Toast to the Holidays!

Get festive in a flash with this holiday toast idea from our friend Amy Palanjian! It's a creative way for kids to have fun with their food (and shouldn't require much clean up for mom or dad).

Holidays with little ones is so much fun… and, if I'm honest, often completely exhausting. But incorporating a few moments of joy into your everyday doesn't have to be so tiring — especially when it comes to fun, festive food.

Having this sort of fun with our food is more of a weekly (or monthly) event than a daily one in our house. And I definitely don't go as all out as some parents I know. Still, I love turning the spirit of the season into a fun breakfast for my older daughter. Toast is one of her absolute favorites, so it's become our go-to canvas for creating little holiday scenes. (You may remember my Halloween toast from last year.)

Rather than buying special ingredients for this sort of a holiday toast, I simply look around the kitchen and see what inspires me. For the tree toasts, I made a base of peanut butter, trees out of slivered almonds, and added decorations with dehydrated raspberries. And of course, snow in the form of shredded unsweetened coconut. (To make this nut free, you could use sunflower butter for the base and raisins to make the trees.)

The wreath is made on a base of cream cheese, with crushed snap pea crisps for the wreath and dried cherries for the bow.

And the star is a play on the Fairy Bread idea, with thick Greek yogurt and natural sprinkles.

I'm also planning to try making an igloo out of a slice of cheese and likely a cheese and crackers snowman before the month is over. Let the kids help or do the creative fun all on your own — and delight your little ones come meal time.

~Amy Palanjin, Yummy Toddler Food

Amy Palanjian shares feeding advice, recipes, and easy family meals at her site Yummy Toddler Food.