A simple and delicious healthy snacks party platter for kids and everyone to enjoy! Get the best tips on how to make a healthy snack tray with wholesome, vegan-friendly and gluten-free ingredients! If it’s a birthday party, after school snack time, or a get together with friends, this party platter has you covered!
No matter what the occasion it is always feels like winning when you have a spread of foods that everyone enjoys. One of my favorite events as the kids are little are our playdates and happy hours with friends. Either everyone brings a snacky food appetizer to share or the host prepares the food. Not only are healthy party platters great for parties, but they are also wonderful for everyday snacks for kids that like to “graze eat” – like mine. I leave this out on the counter after school so the boys can play and grab a few veggies or popcorn as they need! Then I am not too worried if kids skip eating their vegetables at dinner:-) Or sometimes we just eat this as a main dish on lighter evenings!
This healthy snacks party platter is one that caters to most food allergies and has an array of sweet, salty, crunchy, soft flavors and textures not to mention the beautiful colors! It is plant-based with colorful produce being the main ingredients. Of course have fun and play with it by adding more of your favorite healthy snacks like nuts, black olives, watermelon, crackers and other favorite energy bites!
Tips on how to make a healthy snacks party platter
- Start with the main items – fruits and vegetables then add dips. If you are focusing on a fruit platter – grab all your favorite fruits, slice them up and then arrange them on the tray with peanut butter or yogurt dip. If you are making a vegetable tray gather your favorite seasonal vegetables and either serve them raw, roasted or grilled! Then add the sides like hummus (not shown in the picture but it is in the recipe) and Greek yogurt or coconut yogurt dip, nuts, energy balls and popcorn or crackers. Add a wide array of beautiful colors with fresh produce (seasonal tastes best!). This is my favorite part! When I go into the grocery store or farmer’s market I try to look for produce that has is the most vibrant in color and provides all the colors of the rainbow.
- Red– grape tomatoes, apples, red bell peppers, strawberries, cherries, raspberries
- Orange– oranges, tangerines, carrots, orange tomatoes, orange bell peppers, kumquats, cantaloupe
- Yellow– lemon slices, yellow tomatoes, yellow bell peppers
- Green– broccoli, asparagus, cucumbers, snap peas, green grapes, kiwi fruit, green olives, celery
- Blue– blueberries
- Purple– roasted beets, blackberries, purple grapes
- Pink– watermelon radishes, watermelon,
- Black– black olives
- Brown– energy bites, dates, nuts
- White– Jícama, radishes, cauliflower
- Add textures and flavors such as crunchy, soft, sweet and salty. Think about mixing up the food! Make sure your platter has various textures like soft (think strawberries, blueberries and olives) and crunchy (such as celery, broccoli, radishes and carrots). Then add the sweet and salty around it with humus dip, yogurt dip, salty nuts, popcorn and sweet healthy energy balls. I like to make my own homemade popcorn so I can control the amount of salt and fat added. But sometimes I use a store-bought version for convenience.
- Create variations visually with shapes of food using a peeler or cookie cutter. I like to use a vegetable peeler to add ribbons of vegetables such as carrots instead of just slicing them into sticks. First cut the carrot in half and use the peeler in the thicker part. Then roll them up into peels. This also works for cucumbers too to layer them on crackers or toast with hummus. Slice cucumbers into sticks as well- this is another fun way we love to eat them instead of as slices. Also, make shapes with cookie cutters. This is perfect for cantaloupe, cucumbers, watermelon too!
- Layer and spread the ingredients on a platter or large cutting board. Now that you have all the ingredients. Lets make your healthy party platter for kids! Have everything sliced, chopped, rolled and ready and layer fruits and vegetables on a large dish or cutting board. Add popcorn, dips and energy bites to small bowls and place them around the sides first. Then layer fruits and vegetables around them. Make sure to separate colors so the eye feasts on each food or for fun spread them out in rainbow order:-)
Once your healthy snacks party platter is created you are all set! I wanted to keep our party platter vegetarian, fruit and vegetable focused and mostly dairy-free (it’s lighter for after school snacking) but feel free to add cheese slices and meats too:-)
Pin this healthy snacks party platter for kids!
