Toddler Christmas brunch

[Sparklesnacks]

I’m having DD (2) and 3 of her friends round early December for a little Christmassy breakfast.
I don’t want to overload them on sugar at that age, or time of the day, so just looking for some suggestions of Christmassy food and activities?
Is it too early for baileys hot chocolate for the adults?

Ooh fun!

First of all, are you cooking/baking from scratch, or do you want recs for stuff you can buy or just assemble?

Activities wise craft is good. I would look at Baker Ross and either buy some craft kits or just get inspiration and create your own.

Crumpets/French toast in the shape of Christmas trees. Mini sausages.

Pancakes. Christmas tree shaped if you're feeling fancy. Fruit platter and FYI it's never too early in the day or the year for a boozy hot choc 🤣🤣

Id premake Christmas tree shaped scotch pancakes.

Shops often sell xmas tree shaped crumpets and may sell them early December if you want another (easier!) option?

Fruit platter and honey to drizzle.

Some squirty cream (snow!)

NEVER too early for a Baileys hot chocolate 😂 don’t forget the cream and marshmallows either.

For activities I’d go simple and buy those “make your own” kits. Their own xmas decoration/ Christmas tree bauble would be ideal as then it’ll be a keepsake forever.

Asda usually have Christmas tree shaped crumpets (or make your own pancakes with a Christmas tree mould).
Fruit plate in red, green and white
Mini Muffins , make them yourself low sugar and add dried cranberries.
Those little gifflar cinnamon swirls are not too bad for sugar content.
Star or Christmas tree shaped scones
Sandwiches cut into Christmas shapes with cookie cutters

At that age they take a bite of something then something else then wander off to play leaving nibbled piles of food everywhere.

Two is too young; wait until four or five otherwise you’re going to end up throwing stacks of food away. Just trying to save you money.

The supermarkets often do things like Christmas tree shaped crumpets.

What a load of rubbish. Of course toddlers eat, enjoy their food and frequently notice what they are eating. OP’s toddler brunch is a lovely idea, and where did “throwing away stacks of food” come from? Honestly, some MNers are so uptight about “food waste” I think they just eschew eating altogether to be on the safe side 🤣

I would do pancakes in Christmas shapes and have bowls of chopped fruit and syrup/sauce.

Pigs in blankets, Xmas tree shaped crumpets or scotch pancakes as said, fruit platter hot chocolate station (and baileys for yours!)

For an activity, cover the table with plain paper and let them decorate it with chunky crayons. Cut out large paper Christmas trees beforehand so they can colour one to take home.

Apple donuts to self-decorate. Core and slice the appels so they look like donuts, try with kitchen towel, think layer of cream cheese or Nutella and then they can go wild with sprinkles.

Toddler Christmas brunch sounds like the cutest thing ever!

Hmm maybe sandwiches or sandwiches made of wraps cut into stars? Or i made little mini charcuterie trees last year which you could do with turkey and cheese instead of charcuterie

For those worried about waste I’m sure I can put food out of toddlers reach and let their parents decide what they’d like. If they waste a bit that’s ok, maybe they can take it home with them. I’m also sure they can still enjoy the experience without stuffing themselves up and the parents may also enjoy eating!

I really like the idea of the baubles, though I’m a bit nervous about so many toddlers crafting in my house though, 2 of the group in particular have drawn on my furniture before..

Thank you for the great ideas. I definitely need to dig out the Christmas cookie cutters!

Nonsense. Wait two to three years to have some friends for breakfast just in case they don’t eat it all?

Myndc didn’t wander off from the table.

@Sparklesnacks cookie cutters are in home bargains just now. Lovely Christmas shapes and not a bad price either.
I've got a box full if you want them.... I don't use them anymore now my kids are older 🤣🤣

Due to various scheduling conflicts this is now an afternoon thing so I’ll do a little party tea for the dc.
its really just a play date so I don’t want to go too wild, but also it’s Christmas.
are there any other activities anyone can suggest that doesn’t involve a bunch of 2 and 3 year olds running around my house with paint and scissors?
and nibbles for the adults that don’t cost a fortune? Cheese board seems like the obvious choice

Pin the tail on the reindeer or the nose on Father Christmas.
Decorating biscuits.
A Christmas pass the parcel.

