(Age group – 7 – 18 years)
Well, this theme is for the creative kids. I have a penchant for cooking, but not the usual indian meals. But the more extraordinary cuisines such as arabian pita bread, japanese sushis, chinese momos, italian pasta, mexican and so on. Of course every item is made once in a few months or so.
Anyways, one of my cousins wanted to host a party for her 10 year old boy and she called me to help. I am a little bit crazy. So i pitched in.. not to suggest and help her but to wholly take the reign of her party in my hands. I decided that since the gender rules are changing, why not try a cooking themed party for her son. Thankfully she agreed.
While whipping up a dish, a child can smell ingredients, touch and feel the texture, taste the flavours and see the different colours of materials.
So, I designed and planned a masterchef kitchen for the kids. Only the kids would be coming to the party, so the cooking would have to not involve any kind of flame. Chopping was there but then, the adults were there to help with that.
And then the party began.
I put 3 types of coloured stones in a bowl and every kid had to pick one stone and hide in his/her (both girls and boys were there at the party) hands. When they opened their hands, the same coloured stones made one team. In all, there were 3 teams.
First activity : they were given a recipe each and some ingredients for that. They had to follow the recipe in exactly the same directions and create a tasty and beautiful dish. There was no contest.. But we had 3 different, tasty snacks to eat.
You can find loads of fireless cooking ideas online. For eg. click on https://parenting.firstcry.com/articles/top-15-cooking-without-fire-recipes-for-children/
Or https://www.tarladalal.com/recipes-for-cooking-basics-no-cooking-veg-indian-282 for some ideas.
For older kids, who can handle fire and heat, you might want to see https://www.harighotra.co.uk/indian-recipes/family-kids/cook-with-kids. But then you would have to give them access to your gastop.
biscuit pudding biscuit canapes cake pops bread pinwheels fruit yoghurt
Second activity : I gave them a list of ingredients along with the amount of money they cost. (the money was in terms of chocolate coins.) so they had to prepare a dessert using those ingredients. Adults were there to operate the mixer and oven if they needed one. The plan was to let them ration the budget and decide what they wanted to create. And believe me, the kids went wild in this one. They used sugar, chocolates, gems, cream, biscuits, wafers.. And they made everything go together. I told you.. Kids are creative if we let them be.
Of course I didn’t eat any of the desserts.. Just a little taste. And the best team won.
The prizes were distributed and then the cake was cut. Everybody was already so full with all the cooking and tasting, that they hardly ate the pizza afterwards.
Then we all played musical chairs and headed home.
We also made chef hats and disposable aprons using old newspapers and polythene bags. Make sure they all wash their hands before handling food.
Ofcourse they made a mess.. So its better if you have an empty room or roof or backyard, with just some tables and chairs. Please don’t ever try this in your bedroom or living room or for that matter any room of your house.
Return gifts included a small kids recipe booklet (which you can make yourself) along with a framed photo of kids cooking and having fun or you may just buy a good kids cooking book. For more ideas, click here.
I would also like to incorporate this theme at my home also, sometime.