These western themed snacks are sure to be a hit at your next party, fundraiser, or Vacation Bible School (VBS).
Howdy! Glad you stumbled on over. We’re having a rootin’ tootin’ good time cooking up some yummy grub for our Wonder Junction Answers in Genesis VBS this year. Yee-haw! Come on over to the chuckwagon and grab yourself some vittles.
Below you will find our menu for the Wonder Junction western themed snack ides for our VBS. This is loosely based on ideas given in the leaders guide with some twists of my own. Even if you aren’t doing Answers in Genesis Wonder Junction VBS you can use these ideas for your own VBS, birthday party, or celebration.
Supplies are based on 200 attendees (students and volunteers). I apologize if all my calculations are not exactly right for the quantities needed, but you can make adjustments according to your needs.
Volunteer Ideas
Consider having your lead snack person dress up as “Sweet Sadie”. Think apron and bonnet, wagon train, Little House on the Prairie. All the snack helpers could wear bonnets and aprons for a fun touch!
I made Sweet Sadie a little script for each day. I gave her a “western” accent, and the first day a kid asked me if I actually had an accent. So cute! I felt a little ridiculous, but make it fun for the kids. We’re here for them! (And the glory of God, of course.)
Day One: Gold Nuggets and Sparkling Lemonade
Today we’ll be panning for gold as participants “pan” for a hidden golden nugget (ROLO). Wash it all down with sparkling lemonade with bubbly effervescense and flecks of “real” gold.
Snack: Panning for Gold
Serving Size: (approx. 1.5 cup serving)
Assembly: Place a ROLO (or other gold foil candy) in the bottom of a natural brown paper coffee filter. Cover with 1.5 cups of cheddar cheeseballs
Supplies List:
-200 brown coffee filters
-200 gold foil candies (such as Rolo, Gold Foil Chocolate Coins, Palmer Chocolate Eggs, Gold Hershey Kisses, etc)
-Eight or Nine 23oz barrels of Utz Cheeseballs (Puffcorn for gluten and dairy avoidance)
Drink: Sparkling Lemonade
Serving Size: (8 ounce serving)
To make this sparkling lemonade extra special, it not only contains soda for a little bubbly, but also edible gold glitter to really make it sparkle in the glass. Be sure to serve this drink it clear cups so everyone can see the sparkly magic!
Directions: To create a total of 12.5 gallons of sparkling lemonade. Mix up 10 gallons of lemonade mix and add 10 liters of lemon lime soda (approx. 2.5 gallons). Add edible gold glitter as desired (we used 1/2 tsp), and stir to combine.
To keep the lemonade from going flat, mix the soda into smaller batches. We mixed batches in the ration listed below. You can add the glitter to the lemonade at any time, but only add the soda as you serve each batch.
(2 gallons of lemonade + 2 liters of soda + 1/2 tsp. edible gold glitter powder)
Supplies List:
-200 9 oz clear plastic drinking cups (clear so you can see the sparkle) WALMART SAMS CLUB
– One 82 oz (Sams Club) OR four 23 oz (Walmart) Countrytime Lemonade Mix
-Five 2 liter bottles of lemon lime soda (sprite, seven up, etc)
-2 Edible Gold Glitter AMAZON
-Pitchers or large drink dispensers for mixing
Sweet Sadie’s Script:
“Hello my young friends. Are you having a great day at Wonder Junction? Welcome to the chuckwagon, my name is Miss Sadie Snackerton, but my friends call me Sweet Sadie because I’m so sweet. Today we’re panning for gold. Did you know there is gold in theses hills? It’s all around us. (sweep and around room). I lost a few of my gold nuggets while I was making our snacks today, (oops) so let me know if you find any. We’re also serving water fresh from the mountain springs. Did you know the water around Wonder Junction is sparkly? Ohhh. it’s so excitin’! and makes the best lemonade. I hope you like it. “
I then taught the kids a little prayer song that we sang each day before snack.
Notes:
The glitter linked above was a little heavy and sank out of the lemonade in the cups. However, it all turned out ok because they found more “gold” at the bottom (kinda like the snack) and when you gave them a water refill the water was sparkly (just like Miss Sweet Sadie said the water would be). Here is another option that might be lighter and stay better suspended in the water. WALMART You can find many edibles sparkles and glitters online and in stores.
The other thing I would do differently if I did it again is more soda in the lemonade. Rather than doing 20-25% soda, I might do closer to half lemonade half soda for more “bubbly”.
