Tidy holiday party snacks
November 13, 2023 11:05 AM   Subscribe

I’m having a cookie swap party and need ideas for snacks to provide. Snacks should be a good balance to the sweet cookies people will sample and also not messy because kids are invited.

I’m tired of having salsa on my floor and hummus stained kid handprints on my walls. I’m thinking maybe cheese cubes? I’m out of ideas otherwise. People will be grazing for a few hours, so it’ll just be sitting out.
posted by inevitability to Food & Drink (18 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Pigs in a blanket-little smokies wrapped in pastry.
Savory roasted chickpeas and/or nuts.
Mini quiches
posted by purenitrous at 11:08 AM on November 13, 2023 [2 favorites]


Anything savory wrapped in a yeasted dough (less greasy and flaky than purely pastry doughs). I have a family recipe for savory spinach wrapped in rolled out whole wheat dough and then oven baked that is a take on a take on... something Lebanese?

Or steamed buns! Also extremely tidy to eat.
posted by clew at 11:21 AM on November 13, 2023


Crudités, pickles and olives, maybe some popcorn or pretzels? Crackers, lunch meat pieces, cracker cut cheese.
posted by vunder at 11:22 AM on November 13, 2023 [1 favorite]


For a cookie exchange I would be doing fresh veg-based stuff to be a counterpoint. That could be as simple as crudites with a dip, or a step up would be like cucumber rounds with a blob of salmon cream cheese (hollow out the cucumber a bit so the cheese stays put) or caprese toothpicks with a cherry tomato, a mozzarella pearl and a basil leaf, or celery with goat cheese and some chopped nuts on top.

If you want something a little more indulgent but very neat and appealing, Brazilian Cheese Balls are delicious, very tidy, and gluten free if anyone cares.
posted by fingersandtoes at 11:23 AM on November 13, 2023 [1 favorite]


Pretzels
Wasa crispbreads
Olives
Sliced veggies (cucumber, carrot, celery for example)
Chips
Puff pastry anything; I grew up eating bourekas, which are made with spinach and feta
Samosas
Hippeas (chickpea snacks)
Popcorn
posted by wicked_sassy at 11:25 AM on November 13, 2023 [2 favorites]


I like to make rolls

- combine cream cheese, some salt and chives. Mix well. Spread over a tortilla. Put a piece of dry ham (I use tuscan ham) and then roll up. Fridge for an hour and then cut up into slices.
- Combine cream cheese, and drain salsa (just drain for a few minutes so not quite runny). Spread over tortilla, fridge, cut into slices
- Combine cream cheese and cranberry sauce. As above. layer with dry turkey slices. as above.
- Cream cheese, chives, salt. Cucumber. As above

And for kids, mummy dogs.
posted by Ftsqg at 11:32 AM on November 13, 2023


Giant Olives
Sandwiches cut into appetizer sized pieces with a filling that sticks the bread together as with melted cheese or peanut butter
Puff pastry twists with cheese and pizza sauce, but mainly pastry and cheese
Meatballs
Cubed roast beef
Hush puppies
Shrimp with no cocktail sauce on the side, possibly with the fat end dipped into garlic butter when you are preparing them.
Deep fried shrimp, possibly bought frozen and heated on a cookie sheet in the oven but served cold
Tortilla roll ups filled with cream cheese and something savoury - the cream cheese will keep them from unrolling
Mini baked potatoes made from those tiny new potatoes, cheese filling to ensure it sticks to the potatoes
Little garlic bread twists starting with dough, or just garlic bread cut from a skinny baguette
Tortellini lightly brushed with pesto sauce, served on toothpicks or skewers

My suggestions are heavy on the protein which may make them pricier than you planned but protein balances sugar better than anything I know. I am assuming you will also have crackers and cubes of cheese and baby carrots and cut up vegetables.
posted by Jane the Brown at 11:33 AM on November 13, 2023


Cheese straws aren't too hard to make from scratch and when they're hand piped they seem very fancy. Nice fatty salty balance to all the sugar.
posted by phunniemee at 11:47 AM on November 13, 2023 [1 favorite]


For kids I really like doing snack cups, basically the pieces of a charcuterie board but in a cup already. Things like cheddar cubes, a few slices of salami folded up on a stick, pretzels or breadsticks or maybe half a mini bagel with cream cheese (make them sandwiches so the cream cheese is contained), a few veggie sticks and some fruit like grapes or berries that don't need to be cut up!

Offer pretty much the same thing for adults to serve themselves!
posted by Swisstine at 11:47 AM on November 13, 2023 [1 favorite]


Pizza rolls (Totino’s)/Poppers (Annie’s) are easy, self-contained, popular with all ages.

Taquitos could be good, cut them in thirds or fourths.

