By Tegan Benfell, Co-Author of Additive Free Kids Parties

Yesterday I told you about the ingredients in prepackaged foods and what they can do to your children’s health.  Every child wants a fun birthday party full of all the foods they love so here are a few tips on how they can have their fun and no one will suffer for it.

A few hints and tips:
1: Instead of purchasing pre-popped or microwave popcorn, you can avoid a few very nasty additives by simply purchasing the popping popcorn and popping it the day before the party. Even the “natural flavoured” microwave popcorns tend to have nastys in them, so are best to just be avoided all together. Save yourself some money and pop it yourself. To add some flavour to it you can sprinkle over some icing sugar or some salt and butter, but most children will eat it plain too.

2: Frankfurt sausages and most shop bought sausages are little chemical cocktails. The Frankfurt sausages are known to contain a combination of the worst kind of artificial colours and preservatives, these chemicals have been linked with causing asthma, learning difficulties, behavioural issues and much more. “normal Sausages” are also commonly found to contain more fillers than meat, as well as artificial colour, preservatives and MSG. My advice when purchasing sausages in to find your local wholesaler and purchase gluten free and organic, this can be a little more expensive, but if you buy in bulk you will save lots of money and they are much healthier.

2: At every single party I create, I always make sure there is either a fruit platter or some fruit skewers. These are so bright, colourful and healthy and are always the first thing to be eaten off the table.

3: Fairy bread can either be a relatively safe food, or one of the most toxic items on the table, depending on which ingredients you purchase for it. Your fairy bread will be perfectly safe as long as you buy preservative free bread, butter NOT MARGARINE and instead of buying the brands of sprinkles which are coloured with coal tar dyes that are derived from petrol, choose the brands of sprinkles that are coloured with natural ingredients, from food. Or simply grate some organic chocolate over the top. Yummy!!

4: Instead of purchasing cordials and soft drinks which are generally coloured with coal tar dyes and have artificial preservatives added, why not purchase preservative free fruit juice and natural mineral water? You can create your own fizzy drinks by simply pouring two drinks into a jug. I also always serve water at my parties, children can get dehydrated very easily while running around at parties so they should be encouraged to drink as much water as possible.

5: When purchasing lollies it is very easy to source the natural options, most supermarkets now sell the natural coloured and flavoured options, many shops even sell organic lollies and chocolate too and they are very affordable.

6: If you are buying corn chips, there is no doubt that the better tasting ones are the ones coated in MSG, but you need to remember that MSG and all other forms of MSG are like a magical powder, they are colourless, odourless and flavourless. They are simply a chemical that has been created in a lab to make your taste buds believe that what you are eating is yummy. Food manufacturers choose to use MSG instead of real flavour because it is cheaper and highly addictive. You will notice that if your children eat a lot of products with MSG in them, they will start to refuse to eat “blander” foods, as their taste buds are no longer being satisfied with the chemical they are used to. When purchasing corn chips, I always choose the plain ones, or the certified organic brands, they are a little blander but they are safe and they are what real corn chips taste like.

7: For over 150 fun, colourful and yummy additive free recipes, including hints on where to purchase foods, you can purchase a copy of Additive Free Kids Parties. Head to www.healthyshelf.com.au or www.naturalnewborn.com.au.

I wish you many, many fun, loving and joyous parties to come!