Day Two: Cowpoke Dinner with Rootbeer
We’re serving up a cowboy/cowgirl dinner fit for the open range. I originally planned this meal with a side of cowboy beans or baked beans, but our ministry director informed me that they don’t seem to be loved at our children’t ministry fall kick off, so we went with chunky applesauce instead. The side dish to the cornbread muffins could also be a mini dessert like an apple pie, peach cobbler, or apple crisp.
Snack: Cornbread Muffin, Cowboy Beans OR Applesauce
Serving Size: (1 cornbread muffin, 1.5 ounces of chunky applesauce or baked beans)
You can use any cornbread muffin recipe you like, but I used Martha White Sweet Yellow Cornbread Mix and followed the baking directions EXACTLY , and they came out PERFECTLY. Use two bags to make a dozen. For allergen kiddos, this mix also come in Martha White Sweet Yellow Cornbread Mix GLUTEN FREE.
Supplies List:
-200 sweet cornbread muffins
-200 white napkins (Great Value 500 pack SPLIT between 2 days. Use again on day 4.)
-300 ounces of canned original baked beans (eleven 28 ounce cans) OR (nine 48 oz jars) Musselmans Chunky Applesauce
-200 (two ounce) foil cups AMAZON
-200 (4 inch) wooden spoons AMAZON
Recipes:
Drinks: Rootbeer
Serving Size: (8 ounce serving)
Supplies List:
-22 two liter rootbeer bottles
-200 (8 ounce) serving cups of your choice. We use styrofoam cups because our church kitchen has them in the supply closet.
Sweet Sadie’s Script:
“Howdy little cowpokes. Welcome back to the chuckwagon. Sweet Sadie here. I reckon you’re right famished after a long day on the open range riding horses and ropin’ cattle. I’ve cooked up a satisfying dinner for ya! Some of my favorites. Sweet cornbread muffins. Chunky applesauce. And a big mug of cold root-beer to wash it all down. Mmm mmm. I’m hungry. Let’s get to praying’.”
Notes:
For younger kids, especially preschool, you may want to serve water rather than root-beer. I had this request from the leaders since the kids were getting silly from too much sugar. It also looked a bit like coffee since we served it ins styrofoam cups, so that might have turned a few kids off. We offered water immediately as an alternative for those who wanted to opt out of the soda.
As for the snack, we probably had 6-8 or 150 kids that didn’t like the muffin or applesauce so we offered them goldfish crackers. Today’s snack didn’t go over quite as well as yesterdays did.
Pretty much the only complaint we had all week was that the kids didn’t like the texture of the wooden spoons. We actually switched to plastic for day 5 partially for this reason, and partially because our ice cream donor gave us HUGE portions that would take forever to eat with such a small utensil.
Day Three: Flapjacks and Fish
I smashed together the two ideas in the AIG leaders guide to put a western twist on the parable of the 5 loaves and 2 fish. What says western themed snacks better than flapjacks and fish?
I was originally going to make 1000 2 inch pancakes (whew!), but we opted for the frozen option instead. My dream was to serve them on a little “basket” looking plate, but went with the cardboard boats instead.
(Oops looks like there were only 4 flapjacks in this boat, not five)
Snack: Flapjacks and Fish
Serving Size: (Five 2 inch flapjacks and two Swedish Fish)
Directions: Heat mini pancakes (2 inches) according to instructions (or make them from scratch). Place 5 mini pancakes (flapjacks) in a paper boat with 2 Swedish Fish candies.
Supplies List:
-1000 frozen mini pancakes (DeWaffelbakkers) (EGGO)
-400 Swedish Fish (Sweet Fish by Smart Sweets or Surfsweets Delish Fish are two allergy friendly/dye free options)
-200 brown paper boats (1/2 lb size) AMAZON
Drink: Water
Just plain water, and as much as you need. Consider a fun name like “water from the watering hole”, “well water”, or “mountain spring water”.
