Let's make the children's table festive!

Make it the focal point when decorating.  Include some festive drink recipes for the kids. Choose festive ware and garnish. Any drink with whipped cream you can put sprinkles atop, candied fruit, cinnamon candies, Christmas "picks," drizzle with (non-alcoholic) crème de menthe for color, shaved colored chocolate, a Candy kiss.

Tie a red bow with an evergreen sprig on the punch ladle; surround the base with greens and sugared cranberries or toy ornaments.

If it's hot, stick in a cinnamon stick or candy cane; dollop with whipped cream and garnish with sprinkles, cinnamon candies, confectioner's sugar; add a holiday "pick"; stick a sparkler in each mug and light at presentation time

If it's cold, use decorated ice cubes - freeze cranberries, tiny ornaments, mint leaves, anything festive and NON-POISONOUS into the cubes and add at presentation time. (Remember that holly berries and all parts of the mistletoe are poisonous); or freeze the same things in an ice mold.

You can have great fun with floating ice rings for punch for the kids - put in ornaments, cherries, greenery, anything you can make hygienic-enough and that isn't poisonous!

Whatever you serve, serve it with festive flare, and give it a holiday name!

 

Children's Cranberry "Champagne"

Combine 2 well-chilled 750-ml. bottles non-alcoholic sparkling cider with 1 cup cranberry juice cocktail or to taste.

Elf Warmer

1 qt. vanilla ice cream
3 sticks margarine
1 box brown sugar
nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice

Combine and keep in freezer. At serving time, put 1 heaping T. scoop into a mug, add hot water (to taste) and heat.

Santa Red Punch

4 cups water
3 cups sugar
2 small packages of red Jello
l large can pineapple juice
1 bottle of almond extract

Serves 25-30.