Jazz up kids' lunches or your holiday table with these fun food ideas for creative and colorful sandwiches, pancakes, snacks and sweets.
19 Fun Food Ideas
Decorate With Leftover Candy
Pre-made cookies, candies and chocolates—and even marshmallow Peeps!—make an easy and effective topper for cakes. Try our Peeps Sunflower Cake to get started.
1/18
Simple Sandwich Art
Send your kids off to class with a fun flip on the bento box, turning a plain old lunch into edible artwork. Make owly eyes and a beak with cheese. Snug everything up in plastic wrap to keep your creation as cute as can be.
2/18
3/18
Ice Cream Cone Treats
Total Time
20 min
Servings
12 dozen
From the Recipe Creator:
I came up with this recipe as a way for my grandkids to enjoy Rice Krispies treats without getting sticky hands. You can also pack the cereal mixture into paper cups and insert a wooden pop stick to create pops. —Mabel Nolan, Vancouver, Washington
Nutrition Facts:
1 serving: 174 calories, 4g fat (2g saturated fat), 8mg cholesterol, 142mg sodium, 34g carbohydrate (14g sugars, 0 fiber), 2g protein.
4/18
Magic Wands
Total Time
25 min
Servings
2 dozen
From the Recipe Creator:
These fun and colorful wands don't need to be made by a magician to be magical. You can change the colors to fit any party theme. —Renee Schwebach, Dumont, Minnesota
Nutrition Facts:
1 wand: 103 calories, 4g fat (2g saturated fat), 2mg cholesterol, 164mg sodium, 15g carbohydrate (0 sugars, 0 fiber), 2g protein.
5/18
Beary Cute Cookies
Total Time
35 min
Servings
2-1/2 dozen
From the Recipe Creator:
These cheery and cute cookies will delight kids of all ages! I like to make fun foods but don't care to spend a whole lot of time fussing. So the idea of using candy for the bears' features was right up my alley. —Susan Schuller, Brainerd, Minnesota
Veggie Rainbow
Tip your hat to St. Pat with a rainbow of multicolored munchies. Suddenly, even the littlest leprechauns are happy to eat their veggies. Put a pot of honey-mustard dippin’ gold at the end of the arc. Hummus works, too.
6/18
Bunny Pancakes
Kick off Easter Sunday with a breakfast that’s as tasty as it is cute. Start with pancake mix so you can hightail it out of the kitchen in no time. Make a tail with a dollop of whipped cream. Then fuzz it up with coconut.
7/18
Easter Egg Mice
Here’s an easy way to use up all those leftover hard-cooked Easter eggs! Every year, Cyndy Gerken of Naples, Florida designs a new fun food for her nieces. They loved these guys that sport radish pieces for ears and shredded-carrot tails.
8/18
9/18
Ugly Sweater Cookies
Total Time
1 hour 10 min
Servings
about 5 dozen
From the Recipe Creator:
Perhaps the most amazing thing about Ugly Sweater Cookies is how cute they are. Try these classic gingerbreads on for size. —Christy Thelen, Kellogg, Iowa
Nutrition Facts:
1 cookie: 113 calories, 2g fat (2g saturated fat), 9mg cholesterol, 70mg sodium, 22g carbohydrate (15g sugars, 0 fiber), 1g protein.
10/18
Frosty Polar Bears
Total Time
25 min
Servings
2-1/2 dozen
From the Recipe Creator:
I love spending time in the kitchen with my nieces. This is the perfect recipe to make with the little ones. Dang cute, easy and portable! —Emily Tyra, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Nutrition Facts:
1 sandwich cookie: 201 calories, 12g fat (7g saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 112mg sodium, 23g carbohydrate (16g sugars, 0 fiber), 2g protein.
11/18
Rainbow Cake with Clouds
Total Time
1 hour 10 min
Servings
16 servings
From the Recipe Creator:
Some cakes stand on their own without icing. For this bright Rainbow Cake, use a little whipped cream to make fluffy clouds. —Janet Tigchelaar, Jerseyville, Ontario
Nutrition Facts:
1 piece with 2 tablespoons whipped cream: 208 calories, 11g fat (4g saturated fat), 20mg cholesterol, 216mg sodium, 24g carbohydrate (13g sugars, 0 fiber), 2g protein.
Ice Cream Sandwiches
Roll the classic ice cream sandwich into any sweet snack you like (pictured here: Teddy Grahams, chocolate-covered pretzels and confetti sprinkles), and get a slam-dunk of a treat that has the whole gang screaming for seconds. Before you decorate, let the ice cream get a little soft so goodies stick. Refreeze if needed.
12/18
Beach Babies
Make a splash with these darling cupcakes from Leslie Merritt of Laguna Niguel, California. Bouncing on blue “waves,” the babies, beach balls and inner tubes are handmade from fondant and chocolate and entirely edible. Think of these for your next summer birthday or pool party!
13/18
Veggie Garden
Peg Owens of Gainesville, Florida “plants” veggies or fruits on wooden skewers in a bed of wheatgrass. It takes about a week to grow the grass, she says.
14/18
Butterfly Cake
Hollie McNeese from Bonney Lake, Washington whipped up this cute cake, made with two round cakes and four cupcakes, one Halloween when her daughter wanted a cake to match her costume for the school carnival.
15/18
Yummy Mummies
Raid your fridge for everyday ingredients like chicken strips, ranch dressing and mustard to make an instant Halloween hit. Dinner’s so simple it’s scary, and that’s a good thing! Fill a squirt bottle with ranch dressing while the chicken strips bake. Drizzle in zigzags to make the mummies’ wraps.
16/18
Turkey Snack
Bring on the Thanksgiving snack attack. These light bites are made for gobbling. You can even switch up your turkey fixin’s by fanning colorful veggies slices around half a pepper (filled with dip, of course) instead.
17/18
Candy Garland
Sweeten up your holiday trimmings with garlands starring everyone’s favorite chocolate-covered treats. Grab these goodies at the grocery store or dunk and decorate your own. The best part: taking them down. Mmm.
18/18
