Learn how to host a cooking party for kids at home.
Baking birthday parties are great fun for both for boys and girls. Give them a hat and an apron and they’ll have the time of their life. On top of that everyone loves eating their creations!
So if you’re ready, let’s dive into hosting a cooking party at home.
Set up The Party Space
Ideally, you want three separate spaces for:
- Cooking
- Eating
- Activities & Games
These three spaces can be a combination of outside and indoors.
This allows you to prepare each space ahead of time and not worry about clearing things during the event. As a parent, the less you have to do on the day, the happier and more relaxed you’ll be.
If you don’t have three separate spaces, you can still make it work. It’s just a bit trickier. After preparing the food, have the kids go play outside. Use that time to set the table. You might consider hosting the party in a kid’s venue. Alternativity, get the kids to help.
If your kitchen isn’t big enough to host a group of kids, make sure the space you choose is easy to clean. This is especially important when hosting a cooking event for younger kids.
Choosing Easy Recipes For Kids
While our team here at PartyWizz are not bad cooks, our real expertise is in party planning and party entertainment. For that reason, we’ll let you find your own recopies. There are loads of great resources online.
We’ve listed a few ideas with recipe links below.
Starter Ideas
1. Sausage rolls
Easy to do and very rewarding.
– Recipe by tasteofhome.com
2. Cheese rolls
Similar to sausage rolls but with cheese… also a winner.
– Recipe by bbcgoodfood.com
Main Course Ideas
3. Pizza
If you’re not sure which recipe to choose, having everyone make their own 1-person pizza is the way to go. Every phase, from spreading the dough to adding the toppings, is fun. And the kids get to eat the exact pizza they want.
– A simple pizza recipe by bbcgoodfood.com
– Mini pepper pizza recipe by delish.com
– French bread pizza recipe by seriouseats.com
– Calzone recipe by acouplecooks.com
Pro-tip: Make sure you have the oven capacity to make all the pizza at once.
4. Quesadillas or Tacos
This is a great option if you’re looking for something to “assemble” rather than to cook.
– Tacos recipe by jamieoliver.com
– Quesadillas recipe by cookieandkate.com
5. French Toast
If you’re hosting a sleepover party, planning a DIY French toast activity is great fun.
– Recipe by mccormick.com
6. Grilled Cheese
Calling it a grilled cheese is underselling it. It more of a DIY panini stand for your young guests. This is another very easy one that doesn’t require any actual cooking.
– Recipe by allrecipes.com
7. Home-made bread
Get everyone to make their bread. They can then enjoy it with peanut butter, jam or Nutella. Soda bread is the way to go as regular bread needs a few hours to rise.
– Recipe by easypeasyfoodie.com
Pro-tip: Keep the portions small and put the remains in the party bag.
8. Crepes
Savoury pancakes are easy to make and you have the extra fun of being able to flip them. To speed up the process, you can use a crepe/pancake party machine.
– Crepes recipe by allrecipes.com
Pro-tip: Adult supervision is key. You don’t want anyone getting burnt.
Desert Ideas
9. Microwave Mug Cakes
Microwave mug cakes are extremely easy to do. Just mix the ingredients and put it in the microwave. Warning: Parents are at risk of wanting to make one too.
– Recipe by bbcgoodfood.com
10. Brownies
Depending on your age group, you can make brownies with or without cake mix. Also being a single cake, this is probably better for smaller groups. Otherwise, not everyone will be able to participate.
– Recipe by cookieandcups.com
11. Cake decorations
Technically not cooking, but plan some sprinkles and icing for the kids to decorate the cake once it’s made.
12. Cornflake cakes
Another very easy cake with minimal ingredients.
– Recipe by realfood.tesco.com
13. Pancakes
A sweet version of the crepes we mentioned before, you can have a pancake lunch.
– Recipe by bbcgoodfood.com
14. Sweet Quesadillas
If you’re more up for “assembling” rather than actual cooking, consider making some sweet quesadillas.
