No sleepover is complete without a wide variety of snacks. Isn’t it an unspoken rule that you can eat whatever you want at a sleepover just because you’re having so much fun?
Today we’re looking at an essential list of snacks that you need to prepare to take your sleepover from good to awesome.
Buy Snacks Or Make Them. That Is The Question
A sleepover is a perfect excuse to get lots of junk food into the house. But do you need to buy all of this? While we love junk food as much as the next person, you can have too much of a good thing.
So, you can also make and buy healthier alternatives to munch on between junk food. Win-win!
Sleepover Snacks To Make At Home
Let’s first take a look at some of the recipes you could make at home. These are all super simple and yummy, and they won’t take you too long to make!
Mini pizza cups
Veggie wraps
Frozen bananas with chocolate drizzle
Veggie cups and dip
Fruity pizza
Oreo cookie bars
Veggie nachos
Chocolate or toffee-covered popcorn
Vegetable and cream cheese roll-ups
Funfetti cookies
Roasted seeds and nuts
Apple fries
Mini popcorn balls
Rice Krispie treats
This is a generic list of yummy snacks that you can make for a sleepover. If it is a themed party, though, make sure that you add some themed party food to the mix!
For example, if it was a soccer-themed party, you could make your Rice Krispie treats into mini footballs.
Buying Sleepover Snacks
If you don’t have time to make lots of snacks for your party (especially if you have lots of guests coming!) then you can still buy lots of great food items at your local grocery store.
Before you do this, make sure that you have asked your guests whether they have any restrictions on their diet. You need to make sure you’re providing enough snacks for everyone!
The best sleepover snacks are always finger foods that guests can pick and choose as they please. No one wants to bother with cutlery and plates at a slumber party!
Sleepover Snacks Shopping List
Pretzels
Salsa
Cheese dip
Chips
Carrots
Celery
Hummus
Cheese sticks
Tortilla chips
Hummus
Cucumber
Grapes
Apple slices
Strawberries
Orange slices
Chocolate (either fun-size bars or bigger bars to melt for a dip)
M&Ms
Cupcakes
Cookies
Candy
Drinks
If you’re worried about not pleasing all of the guests, you can ask them what they would like most at the party to cover all bases.
However, there is nothing to worry about when it comes to sleepover snack shopping. Most of the guests will love anything you lay out for them!
Important Considerations When Planning Sleepover Snacks
There’s a lot to think about when it comes to planning a sleepover, so it’s understandable that you might have forgotten some important details when it comes to food planning.
Here are some of the most important considerations to think of before buying your snacks.
Make A List Of Allergies
It is incredibly important that you call up your guests (or their parents) and gather a list of allergens that you should avoid. Common allergens include peanuts, eggs, dairy, and more.
Not adhering to these allergies could result in a terrible slumber party if someone has an allergic reaction.
When in doubt, stay away from peanuts altogether. Make sure you have a variety of gluten-free choices, as well as vegan and vegetarian options. Better to be safe than sorry!
Have Lots Of Drink Choices!
While you might choose to have one or two bottles of soda, there should also be healthier alternatives for your guests to hydrate themselves in a healthier way.
Think fruit-flavored water, juice, or even make your own smoothies! (This could be a fun activity to host at the sleepover).
Alternatively, you could also infuse water with fruit and vegetables. Our favorite is a strawberry, lime, and cucumber-infused water concoction.
When serving juice, infused water, or squash, you could use seltzer water to add some fizz and make it more enticing for your guests. They might even think they’re drinking soda, but it’s actually much healthier!
Balance The Sugar With Savory Foods
Too much sugar will keep kids up all night and cause them to crash. Since everyone reacts to sugar differently, it’s important that you balance sugary foods with some healthier alternatives.
Many people think that sugar is the way to go for sleepovers, and this certainly is the yummiest food! But remember, you’re the person who has to take care of all of the kids when the sugar crash comes and they all start having meltdowns.
Our advice would be to have more healthy food than junk food and set out the sugar between the healthier food.
This will help your guests stick to predominantly healthy foods while enjoying a few sugary sweets throughout the night.
Cater To Your Guests
Perhaps the most important question to ask yourself is who are you catering for? Are your guests little children, or are they teenagers who have a better understanding of their bodies and how sugar affects it?
Teenagers will have different tastes from kids, and they might not enjoy lots of sugary sweets without any actual food.
You will need to provide more savory options for teenage sleepovers, while kids will be happy with whatever you lay out for them.
Grazing Platters For The Win
Sleepovers are all about grazing rather than sitting down for a full meal. Set all of the food out on a table and let your guests come and go as they please – this is one of the best things about sleepovers!
Again, you’ll need to accept that kids are always going to gravitate towards sugary foods rather than healthy options.
You need to make sure you’ve got a higher number of healthy foods so that you can try and manage how much sugar each guest is having without micromanaging.
Still, it’s only for one night – let the guests have fun and eat whatever they want!
Keep It Simple!
Finally, remember that sleepover snacks can be simple and fun. You don’t need to worry yourself trying to make a million Pinterest-worthy snacks for your guests – who probably aren’t going to eat the majority of them anyway.
Keep the snacks table simple and yummy. That’s all your guests care about! If you have time to turn fun-size bars into monsters with icing eyes, then great. But don’t work yourself up too much about it.
Sleepover Snack Recipes
Now let’s look at a few sleepover snack recipes that you can use. These are all quick, and simple, and don’t need years of baking to achieve. Just what we need when planning a sleepover!
This grazing board might look intricate and time-consuming, but it’s really not at all! All you need to do is layer your snacks on a board and add some fun to them with googly eyes.
This recipe leaves you with an entire grazing platter of sugary treats so that all you need to do now is deal with the healthier options. Plus, it looks amazing!
This messy snack involves you coating pretzels, cereals, and more in chocolate and other sweet things. It is full of chocolate, sweets, sugar, and fun!
There’s not much more to this recipe, but your guests are guaranteed to love it. In fact, people of all ages will revel in this sweet treat.
Baked doughnuts are healthier than traditionally fried donuts, so this snack is ideal for sleepovers. Plus, you can make them at home.
A fun idea might be to prebake the donuts before the sleepover, then let the guests decorate their own with icing, sweets, and sprinkles during the party!
Summary
We hope that this has been a helpful article for you when planning a sleepover. Snacks are a very important part of any slumber party but don’t stress yourself too much about them. Have fun with it!
Make sure you create a good balance between sugary snacks and healthy alternatives to avoid sugar crashes.
Chips and veggie dippers in hummus and other dips are a great way to soak up some sugar and keep everyone feeling good.
