How old were you when you had your first friend stay the night for a sleepover visit? I can’t be certain of the exact age, but I think I was in first grade, so I must have been six or seven. It was Laurie, my oldest bff.
A few fuzzy memories from that night are floating in my brain and I hope age won’t erase them. The excitement of the overnight visit gave us the crazies and we couldn’t fall asleep at bedtime. Our first tactic was to get a snack. What did my mom serve us? A sugar sandwich. I kid you not. Bread. Butter. Sugar. Fantastic.
The sugar sandwich didn’t work. (Can’t imagine why!) We decided what we really needed was a new sleeping spot. Some places we tried included the front coat closet and under the dining room table. I can’t remember if my parents were already in bed at this point and didn’t know we were doing this, or if they were getting amusement out of our shenanigans and simply letting us be kids.
There’s something special about sleepover visits, and Meghan was giddy when her twin cousins were coming to stay with us for a night a few weeks ago. My brother has five kids, ranging from ages 5-14, and all of them are in sports. When they had a weekend with two different out-of-town tournaments, there was no parent left to watch the five-year-old twins. I was happy to help as Meghan and Luke both love any opportunity to hang with their cousins, and what could be better than an overnight cousin visit?!
There was a picnic lunch followed by lots of playing outside in the glorious spring weather.
At the end of the day, the three girls cleaned up in the tub together.
To add to the fun, I let them have a movie night. The movie of choice? Frozen. Of course. What movie night would be complete without popcorn?
To jazz up a standard popcorn snack, I created a popcorn trail mix. This is really more of an idea than a recipe, but I’ll give you the proportions and exact ingredients I used. All the different flavors and textures created a great balance, but keep in mind that this is highly customizable and can be changed according to your preferences.
Of course, this is also more than just a sleepover snack idea. It’s an anytime snack idea. If your kids like munching on crunchy snacks like crackers or chips, they will love this snack and it’s a healthier option to boot. It’s loaded with real, whole foods, with a few chocolate chips to add the “special treat effect.” Feel free to leave those out if you want a super duper healthy snack.<—-That wording is the direct influence of my daughter who uses “super duper alley-ooper” in front of anything she wants to emphasize. It just seeps into my writing without me even knowing it!
All right–recipe time. Let’s go!
Popcorn Trail Mix (a healthy sleepover snack idea)
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1 large bowl 1x
Description
An easy treat to feed a crowd!
Ingredients
- 8–10 cups air-popped popcorn
- 3/4 cup roasted, salted seeds (I used pepitas but sunflower seeds would also work)
- 3/4 cup raisins
- 3/4 cup freeze-dried cherries or other freeze-dried fruit (I used this kind
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- 3/4 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Mix well to ensure even distribution.
- Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Category: Snacks
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 of 10 servings
- Calories: 183
- Sugar: 10.8g
- Sodium: 6.9mg
- Fat: 6.7g
- Carbohydrates: 28.4g
- Protein: 3.2g
Whether you are planning snacks for a sleepover visit, you are looking for a healthy snack option, or you just want to switch up your snack routine, give this idea a try!
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Maryea, Thanks for the idea! I’m going to make this tonight for our family “movie night”. Sleepover looks like so much fun. My boys’ aren’t into sleepovers so much. It’s more of a “girl thing”, I think.
You have probably been spared from the whole Frozen craze with boys, too, no? Luke’s into it, but I think it’s just because he wants to do everything Meghan does. 🙂 Hope your family enjoys this snack!