Supplies List:
-200 drinking cups
Sweet Sadie’s Script:
Top of the mornin’ to ya’ sweet dumplin’s. I hope you slept better than I did. (Yawn) Ahhh. I’m so tired, I am plum tuckered out. I was down at the creek all night last night trying to catch enough fish for snack today, and they were not bitin’. I had to meet the train early this morning to pick up crates of fish coming’ in all the way from Sweden. Whoo! Never you mind the trouble though because we only serve the freshest fish for our guests here at Sweet Sadie’s.. Waitin’ on the train gave me plenty of time to practice flippin’ my flapjacks. (flips and the pancake flies out of the pan across the room). Looks like I could use a little more practice. Well, turns out the reason the fish weren’t bitin’ was because the stream’s gone dry. All that sparkly mountain water has just stopped a flowin’, and we’re gonna have ta’ serve ya’ well water for the rest of the week (hands on hips and shakes her head). Well, I’ve got a lot of work to do ’round here makin’ up for all these mishaps, so I better scoot, but before I go let me pray with y’all.
DAY FOUR: Rattlesnake Breadstick with Marinara and Capri Sun.
Watch out for rattlers as you serve today’s snacks. (PS. I heard saying the Alphabet backwards helps ward snakes off.) Rattlesnacks (see what I did there ?) are one of those western themed snacks that will slither right off the table and into some hungry bellies. This one was certainly a hit VBS week!
Snack: Rattlesnake Breadstick with Marinara Dipping Sauce
Serving Size: (one breadstick snake, 1.5 ounces marinara)
Assembly: Bake the breadsticks into “rattlesnakes” (recipe I used linked below). Begin by unrolling a 14 oz can of remade pizza dough, and cutting it into 10 strips. Place each strip on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bend and twist to make into “snake” shapes, leaving a flat end for the head. If you are topping with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or everything bagel seasoning (my kids favorite), do that before baking.
After the snakes have cooled. Add black icing eyes, and stick a red foil toothpick in for the sizzling tongue. Serve on an unfolded napkin with a dish of marinara.
Supplies List:
-20 (14 oz) rolls of refrigerated pizza dough
-1 can of spray oil (for attaching seeds before baking) (optional – mine stuck without it)
-1 jar black poppy seeds (optional)tional)
-1 jar sesame seeds (optional)
-1 jar everything bagel seasoning (optional) WALMART
-1 jar sesame seeds (optional)
-2 premade Wilton black icing tubes with #5 piping tip and ring (for eyes) AMAZON WALMART
-200 red foil toothpicks (AMAZON)
-200 white paper napkins (SPLIT with DAY TWO)
-200 (two ounce) portion cups (paper or plastic) without lids (Paper Cups) (Plastic Cups)
Recipe: https://thecaglediaries.com/breadstick-rattlers/
Drink: Capri Sun Pouches
Due to the more complicated assembly of today’s snack, we stuck with an easy drink option.
Serving Size: (1 pouch serving)
-200 Capri Sun Juice Pouches
Sweet Sadie Script:
“Hey Diddle Diddle. Hold on a second. (Says the alphabet backwards to herself… Z, Y, X, W, V….) Yeah, I think that’s right! (turns back to kids) Oh sorry! I read in the newspaper that if you say the alphabet backwards it helps keep the rattlesnakes away. I sure hope they’re right, because snakes make me …bllluuugh (shake whole body like shivers). When I was a young girl, my papa, he use to grab them by the tail. We’d roast them nice and slow over the camper, and my daddy would get out his fiddle and play us songs. (looks away as if reminiscing) I miss this days. (comes back to reality) But not those rattlesnakes. No Ma’am! The one thing I did learn is that if you ever eat a rattlesnake, you have to take the tongue out. It’ll get ‘cha’. Remember that. If you ever eat a rattlesnake, you have to take the tongue out. (pretends to see a snake and jumps) I think I just saw a rattlesnake! (turns to run away saying the alphabet backwards….Z, Y, X, W.
Finish Option One: If you have another volunteer to lead prayer time. Have them come out after Sweet Sadie runs away and ask, “Where did Sweet Sadie Go? (allow the kids to answer if you’d like) Well, I guess we’ll have to pray without her.”
Finish Option Two: Have Sweet Sadie peak her head back around the corner and say “Is it gone? Oh good, we’ll we’d better pray…quick!”
Notes:
The reason the Sweet Sadie monologue mentions the tongues is because we used toothpicks for our snakes. You can amend this for your needs, but we wanted to be sure the kids removed them before eating.
Breadstick day was by far the biggest hit with the kids. They were gone and the kids gobbled up any extras (we had a basket of about 40). For the 4-5th grade classes (which is the only group we allow seconds) they all at two if they were available, and were asking for more. Consider planning a double portion for that age in your preparations
We really only needed 1 tube of black icing, but having two made it go a lot faster for prep time. The Wilton icing tubes just need a piping tip and ring, you don’t have to transfer the icing to a piping bag.
