butter, use pretzels for the antlers, a berry for the nose, and tiny slices of mozzarella for the eyes and they are more likely to try them.
The importance of nutritious food
These are just a few ideas of healthy snacks you can give them over Christmas, which are packed with nutrients to counterbalance all the treats they will get throughout the season.
This way you can relax knowing that as well as tucking into Yule logs and toffees, they are also getting enough vitamins and minerals to keep them strong, healthy and well so they can fully enjoy a magical Christmas.
They are also incredibly easy to make and cooking these with your kids gives parents something fun to do with their little ones while waiting for the Big Day to arrive.
If baking Christmas snacks is right up your child’s street, you can book on to Kiddy Cook’s Christmas cooking workshop on December 15th. For more information on our festive healthy baking session in Warrington, click here.