Chinese New Year Party for Kids
A children’s Chinese New Year party is easier than you may think – and maybe they’ll even learn something from it.
Many of the traditional “dishes” actually are healthy finger food:
· Mandarin oranges
· Sunflower, pumpkin, or melon seeds
· Dried fruit
· Beef jerky (in place of Chinese dried beef)
Less healthy, but fun:
· Candy, especially chocolate coins
· Fortune cookies (Westerners expect them with Chinese food)
· Goldfish crackers (in place of real fish)
To make it a light meal, cook up some ramen noodles (unbroken, to symbolize long life) and jiaozi (dumplings). You can make the dumplings yourself, as I learned from Buwei Yao Chang’s book, How to Cook and Eat in Chinese.
Make the dough by mixing one part water to two parts flour. Two cups of flour and one cup of water will make about 20 dumplings. An electric mixer is fine, but you’ll probably have to knead by hand a little to make the dough elastic. Separate it into 20 pieces and roll each into a circle about 3 ½ inches wide and 1/8 inch thick. On the edge of one half of each circle, make about six pleats, to form a hollow that’ll hold about a teaspoonful of filling. Use browned, drained ground beef with a dash of soy sauce – about half a pound for 20 dumplings – or whatever filling you prefer. Fold the other half of the circle to cover it and pinch – at this point, you’ll be glad the dough is sticky. Boil the dumplings in salted water for about five minutes, remove and serve.
For a craft, the kids can make cardboard dragon’s heads with crepe paper streamers (there’s a printable one here). They can hold their own parade, though you’ll want to skip the firecrackers.
When everyone is tired, put on Kung Fu Panda.
As they leave, give each a red envelope with a few chocolate coins. Gung hay fat choy!
