With the exciting times of the King’s Coronation coming up, I thought I’d do a slightly different post to talk a little about how you could throw a Coronation-STYLE street PARTY…for the kids!!
Everyone loves afternoon tea, so I’ve put together an afternoon tea-themed party to help our little ones (as well as us) to celebrate the Coronation on Saturday 6th May.
I also love the idea of pick and mix lunches like the Afternoon Tea Style for little ones as it helps to:
- Offer them independence around their foods
- Offer plenty of variety
- See others eating things they wouldn’t normally try
- Allow autonomy with food choices so they feel less like they “have” to only eat what’s been plated up
- Allows them to follow their own appetite with portion sizes
- Makes mealtimes a bit more fun and engaging so brings a little more joy to food or to the dinner table
Here are some of my ideas for what to include in a child-friendly afternoon tea party:
Mini Baby Friendly Scones
Try this recipe or my brand-new one below which is a low-salt and sugar-free scone option that can be offered to babies or toddlers. Slice them up into sticks for younger babies, if you need to.
Sliced berries
Have some sliced strawberries or squashed raspberries to top the scones as a sugar-free version of “jam” OR try my Chia Seed Jam recipe in ‘How to Feed Your Toddler’. It’s no added sugar, but super delicious and so easy to make.
Mini sandwich slices
I recently posted about 10 Healthy Sandwich Fillings for Babies so you could use some ideas from here. To make it nice and “afternoon tea-y”, you could slice them into finger sticks – which also works perfectly for babies, too.
My favourites fillings (and a few extra ideas) are:
- Avocado and cream cheese (add a sprinkle of milled seeds, too, for some added extra nutrition)
- Hummus or salmon and cucumber slices
- Mashed egg with a little yogurt and some cress
- Peanut butter with some squashed blueberries
If you have one, you could try serving them on a tiered cake stand and let your little ones help themselves, just to add some aesthetics and a bit of a novelty factor.
Veggie sticks
Arrange these in shapes (see my lion from Raffy’s birthday years ago) with a dip. You could try my Butterbean Hummus Recipe, which is still my favourite Hummus recipe to date. I made mine into a Union Jack flag! Add whatever veggies, finger food sticks you want to this and, again let your little ones help themselves.
Lower sugar cakes
You could try my Lower Sugar Sponge Cake Recipe from ‘How to Feed Your Toddler’. I also have some slightly different cake ideas here, too: Healthy Birthday Cake Ideas for Kids and in my book ‘How to Feed Your Toddler’, I also have my absolute favourite Mini Black Forest Cherry Cakes, so check those out, too!
Oatcakes
These are a bit of a classic option for an afternoon tea. Offer them with cheese, yogurt or hummus as a dip. I still LOVE this Baby Friendly Oatcake recipe on my blog. It’s easy and simple and you can flavour them however you like. Of course, if you prefer them, shop-bought oatcakes are fine too, but they do have a fair amount of added salt, so just offer in smaller portions.
Biscuits
If you’re looking for something sweeter than oatcakes, try out my Halloween Biscuits, which can easily be made “Coronation style” with a different stamper. I also have these delicious Cranberry and Pistachio Spiced Biscuits on my website too, which are sweeter but still have no-added sugars.
Flapjacks
These are also a lovely option and I do have a cheesy (savoury – it’s genuinely delicious) flapjack recipe in my book ‘How To Feed Your Toddler’. Otherwise, these Figgy Porridge Fingers go down such a treat, too, and work just in the same way as flapjacks but are no-added-sugar so perfect for younger toddlers and babies. You can easily swap dried figs with dates or apricots if you can’t get hold of any dried dates.
Banana bread
This fab banana bread recipe on my blog is incredibly popular or even my Chocolate Raisin bread from ‘How To Feed Your Toddler’ could work well as a nice little loaf, sliced and spread with a little butter for babies and toddlers.
So there you have it – Baby-Friendly Afternoon Tea to celebrate the Coronation…sorted! Send me your pics of your little ones enjoying foods from this little lot by tagging #SRNutritionCoronationDay – I’d really love to see them!
Baby Friendly Scones
Makes: 15-20 mini scones
Takes: 15-20 minutes (including baking)
Ingredients
- 350g self-raising flour (wholemeal, plain or a mix of both)
- 85g spread or softened butter
- A few squeezes of orange or lemon juice
- 150ml milk of choice
- 70g raisins (or other dried fruit – just dice until roughly the size of raisins)
Method
- Pre-heat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/gas mark 7 and grease a baking tray or line with baking paper.
- Pop the flour in a bowl and then add the spread and mix together well, rubbing in between your fingers.
- Add the juice to the milk and pour it into a well in the centre of the flour mix.
- Knead it all together with your hands and then add the raisins or other dried fruit.
- Knead the mixture into a ball and then transfer to a floured surface. Knead the mixture a few more times on the surface to add some air and make sure it’s all mixed really nicely together.
- Then using a rolling pin, roll it out until it’s around 2.5 cm thick and then use a glass or a round cutter to cut it into scone shapes.
- Add the scones to a lined baking tray and then pop them in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until solid and browned on top.
Serve with some spread, sliced strawberries or some chia seed jam and a few dollops of thick yogurt.
Charlotte’s Newest Book
Following on from her bestselling books How to Wean Your Baby and How to Feed Your Toddler, this book brings Charlotte’s trademark approach of practical support and nurturing step-by-step guidance to help you manage the juggle of family life.