Would suggest tater tots or soft pretzel bites, but those sort of require ketchup and mustard respectively...
posted by staggernation at 11:49 AM on November 13, 2023


Seconding cheese straws, and/or some kind of ham and cheese rollups/pinwheels. Example recipe, you can vary the cheeses, and use store bought pizza dough, and they can easily be reheated to perk them up if made ahead. Another option - individual fruit cubes, or fresh fruit "kebabs" on skewers.
posted by gudrun at 11:58 AM on November 13, 2023


These are the best cheese straws/cheese spritz crackers and not very messy (the cheese keeps them from being crumb-y.) If you don't have a piping bag or spritz cookie apparatus you can just roll, chill, and slice before baking.
posted by blnkfrnk at 12:30 PM on November 13, 2023


Apart from snack ideas:
1) you can buy containers of wipes that look like Clorox wipes, but are actually wet wipes for hands. Great for parties with kids! Youngish (under 8) kids and their parents will likely immediately see the wipes and understand they are to be used.
2) love the snack cups idea - it keeps messes contained!
3) lots and lots of surfaces for snack plates to be set down. Set up a few TV trays if needed.
4) a visible place for trash/waste in every room.
5) harder to achieve: make the room look clean/uncluttered prior to guest arrival. The more uncluttered the space, the more people are likely to “see”/register how their mess has changed the space. This means having a designated place for bags/purses, so that those don’t add to the visual clutter of the preexisting space.
6) if it’s truly a kid event, maybe do yourself a kindness and consult with the parents to see if there is a good time to build in a “clean up” time. This works best as a penultimate activity before a final, tidy, fun activity. For example, if the event is slated from 3-5pm, maybe at 4:40 you announce that you’re going to do a few minutes of tidying up before you announce the cookie winners (if there’s a competition) at 4:50. Or maybe you tell the kids that if they help to clean up by sweeping crumbs/wiping counters/taking the trash bags out to the big trash, they can each choose a special bonus cookie to take home. Or maybe you do your tidy up then take a group picture. Or maybe you do your tidy then have three kids sing a holiday Carol (I guess I just assume this is a holiday thing).
posted by samthemander at 12:40 PM on November 13, 2023 [2 favorites]


I've made mini crescent rolls (not croissants) with bread dough and kids really liked those. Anything using puff pastry is going to be greasy and leave you with little fingerprints all over the place, but bread dough won't.

You could make little sandwiches in advance. Peanut butter or lunchmeat shouldn't be too messy as long as no one is trying to take them apart. Cucumber sandwiches are very tasty and would be a nice contrast with the cookies.

Mini pretzels will leave you with crumbs but not fingerprints. Dips aren't necessary.

Homemade soft pretzels will also not be greasy. I've never tried frozen soft pretzels, but those might work.
posted by FencingGal at 12:40 PM on November 13, 2023 [1 favorite]


Spring roll wrappers, cut into 1/4s. In a pinch, wonton wrappers (whole) will work but will be more stiff-crunchy instead of melty-crunchy.

Filling of minced shrimp/ prawn and ground pork, seasoned with soy, garlic, etc.

Make mini spring rolls, deep (shallow works fine in smaller batches) fry until golden.

Dollop some sweet chili sauce into the middle of a martini glass.

Make a nick 1/3 of the way in, use the nick to place onto the rim of a martini glass.

I've had people just take the entire glass instead of taking just a few mini spring rolls.
posted by porpoise at 2:07 PM on November 13, 2023


Mini quiches - use soft bread pressed into a mini-cupcake tin, or use a quiche recipe that makes it own crust(Bisquick does this). Put cheese and various vegetables in them.
Pretzels are a nice salty alternative to sweet cookies.
Vegetables like cucumbers, red peppers, carrot slices, broccoli, can be put on a stick to be kebabs. or in a small dixie cup.

Kids who are hungry will eat. Kids who are bored will make more messes. A few hours is a long time for kids to not be rowdy. If you can offer a space for play, it might help a little.
posted by theora55 at 7:44 PM on November 13, 2023


Another vote for cheese straws, which won't be any messier than the cookies. But! Everyone who's suggested them so far seems to be talking about something that can be piped, whereas the cheese straws I'm familiar with are made from a stiffer pastry dough, which is rolled out and cut to shape. Sample recipe from the BBC (NB a £2 coin is 2.5 mm thick, about a tenth of an inch). The cayenne and mustard powder are there to deepen the flavour; the cheese straws won't be detectably spicy.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 4:30 AM on November 14, 2023


Response by poster: Thanks all! I did some cheese straws, pigs in a blanket, and samosas. For the kids, the most popular item they devoured were these small, sweet grapes that I bought. Go figure.
posted by inevitability at 5:30 PM on December 12, 2023


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