Easy Kid's Birthday Picnic Dessert

Feed the kids at your child's birthday picnic a healthy, refreshing dessert utilizing fruit. Fruit is a particularly appropriate dessert choice if there are kids in attendance with restricted diets who might be excluded from a more typical cake or cupcake-type dessert. Examples of fruit desserts include grilled bananas with brown sugar, diced fruit drizzled with melted chocolate, yogurt with add-your-own mix-ins like fruit and granola, and fruit salad. If you choose to serve yogurt, pack it in an ice-filled cooler to keep it cold before serving.

Serve baked goods like cookies, muffins or bars as a birthday dessert if you don't want to have to worry about serving plates or the stickiness of cake and frosting. Baked goods are also easy to purchase premade -- a big time-saver for any busy mom. Some baked desserts with hidden nutrition include oatmeal cookies, blueberry muffins and "monster cookies" with bran flakes, sunflower seeds, unsweetened coconut flakes and chocolate chips.

Refresh the little party attendees with a cold birthday dessert. A cold dessert will be especially welcome on a hot summer day. While cold desserts do require some extra effort to transport and keep cool at a picnic -- fill an insulated cooler with ice and keep it in the shade -- the desserts themselves can be quick and easy to make. Some cold desserts sure to be a hit with kids include frozen fruit pops, premade ice cream "push pops" (keep it healthy by limiting each child to one) and frozen yogurt.

Stick to tried-and-true kids' birthday desserts like cupcakes or cake if you are a traditionalist or if you are crunched for time -- just use a boxed cake mix and a super-simple frosting recipe. Cake and cupcakes can be made healthier by swiping a thin layer of frosting on top -- rather than sky-high swirls -- and substituting yogurt, applesauce or a puree for some of the oil in the recipe. Cupcakes are easier to serve at a picnic than cake because they are already in individual serving sizes, eliminating the need to slice up a cake and the extra requirement of a serving plate or cutlery.