One of my childhood friends came to visit recently. This friendship is very special to me because we have been friends since the 4th grade! We took violin lessons together and sang in choir. We later went to the same college and lived in our first off-campus house together.

We both now have children (8 kids between us), so when we were planning our get together, she asked if she could bring anything to help supplement lunch. I said yes, because when feeding several children, it is helpful to provide options so everyone is happy. This is also a great way to bring whatever you might have in your refrigerator or pantry to keep things simple. My friend brought along a delicious pumpkin dip I want to share with you.

I love sharing recipes with you that I can personally say are delicious. You'll want to eat the entire bowl of dip, so enjoy with caution! (I'm saying that with a smile on my face).

This dip would also be a great way to create a charcuterie board like the ones I shared about here.

I love that gatherings with close friends can foster the sharing of recipes. The recipes then become meaningful because of the memories tied to them. Do you have recipes you've collected from friends over the years?

Part of the fun of being with my friend was having our kids together. Just like we all enjoyed the pumpkin dip, the combination of kids and creative food recipes can create sweet memories without much effort. These festive food ideas are also special touches you could send along with a meal to show your love.

Do you have kids who love candy corn? Making these would be fun and delicious! You can see the full ingredients and directions for this candy corn snack here.

Making these cute pretzel broomsticks would be another fun snack to make and they are sugar-free.

How about decorating nectarines instead of pumpkins? This would be a fun way to surprise your child in their lunchbox or even to keep them busy at the table while you make lunch. All you need to make these cute healthy clementine pumpkins are clementines and a smudge proof marker. The ideas are endless for these.

I hope you enjoyed the ideas in this post! We'd love to see recipes you have to share, as well as any other fun food craft ideas you think children (or even adults) would enjoy! Tag us #takethemameal with your ideas today!