Festive time is in the air and it’s all about having fun and celebrating with family. Festivities mean feasting and celebrating joyfully and cheerfully. Keeping in mind all the fun and leisure, you should also know that your kids are fueled on artificial sweeteners, added sugars, and flavors that can mess up their stomach and metabolism. Read up on these festive eating tips for kids to know just how to maintain that fine balance.
What Can I Feed My Child During Festive Time?
Don’t worry, you need not deprive your child of the delicious food and the mouth-watering cake. The idea is to enjoy every bit in moderation and let your kid enjoy every second of the festive time! Festive eating tips for kids preach moderation. Read on for some festive feast ideas.
- Make sure you feed your child with some fruits or smoothies before the “Feast” so that they end up feeling a little full and not feel enticed by the junk food.
- Try to make homemade sweets that are made of milk and veggies and try to avoid deep-fried sweets. The better ones amongst them all are rice kheer, whole-wheat cake, makhana kheer, lauki halwa, carrot halwa, with jaggery/desulphurized sugar. Remember to follow strict portion control when consuming sweets to avoid the hyperactivity and sugar rush (a super no-no especially during dinner hours).
- Replace butter with avocado, fruit, or chia seeds while you bake cakes.
- Try to balance the meals. Let your kid enjoy the best of both worlds. Let them have the noodles, pasta, burgers yet, make sure to add loads of veggies to them. To increase the protein content, you can also make the burger patty with cottage cheese and chickpeas.
- WATER WATER WATER. Keep them hydrated and keep reminding them to drink more fluids that do not contain sugar.
- Let their immunity not take a backseat. Remember to add Vitamin-C enriched items like orange, lemon, amla, guavas, and other fruits in their diet.
- Let your kid jump and be bouncy, physical activity will help to balance all the extra sugar and fat. Make sure they have playtime in their daily routine!
What Can I Serve At A Children’s Party?
Be that favorite person who makes the best food! Be creative and serve healthy! Here are some tasty and healthy alternatives to serve this festive season:
- Pav Bhaji– Loaded with all kinds of healthy veggies, pav bhaji is packed with nutrition and has a delicious taste. Serve with hot “wheat pavs” instead of the refined flour ones.
- Veg Pulao With Raita– All the little ones love rice and curd. Make vegetable pulao by adding lots of veggies to make it more colorful and hard-to-resist. You can serve it with freshly prepared cucumber or mint curd and we are sure the kids won’t be able to keep their hands off it!
- Fruits Dipped In Chocolate is one of the best sweets that all kids love! A little modern yet so delicious, all the kids will love it.
- Mini Samosas- Substituting frying with an air-fryer or shallow fryer with olive oil, you can make these hot favorites in smaller sizes so that the kids get attracted by them. You can also add various veggies like corn, peas, shredded carrots, and more to increase the nutritional value of these samosas. Pro tip: Add more wheat while making the batter and less proportion of refined flour to make it even healthier!
- Kaju Katli- One sweet that is everybody’s favorite. The smart trick to make it healthy is to replace the sugar with honey, jaggery, or stevia. Make it on your own this season and be the talk of the children’s town!
Remember!
The festivity season is a special time to spend with your loved ones. This festive season, make your sweets on your own and give your kids a moment to appreciate the awesome parent that you are!
Choose smart and healthy. Also, don’t forget to enjoy the festivities too!
FAQs On Festive Eating Tips For Kids
What Should Kids Eat On Holidays?
Some good things to give kids on the holidays are avocado toast, fruit smoothies, wholegrain cereals, baked beans, veggies sauteed with olive oil and eggs made in fun ways. These things are tasty, healthy and fun to eat.
How Do You Promote Good Eating Habits For Kids?
Moderation is key when it comes to kids. Let them enjoy the junk as long as they get a healthy balanced plate at every meal. Rather than force them to eat veggies and portray them as bad, encourage them to try them out as you eat veggies yourself. Lastly, introduce them to healthy foods from a young age.
How Can I Make My Kids’ Meal Fun?
Make up stories as you eat with your kid, with every fruit and veggie a character that needs to be eaten up by them. Be creative with how you serve them food by making smiley faces, using many colored veggies and plating them in a fun way.