Holiday Party Menu Ideas

The holiday season includes many different traditions and practices from around the world. We have tried to include a sampling of these in our recipe and activity guide. We hope that we have supplied you with ideas that meet your traditions as well as some new activities and food ideas to try.

Snowmen Munchies
Place two or three large marshmallows one on top of the other to make a snowman. Use a toothpick to secure the marshmallows together. Place pretzel sticks in the sides for the arms, a raisin cut in half for the buttons, candy corn for the nose and use a licorice strip to tie around the snowman’s head as the scarf! If necessary use icing to “glue” on decorations. Alternative: Instead of using marshmallows for the snowman’s body, use popcorn balls. Use the following recipe for popcorn balls:

Popcorn Balls

• 15 cups popped popcorn
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 2 10 oz. packages marshmallows

Pour popcorn into a large bowl and set aside. Melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the marshmallows, stirring constantly until melted. Pour the mixture over the popcorn and stir to coat. When cool enough to touch, rub margarine on your hands and form popcorn balls.

Rudolph Sandwiches
Take a peanut butter and jelly (or other favorite) sandwich, cut it crossways to make two triangle “faces.” Use two raisins for the eyes, five or six raisins for the mouth, broken pretzel bits for the horns, and a bright half a cherry for the nose!

Sufganiyyot
In Israel, the traditional Hanukkah food is not potato latkes but Sufganiyyot, an orange flavored donut which is fried in oil. Use the following recipe to make your own Sufganiyyots.

Sufganiyyot (orange donut)

• 3/4 cup butter
• 3 cups flour
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup sugar
• dash of salt
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 pkgs active dry yeast oil
• Powdered sugar

Mix together butter, juice and sugar. Heat until butter melts. Cool to lukewarm and sprinkle with yeast. Slowly add flour, eggs and salt. Mix until dough is smooth. Add more flour if too sticky. Let rise for 30 minutes in a greased bowl. Punch down and shape into balls or rings. Let rise 30 minutes more. Fry in 2” of oil. Drain on paper towels and toss with powdered sugar in a brown bag.

Cakes and Cookies
Want to make a cake for your party? Consider a snowman or star-shaped cake pan. For cookies, don't miss the Birthday in a Box cookie cutters.