– Recipe by budgetbyptes.com
15. ‘No-freeze’ Popsicles
Popsicles are fun but they need time to freeze. However, you can also make popsicles that only need to be cooled before being devoured by the kids.
– Cake popsicles recipe by bbcgoodfood.com
– Banana split popsicle recipe by relish.com
16. Jelly
Have different assortments of jelly for the kids to make. Just be wary of the fact that they need to settle. If you want to make something more festive you can make jelly popsicles.
– Jello recipe by onesweetappetite.com
17. Doughnut Apples
If you plan a heavy main course and want a lighter dessert, get the kids to make some doughnuts with apples.
– Doughnut apple recipe by delish.com
Practical tips
Group Size
Keep your guest numbers small. The maximum number will depend on the cooking space you have. Everyone should be able to help with the cooking (and use the exciting utensils). For kids, getting their hands dirty while cooking (literally and figuratively) is half the fun.
Get Additional Help
Make sure you have some additional adult help on the day. This is especially important for manual activities with kids. You don’t want to leave hot elements unsupervised.
Age group
Choose a cooking activity based on the age group and make sure the recipe you choose is age-appropriate. For younger kids (less than 6) think of it as “assembling food” rather than cooking food.
Keep it simple
We recommend that you don’t try to do too much. Instead, focus on one “big” cooking activity with multiple options/toppings they can choose from. The rest can be store-bought if necessary.
Don’t do too much
Don’t make too much food – unless of course you are happy to help eat the leftovers!
Prep Time
Try to choose a recipe that has prep-time of under 30 minutes and a cooking time of under 30 minutes. Otherwise, it might be too much for the kids.
Unfortunately, you’re also going to want to do all the “boring” leg work ahead of time such as washing and preparing the ingredients.
Choose Risk-Free Recipes
When it comes to actual cooking, you can’t avoid knives or hot ovens… but you can minimise the risk with proper adult supervision. For example you want to keep the kids away from raw meat, boiling water, oil and so on.
Don’t forget allergies
Stay away from recopies that use ingredients people are commonly allergic too (for example peanuts). It can be a good idea to check for any allergies when you send out the invitation.
Party Bags
Party bags and party favours have become a staple of kid’s parties. For an exhaustive list of ideas, you can check our article on what to put inside a kid’s party bag.
If you’re based in Ireland, you can also by high quality pre-filled party bags directly through PartyWizz. We’ll ship them directly to you for the party.
When possible, it’s nice to include a themed item in the bag along with the other small gifts. For a cooking party here are a few ideas:
- Wooden spatula
- Cookie Cutter
- Mini cookbook
- Chef’s hat
- An Apron
- Food to take home to ‘show off’ if possible
Activities
Cooking will, of course, be the main activity of the party. However, you’ll still want to plan a few activities and games. You can learn some of our favourite party games in our separate article on the topic.
It’s also nice to play games that match the theme of the party. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Pin the hat on the chef
The classic pin the tail on the donkey, but with a chef to match the theme of the party.
Tie-Dyed Aprons
Buy some white aprons and get the kids to tie-dye them. The only catch is that you’ll want a different set of aprons for the cooking as they won’t be dry.
Lost Ingredient Scavenger Hunt
Plan an awesome scavenger hunt where the kids go looking for the missing ingredient.
Menu Design Contest
Are you up for some DIY? Separate your young guests into groups and get them to design the best menu possible. Have a prize for the winner. This can be the menu for the actual meal or a fictitious one.
Marshmallow & Spaghetti Tower
Divide your guests into teams and challenge them to build the tallest possible tower out of spaghetti and marshmallows. For an added layer of difficulty, the tower needs to stay up for 10 seconds without being held. Have a prize for the winning team.
If you want to avoid food waste, you can also play this game with old newspapers and 20 cm of tape per team.
That’s a Wrap
At PartyWizz, we help busy parents and party organisers easily book entertainment and key elements of a party online.
We pride ourselves in working with the best entertainers in each category –magicians, face painters, balloon modellers, princess parties and more.
To learn more, check out our website.
