Are you planning a birthday party for your preschool age child? Consider hosting a cooking party. These parties are unique, interactive and entertaining for young children.

Party stores and Internet based retailers offer wonderful invitations for a cooking party. Invitations display pictures of baking tools, recipe cards or aprons. Custom invitations however, can be expensive and may require a significant amount of wait time for printing and shipping. If you have time or budget constraints, visit your local arts and crafts store for paper stock and then design and print your own party invitations. Let your guests know that you are cooking up fun and that you want them to join you for an exciting event.

Hosting a cooking party for preschoolers should be easy and engaging. Setup tables so guests have plenty of room to prepare food and to interact. For this age group, it is better to engage guests in food preparation and decorating rather than actual baking and cooking. However, take time to walk guests through the kitchen to teach them about cooking tools and cooking safety. Allow them to handle basic cooking tools such as rolling pins, measuring cups, spatulas, spoons and whisks. Then introduce equipment that requires adult supervision such as blenders, electric mixers, waffle makers and sandwich machines. This cooking introduction will empower them to interact with their parents in their own kitchen.

Cooking can be overwhelming for young children. Select simple and rewarding activities so guests leave with a sense of accomplishment regarding their creations. For example, allow guests to decorate and to assemble food items. Party ideas include cupcake or cookie decorating, fruit kabob or yogurt and granola parfait assembly or jewelry making with cereal.

Design your own chef hats or order paper chef hats on-line. Then provide crayons and art supplies so guests can decorate their hats. If your budget allows, order child size aprons and use them as a party favor. Alternatively, you can attach a plastic cookie cutter to a mini rolling pin with a note thanking the guest for celebrating with you. On the back of the thank you tag, include a simple and age appropriate cookie recipe so guests can create something special in their own kitchen. An additional benefit of this party favor is that guests will also be able to use the rolling pin at home for play dough and other arts and crafts projects.