The Christmas party season is well and truly upon us and it can be a little daunting with what food you should prepare. My youngest daughter's birthday falls on 13th December so this year we decided to cruelly merge her birthday with some Christmas drinks. I wanted a simple yet deliciously festive spread which would please anyone from early weaning (the youngest being 7 months) all the way through to adults with a mug of mulled wine in their hands.
I have a general rule of thumb that you need a 3:2 ratio of savoury to sweet and as much as possible none of it should involve cutlery so below is what we enjoyed this weekend and since there were no leftovers I think it's probably a good starting block:
Savoury
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We kicked off our spread with the homemade blinis topped with cream cheese + smoked salmon which always go down really well both with kids and adults and you can vary the topping according to your audience. You can buy blinis in the chiller section of the supermarkets but if you fancy giving homemade ones a go then I highly recommend it- they are so much tastier and fluffier than shop brought. Then for the ultimate festive crowd pleasers- sausages in blankets (no recipe required) and my turkey + cranberry sausage rolls -both got rave reviews as did the insanely gooey baked vacherin with charcuterie and new potatoes for dipping. To soften the blow after the heavier nibbles it's always good to add something a little fresh into the game so I did a combo of basic hummus + beetroot hummus with crudités and flatbread plus some olives. Then all you need is some popcorn - the ultimate kids party food - I just load up paper cups and let them go crazy since it's pretty mess free!
Sweet
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Now for the sweet selection. I like to keep the sweet treats bitesize so that adults can dip in and out and the kids can have a few without parents worrying they are going to be bouncing off the walls on sugar. I made a selection of mince pie stars, coconut snowballs and gingerbread xmas puddings * for this party and popped a bowl of clementines next to it for a healthy choice / isn't everyone addicted to them at this time of year?!
When it came to the birthday cake I opted for a selection of cupcakes using my mix'n'match muffins instead of a larger birthday cake as generally toddlers like to pick their own cakes (and then proceed to lick off all the cream cheese topping.) I made two batches - the first combo was carrot + banana and the second was a a red velvet-eque pink cake with beetroot + banana + cocoa- both combinations meant that I managed to sneak in some veggies under the radar even though the indulgent cream cheese topping was far from sugar free! The kids hit the cake stand so quickly that I didn't even get a photo...
Decorations
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Finally, the decorations. I am a big fan of fresh flowers as they fill the house with the most wonderful smell and last for days so you can enjoy them even after everyone has gone. I got a eucalyptus based bouquet from florette.ae and my mum sent a magnificent surprise bouquet from blissdubai.com so the house really did smell incredible! Otherwise I had a mini theme of gold stars running through since Esther means star in Persian and it seemed particularly apt for Christmas time. I found some adorable mini gold crowns from Meri Meri which went down very well with Madeleine and her mates and also sparkled perfectly alongside the star shaped kraft paper plates, napkins, straws and cake toppers [also from Meri Meri].
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Please get in touch if you have an questions or want some ideas for your own party - its always fantastic to hear from everyone and I love a good brainstorm for new catering ideas. Merry Christmas and happy party season!
[*use recipe but roll into bitesize truffles and pop in the freezer to set. Top with melted white chocolate and a cranberry]
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