A Successful Healthy Birthday Party for a 5 Year Old!

My oldest had her 5th birthday party on Saturday and it was a huge success and it was very healthy and dairy-free! She had a Little Mermaid-themed party, minus the huge sugary cake and candy favors. :) We had about 6 little girls here (one that is gluten-free/casein-free) and all of their parents and every ate to their heart's content.
For appetizers we had yummy salsa and corn chips that were all gobbled up. For lunch we had hamburgers and hot dogs (Hebrew National) with whole wheat buns, B&M baked beans and potato salad from Costco. All dairy-free and gluten-free (minus the buns). :)
And for cake, we made a yellow cake from http://www.cherrybrookkitchen.com/ and a chocolate cake from Goodbaker purchased from NEDlife. We actually put them both in a 13x9 pan (using tin foil to divide them while we poured them in). Then I frosted it with Goodbaker frosting. So yummy! We did use store-bought green and pink frosting to write Happy Birthday on it. But I didn't give the little girls any of the pink frosting, since Red Dye #40 can be so harmful to little girls. The girls ate the cake up without complaints. :) And I have to admit it was very yummy! And the girls had a choice between chocolate or vanilla cake! :)

And for the adults and the gluten-free folks, I made an Angel Food cake from Gluten-Free Pantry topped with strawberries. :) That cake does have refined sugar in it, but it's a crowd-pleaser when you have GF folks and folks who aren't GF and a great alternative. It's what we used for my 2 year old's b'day cake as well. :)

And of course we had to have a Little Mermaid pinata. But I refused to fill it with "gross candy" (that's what my 5 yr old calls it!). :) So, we bought lots of little sticker sheets, glow in the dark bugs, little rings, tracing things, etc. And the girls loved it. They didn't care that candy wasn't falling out - it's all about just getting the loot! :) I was pleasantly surprised to see what a success it was and I was afraid that the birthday girl would miss the big sugary cake we had last year and all of the candy in the pinata. But, when I asked her, she loved the cake and the goodies in the pinata.

It just goes to show that kids are flexible and just want guidance. I think parents cave in way too easily and assume their kids won't change their diets or won't cooperate on new things or things being taken away. They will and they do! Include them in your decisions and explain why you are changing things. They want to know and you'd be suprised how willing they are!