What about making a basic biscuit dough then cutting it out with christmas cutters? I have a recipe somewhere I will post it in the morning when I am not trying to type quietly in the dark cause I can' t sleep !
Yep i was going to suggest shortbread cookies as well. Actually if I can get to the shop tonight I will make some for our own playgroup party tomorrow.
I once saw this at a christmas party for kids and thought it was the coolest idea!
Get a watermelon (not expensive) and cut it out like a basket. ie. so it looks like it has a handle (Little red riding hood type basket.
Then take out all the watermelon contents using a small icecream scoop or teaspoons to make little watermelon balls. Then put the watermelon balls back int he basket which is actually made from the watermelon skin! It might be a little time consuming but its creative and unique!
I think fruit too, just red/pink and green fruit - there's honey dew melon, strawberries, watermelon, grapes...
If you're wanting something healthy this is a good option I reckon, it's nice to present a bit of a balance, since there'll probably be some more unhealthy stuff there too.
Beware, it's not cheap though! I did fruit recently for playgroup and whoa! I came to understand the presence of chips a lot better.
* 150g unsalted butter, chopped (I just use normal butter)
* 1/2 cup caster sugar
* 3 tsps milk
* 1 tsp vanilla essence
* 1 egg
* 2 1/2 cups self-raising flour
Method
1 Process butter and sugar together until well combined. Add remaining ingredients and process until mixture just clings together.
2 Turn dough onto a floured surface and gently knead until smooth. Cover and refrigerate. Dough can be made up to 3 days ahead or frozen for up to 2 months. Stand dough at room temperature for 1 hour,to soften, before using.
Grab a packet of arrowroots or similar, slap some coloured icing on them, and then using lollies and coloured icing tubes, draw little pictures. Red smarties for holly, you can get away with doing a single holly leaf. Or little triangular Christmas trees with some silver cachous for ornaments, little square parcels, etc. This usually takes a little while but it's always FUN and the kids LOVE them!!
MrsMac ... thanks so much for that ... i didn't have any xmas cookie cutters but i had number cookie cutters so i made numbers 2 & 5 cookies (as in 25th of Dec)
Marydean ... oh, what a brilliant idea ... i purchased Coles brand Arrowroot biscuit ($1.29 pkt ... though ALDI have them for 89c a pkt) ... i iced some with white, some with red & some with green icing ... then i stuck on top a jelly xmas lolly whilst the icing was soft (a bag of 24 of them from Coles for $4.98, ... has snowmen, santas, xmas trees, santa going down the chimney & cute teddies wearing a santa hat ... these lollies are sugared marshallow and they actually are really nice ... not cheap quality & easy to chew) ... Well, i was the HIT of the playgroup xmas party today as Mum's from everywhere asked me how i'd made them. Even a Home Ec teacher complimented on them ... I lined the slice tray with red cellophane, it truely looked FANTASTIC !!!
You get a chocolate royale (the dome biscuits with the marshmallow inside) and you drizzle white choccy on top to look like custard then you drop a jaffa on top and cut up some lolly mint leaves and stick them on as holly leaves. EASY. And the toddlers love to help, and everyone thinks they are soooo cute and yummy!
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