A Good Party Mix for a Child's Party

A tasty party mix for your child̵7;s next party should have plenty of contrasts. You need something sweet and something salty, crunchy and chewy, big and little, bright and neutral. To create your own mix, select any number of ingredients with those factors in mind -- usually raiding your pantry or cupboards will give you a good start.

  1. Ingredients

    • The crunchy base should make up about half of the mix and should be corn, rice or wheat square cereal, O-shaped cereal or an equivalent. Toss in a couple handfuls of pretzels and/or popcorn. A handful of Goldfish crackers or animal crackers add some kid-friendly animal substance. For a color contrast, texture factor and sweet taste, add a handful of chocolate candy pieces, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, mini marshmallows, raisins, cranberries and/or other dried fruit pieces. If there are no nut allergies among the kids, add a handful of almonds, peanuts and/or sunflower seeds.

    Flavoring

    • You can have some fun with your party mix flavoring. Depending on the party̵7;s theme or the birthday child̵7;s preference, you can go for sweet or savory. If you take the sweet route, powdered sugar and cinnamon sugar are kid favorites. For a saltier approach, a couple of tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce will add just enough flavoring without being overpowering. A dry ranch seasoning packet also works.

    How to Prepare

    • Preparing is simple, but you need to keep a few issues in mind. First, pour only your base cereal into a large bowl. To make your chosen seasoning stick to the base, melt one-half cup butter, drizzle it over the cereal and toss until lightly coated. Sprinkle seasoning on and toss again. If you have popcorn on the ingredient list, you must pop it and let it cool off before adding it to the rest of the mix, otherwise it may melt any chocolate or candy pieces. Add the rest of the ingredients and toss again.

    Display Options

    • Now that the mix is ready, you can get creative with your display options. For instance, you can twist decorative paper into cone shapes, tape the edge to prevent them from unraveling and measure out one cup of mix into each cone. Ice cream cones can also be used to hold the mix. A snack-sized resealable plastic bag can be filled, twisted in the middle and held in place with a wooden clothespin. Add two googly eyes and you̵7;ve got yourself a butterfly. However, you can always leave the mix in a big party bowl, if you don̵7;t have time for a fancier display, and it will still taste great.

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