Every party will be bespoke and planned specifically to suit the age range of the children. The parents can relax and enjoy the atmosphere whilst the experienced party leaders take care of everything. These parties are totally unique and every child will have a fabulous time.

Bookings are now being taken.

1. Relax, relax, relax

As simple as it sounds, if you relax about it and don’t get stressed about the food that your children eat, it will be easier. Children really pick up on the stress and it makes the whole food thing so much less enjoyable. This is a really simple point but makes an enormous difference. Try and make a pledge to yourself that you’ll relax about what they eat for the next week and see how it feels. A relaxed Mum makes a relaxed child.

2. Let the kids have some control

I really believe that from being very small, one of the few things that children can control is the food that they eat.  They have everything else decided for them; clothes, bedtime, who they play with etc, etc.  The one thing a well meaning parent can’t do is make their child physically eat something they refuse to swallow. One way of encouraging kids to eat a bit more of what you want them to is to give them more control over the foods that they can choose.

For example:

• try putting the food into dishes or plates on the table so that the kids can put their own food onto their plates. This just lets them be in control
• instead of just deciding which vegetables you will serve for tea, give the kids a choice. ‘Would you like peas or carrots for tea tonight?’. Either choice is a good one so everyone wins
• Let the kids feed themselves as soon as they possibly can.  We both know, it will be messy and involve lots of wiping up afterwards but if it will be worth it in the long run.

3. Always (or nearly always) eat with your kids

It’s no fun eating by yourself and it’s even less fun eating with someone sat watching and waiting for you to eat up all your dinner. But that’s exactly what happens sometimes. Wouldn’t it be so much nicer for you to sit and eat with your kids? I understand that it’s not always possible for you to sit and eat with your children but I would try and do it as often as possible. It makes it more fun, more enjoyable and less stressful if you eat at the same time as them.

4. Give your kids proper food, not smiley faces

I have always given my kids the same food as me and my husband. The reasons for that is that is I think they need to eat proper food and explore proper tastes and textures instead of something fashioned into a dinosaur shape.  I also really haven’t got either the time or the inclination to cook 2 different meals every night. 1 for kids & 1 for adults. It takes enough of my time & effort to think of 1 meal, let alone 2.  Kids actually enjoy eating the same foods as the grown ups. After all,…………would you want to eat a smiley Face.

5. Don’t call foods good or bad

No foods are bad if eaten in moderation. It’s all about balance and I’ve always found it easier to let my kids know that it’s o.k to eat cake as long as it’s in moderation. Making something out of bounds only makes it more appealing.

Over to you then

I know that all mums have to multi-task like a demon just to get everything done in the day so I hope that there might be an idea above that helps make your day just a little bit easier. None of it’s rocket science thankfully.

Please don’t get despondent when you feel like it’s simply not going your way with the whole food situation. Just smile and persevere and know that the carrots that have just been refused may very well be eaten with overwhelming excitement next week. Good luck.

I wanted to make a lovely gluten free cake for my friends son as she had helped me out with setting up my blog & I wanted to return the favour. Gluten free is not something I have ever had to consider before because it doesn’t effect anyone in my family or friends. My daughter is allergic to eggs so I know the effects that food can have on the body & the need to check everything that is eaten. However, gluten is a new one for me.

Anyway, I asked someone on twitter, the very kind Gail from @GailLummis if she had any gluten free recipes & she sent me 2 lovely cake recipes. I then realised that I had been using one of those recipes for years.

I have this morning delivered the cake to my friends son & I will wait to hear the feedback. I really hope he likes it. I also hope that she will now be able to use the recipe in future when her son wants to eat cake. Everyone needs to be able to eat a little bit of cake in life don’t they? Whether they have a food allergy or not.

For those of you who would like to make this lovely recipe, here it is………….

If you’re looking for someone to come  and entertain your children for a birthday party but dont want a clown or a magic show then why not choose something a little different and book a cooking party.

The children can decide whether to pick a perfect pizza cooking party, a cute cupcake cooking party or a crazy cake pop cooking party. Each of the cooking parties has a unique formula so please have a look at the relevant pages to see what happens at each one. A cooking birthday party is suitable for boys and girls from age 4 and upwards. We have helped hundreds of children enjoy their birthday cooking party so we know what works and what doesn’t. We always try to accommodate special requests to make your children’s birthday party just perfect.

Find out more about a pizza party. http://www.feedyourfuture.com/cooking-parties/pizza-party-2/

Find out more about a cupcake party.http://www.feedyourfuture.com/cooking-parties/cupcake-party/

Find out more about a cake pop party. http://www.feedyourfuture.com/cooking-parties/cake-pop-party/

Find out more about an older childrens party. http://www.feedyourfuture.com/cooking-parties/teenagers-parties/

Take a little trip to the store. http://www.feedyourfuture.com/store/

In my house, chilli is one of the recipes in my ‘family favourites’ file because I know that it will be eaten by everyone with no complaints & that in itself can sometimes be a small miracle. This recipe is relatively new to me. It has balsamic vinegar added to it which gives it a bit of an extra kick.

I know it looks as though there are lots of ingredients buts they are mostly store cupboard ingredients that you will probably already have & if not, once bought, they will keep in your cupboards ready for the next time you make the recipe again.