Bug Juice & Critter Snacks

Kids Party Idea

Bug-themed parties are great for kids because there are so many creative ways you can incorporate the ‘bug’ theme into the party. For Annie’s 8th birthday we came up with some super cute bug snacks and drinks to serve to all her friends. We added custom “Bug Juice” labels (in the green Lil’ Bug style, of course) to bottles of sparkling lemonade and decorated the table with matching coasters, paper confetti, and colorful paper straws. For snacks I painstakingly made Ladybug and Ant appetizers. Though they were a little time consuming to put together, they were totally worth the effort watching Annie and her friends eat them up.


Ladybug Snacks
Makes 12 servings
• 2 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• Gel food coloring
• 1/2 teaspoon minced chives
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/8 teaspoon minced fresh parsley
• 36 Ritz crackers
• 18 cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 18 large pitted black olives
• Fresh sprigs of chives

In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and sour cream together until smooth. Set aside 1 tablespoon into a small bowl. Add the minced chives, parsley and garlic salt to the cream cheese mixture.

Mix gel food coloring with 1 tablespoon of plain cream cheese/sour cream mixture you had set aside and tint until black. I started by mixing in equal amounts of yellow, red, blue and green. Add in a little at a time until you get a rich blackish color. I ended up using a little more blue and red to get my desired shade of black. Transfer to a plastic bag and snip the corner for future piping.

To assemble your ladybugs, first spread your herb cream cheese mix over each cracker. Arrange two tomato quarters on each cracker for the ladybug wings. For heads, halve the olives widthwise and place one on each chapter. Insert two chive sprigs into the olives for antennae. Use black cream cheese to add spots to the wings.

Make 3 dozen.
Recipe adapted from Taste of Home.

Ant Snack (Variation)
• Herb cream cheese mixture (make using above instructions)
• Heirloom cherry tomatoes, halved
• Chinese crunchy noodles
• Ritz crackers

To make the Ant crackers, first spread the cream cheese mixture over each cracker. Line up 3 halved tomatoes on each cracker. I chose a yellow tomato for the head and red for the body. Before placing the head of each ant onto the cracker, poke two holes into the tomato with a knife and insert two crunchy noodles for antennae. Add more crunchy noodles around the body for legs. If you have any black cream cheese left over, add two eyes and a smile!

More kids party ideas from Rachel…

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