If you get paper and put masking tape in a triangle shape in the centre. Then let them use Red and green crayons just do scribbles all over. Then when you take off the tape you have a “Christmas tree”

Salt dough shapes they can cut out whilst at yours and the send them home to paint (saving you from the mess!)

Sticking cotton wool on pre cut snowman shapes with googly eyes and strips of red fabric or paper for scarves.

Id make sandwich cut into Xmas shapes, hot chocolate station with cream and toppings and sprinkles, sausage rolls and crisps and fruit. And let the parents eat the same.

Fairy bread. Bread & butter cut into Christmassy shapes and let them shake some sprinkles on the top.

Crumpets are my go to, Asda do ones shaped like reindeer.

I did this for Halloween and have another one planned for Christmas (although I also have a 4 year old and a couple of his friends too).

Things that worked well:

• A treasure hunt around the house to find items that the witch/santa has lost. I did pictures for the 2 and 3 year olds to match with pictures I hid around the house (the 4 year olds had simple phonics words).
• We did potion and slime making for Halloween (not as hideously messy as I’d feared). For Christmas I’m doing snow globe making (jam jars, different coloured glitter, snow sequins, water and some cheap Christmas decorations they can blue tac to the lid of the jar). It requires a bit of supervision but I just put a plastic table cloth down and there was minimal clean up.
• I’ll get some elf hats and we’ll have a mini Santa’s workshop. We’ll decorate some Christmas cards and make salt dough ornaments (there’s already mess so in for a penny, in for a pound). And I’ve got some plaster of paris figures for them to paint as gifts. They decorated wands and did wax relief spider webs for Halloween and absolutely loved it. Btw, Crayola glitter glue is vastly superior to other brands and paint sticks are much easier/neater for toddlers to use than actual paint.
• We put on some spooky songs (obviously it’ll be Christmas songs for the Christmas event) and they danced around. The older boys put on a show for us and the younger kids which was adorable and hilarious.

For snacks:

• I’ll make some ginger biscuits in a very simple house shape to decorate with sweets and sprinkles. It’s a lot easier and less fiddly than a proper gingerbread house. (It’s a bit of sugar but it’s the only ‘treat’ I do and it’s also an activity that they really enjoy)
• I bought a cheap Christmas tree serving plate a couple of years ago and I’ll decorate it with halved cherry tomato, cucumber slices and Babybel ‘baubles’
• I’ll use puff pastry cut into Christmas tree shapes and topped with a pesto and cream cheese mix then some peppers cut into little cubes as baubles.
• I’ll do some sandwiches cut into stars with a cookie cutter (my kids will happily eat the off cuts as a snack so no waste).
• M&S does star shaped corn tortilla chips so I’ll have those with green and red dips (pesto hummous or guacamole and smooth/not spicy tomato salsa)
• Lots of the supermarkets will do Christmas shaped crumpets or pancakes. I just do a few and then warm more up if the kids eat them (any that aren’t used go in the freezer for my kids to have a special breakfast at some point over the festive season).
• I’ll buy a couple of cheap festive serving platters and just put out chopped up fruit, cheese cubes and little cups of yoghurt (I think I’ve seen festive cereal you could top the yoghurt with). It’s not particularly exciting but the kids like it!

My 2 year old would like a word with whoever said toddlers don’t care about food- snacks are the highlight of a party for her!
With regards to food waste I choose things I know we’ll eat over the next couple of days if they don’t get eaten.
It’s not the healthiest meal they’ll ever eat, but it’s not too bad as a one off and there are plenty of options like fruit and veggies.

I hope you have a lovely time, I absolutely loved our Halloween party and can’t wait to do it again for Christmas.

Around that age we had a large felt Christmas tree that we hung on the wall and it came with felt ornaments and tinsel etc that had little Velcro patches on, so they could all decorate the tree.