DAY FIVE: ROYAL ICE CREAM CUPS
Our church had a generous local ice cream business donate ice cream for all the kids in our VBS. We chose this snack for the final day as a fun treat and to celebrate that Jesus is the King!!!
SNACK: Ice Cream
Since this is the “king” day, the craft and mission projects are supposed to be themed around money, I was thinking “jewel” and “crown” sprinkles on the ice cream for royal celebratory flair, but our VBS director had concerns about children crunching their teeth on them. Some “sprinkles”, specifically the ones labeled “nonpareils” are quite hard, so we opted for paper crown picks instead. . Once again we had a generous volunteer make our crowns for us, but you can also purchase them pre-made. Instead of the “jewel” sprinkles , we went for jewel tone sparkling sugars. For a simpler options, the birthday cake ice cream cup option (linked below) would be ready to go with fun color already added.
Assembly: Remove lids from ice cream cups. Sprinkle with jewel inspired sprinkles or colored sugars. Top with a golden crown pick. Serve with a mini wooden spoon.
Supplies List:
-200 Individual Ice Cream Cups (Birthday Cake Flavor – these would be ready to go!) (Vanilla)
-200 (4 inch) wooden spoons AMAZON
We used jewel tone sugars and crown picks to top our ice cream, but the options are endless. Here are a variety of options linked below you can choose from, or come up with your own!
-crown sprinkles AMAZON
-premade crown picks AMAZON
-cardboard crowns AMAZON (Hot glue or tape to toothpicks – this is what we did)
-rainbow sugar sprinkles AMAZON (This is what we did)
-confetti sprinkles AMAZON
-rainbow jimmies WALMART
-200 white paper napkins (optional)
DRINK: Water
-200 water cups
Sweet Sadie Script:
“Goodness Gracious! Can you believe this is the last time we get to share a meal together at the chuckwagon? Sweet Sadie’s gonna’ miss y’all! Speakin’ of missing. Last night, I was down by the gold mine, and I found a sack on the ground. I figured someone dropped it and I should see who it belonged to, so I opened it up, and do you know what I found inside? (Let the kids guess….most said gold). That’s right. Gold. Jewels. Diamond. Saphires, Rubies. What a treasure! When you find something lost, you should always try to find it’s rightful owner, so I took it to the miner. You know what he said? He said the sack I found was all the itty bitty jewels that were too small to sell at the General Store, and since I had been so honest in returnin’ them to him he said I could keep them. For FREE!! Yea-haw! So I brought the treasure back to my chuckwagon, and I’m sharing it all with you today. Gold and jewels might be a treasure, but do you know what the greatest treasure you could find is? (they all answer Jesus). That’s right. Jesus is the most valuable treasure, and when we’ve found him we should share him with all our friends! That’s something can really be thankful for. Let’s pray!”
(After prayer you can add this little bit if you’d like.) “Remember, ice cream may be sweet, but the sweetest think is the King of Kings. See ya next time! Bye.”
Notes:
We did have a small issue with the sprinkles melting on top the ice cream and making it a little “yucky” looking, so try to put them on at the last minute.
I had originally planned for wooden spoons, but the kids didn’t really like them, so we opted for plastic spoons this day. The donor of the ice cream supplied them and the ice cream was much larger than we had expected so a small spot would have taken a long time to eat with.
I have a hand crank wooden ice cream maker that I brought and walked around to the tables showing the kids how it would work. I did let the preschoolers take turns cranking it after they were finished. Depending on the size of your groups you could offer that opportunity. If you’re really ambitious you could even have a real batch going!! Whoo!
FINAL THOUGHTS
For drinks I’m planning an 8 ounce serving which would be around 10 gallons each day. If kids need more than that we’ll refill with water.
I only have napkins designated for 2 days but our church keeps them in supply, so I had them available for each day if needed. Cheeseballs for the most part were fine without as were flapjacks.
Western Themed Snacks
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Have some other western themed snack ideas to share? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!
Emerald Crossing!
Already excited for Emerald Crossing? Me too. I’ve already begun thinking up Irish inspired ideas to serve next year. Come back soon and you can follow along with my progress as I plan out our snack time in my Ireland Themed (VBS) Snack Ideas!
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