Healthy Birthday Party and Meal Plans

Last night, Erica had a birthday party.  She’s almost 11.  We had my neighbor do ‘glitter toes’, a sweet teenage girl down the street curled hair, and the rest of the girls danced to Abba.  We gave Erica a new outfit.  She has a bunch of cousins that give her loads of hand-me downs, which she actually loves to get, so I had no idea how much she was going to love getting a brand new outfit!  She has declared that her new outfit is “the absolute cutest outfit she’s ever had!”

Anyway, for those of you who are trying to have birthday parties that aren’t filled with junk food, soda pop, and movies, here are a few ideas:

• Keep it active! The new Dance games for the Wii are fun for everyone! Boys and girls both!  Focus on fun, not on food.
• Serve 100% fruit juice instead of pop (or water would be even better)
• Sending a goodie bag home?  Have dollar store toys instead of candy, such as stickers, bouncy balls, bracelets, rings, cars, pencils, notepads, etc.
• Instead of big slices of cake, serve mini-cupcakes. These can be even more fun to decorate and the portions are perfect.  Besides, history has demonstrated to me, that most kids don’t even eat their whole slice of cake.
• Forget about serving pizza and have a pancake bar instead!  Fruit, whipped topping, and sprinkles.  (intended to insert video of Kristen Wigg talking about having a pancake party- but couldn’t find it)
• Forget about the chips, and serve popcorn instead.
• Finger food can be fun! Try sliced fruit with toothpicks and a fruit dip or chopped veggies with a ranch dip.
• Check out my Pinterest board for healthy birthday ideas too!

Now, without further rambling, here is our meal plan for this week! Don’t forget to check back on January 1st to learn all about my new meal planning site!