Decorating Holiday Chicken Nuggets #MealsTogether

Decorating Holiday Chicken Nuggets

The holiday season is all about creating family traditions and memories for me. Yes, I love going shopping and picking out gifts for people I care about. But the memories are the things that really count. From walking around our neighborhood looking at Christmas lights to visiting Santa on Christmas morning, I’m always looking for new traditions to start with W.

When he’s older, I definitely want to get back into the habit baking cookies to give as gifts to friends and family. But on a recent trip to Sam’s Club to get Tyson Chicken Nuggets, I was inspired to start a new family tradition! Holiday cookies and goodies are fun, but I realized we could turn a few of our everyday lunches and dinners into affordable family fun!

Sam’s Club Tyson Chicken Nuggets

The demo stand at Sam’s Club was all about chicken nugget decorating this week. I immediately fell in love with the idea because Tyson Chicken Nuggets are one of W’s favorite foods! And I’m all about finding ways to have fun as a family without spending much money. Why not turn dinner into a fun crafty activity with a holiday theme?

This sign was what caught my eye and pulled me in! You can check out more of my shopping trip in my #MealsTogether Decorating Holiday Chicken Nuggets Google+ album! All you need is a little inspiration and for the price of a bag of chicken nuggets and some condiments, you will have an easy dinner and tons of fun! (We also threw in a bag of sweet potato fries to complete the project and the meal but that’s all about your preferences!)

Affordable Family Fun: Holiday Chicken Nugget Christmas Lights

The decorating ideas are almost endless. From snowmen and snowflakes to reindeer and candy canes, your family is really only limited by what you can dream up. Oh, and maybe by the condiments you’re willing to use. But let me share a little tip that might work for your family. 

Ranch dressing.

If you’re in need of colors besides red ketchup and yellow mustard, use a condiment that is white and add food coloring! With that plan, I was ready to put together a string of Christmas lights. Chicken nugget style of course!

I decided to make red and green Christmas lights to keep with the Christmas theme I had for this project. But you could make as many colors as you have food coloring. You could also use ketchup and just make the ranch dressing green. So many options depending on what your family likes to eat!

It only took about 3 drops of food coloring in my small bowls of ranch dressing. Then I mixed it up extremely well and was ready to get painting. Oh, and don’t forget to cook your Tyson Chicken Nuggets before decorating!

While I was mixing up the “paint,” I also got the oven ready to make the sweet potato fries we bought. My plan was for the fries to act as the string for my string of lights. In my mind it all would work perfectly so I popped the fries into the oven with my fingers crossed. Sometimes things don’t work out quite as I plan, but sometimes they do!

So it was time to get my craft on!

Then I grabbed a paintbrush. No, it’s not a special food paintbrush. It’s just a kids paintbrush that W hasn’t used in any paint yet. Even though our tempera paint he uses is non-toxic, I figured going with a brand new brush would be a bit better with the food aspect. So with new brush in hand, I positioned the nuggets on the plate and started painting!

Yes, it’s that simple. As I was painting, I did worry that maybe W would like the nuggets with that much ranch on them. But who was I kidding? I had nothing to worry about!

Once the fries were out of the oven, I created the string for the lights and was proud. Yes, I had a little moment of feeling pretty proud of myself for how they turned out. So cute, right?

Toddler Taste Test Time

After gushing over my successful dive into the art of chicken nugget decorating, it was time for the true test. The toddler taste test. It doesn’t matter how cute anything is if W won’t eat it. Trust me, I make a number of good-looking meals that he wants nothing to do with. And then he ends up eating yogurt and a banana for dinner after all my hard work.

So the toddler taste test is key. How did it go?

Toddler taste test approved! Well, at least the colored ranch dressing was! After snagging a Tyson Chicken Nugget and licking all of the ranch off of it, W proclaimed it was “Nummy.” And then he grabbed the next one and started licking it too. So, I guess I didn’t have to worry about using too much ranch dressing. He was definitely a fan!

After he continued to lick all of the nuggets clean, I was still left wondering what would happen next. My ultimate goal as mom was to actually feed my child. And so I was left hanging as I watched him check them all one more time. He gave a few more licks and then settled down to eat his chicken nugget lunch.

Toddler taste test approved for sure!

If you’re looking for something easy and fun to do with the family, consider decorating your chicken nuggets! Holiday decorating is for more than trees and cookies! You could make an evening out of decorating dinner and then dessert with chicken nuggets and cookies. And it’s way cheaper than taking the family out to eat! Plus, new traditions mean new memories!

You can stay up-to-date with new ideas and inspiration from Tyson by connecting on Facebook or Twitter @clubtysonLive!

How would you decorate your holiday chicken nuggets?

Formula Mom Disclosure: I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®  and Tyson. All experiences and opinions are 100% my own. #CBias #SocialFabric