Styling a Smoothie Bar for Summer

Summer is the perfect season to try and eat healthier. With an abundance of fresh produce in season, summer's when I create lighter and fresher meals at home.

One of my favorite quick snacks/drinks to serve my family is a smoothie. We love it for breakfast, we love it in a bowl, we love it as a tasty treat...

So I got thinking it would be so fun to set up a smoothie bar for a party! Such a refreshing idea for a bridal or baby shower, summer brunch or any summer celebration!

So we teamed up with Bob's Red Mill to bring you a few tips and recipes to help you style a smoothie bar for summer parties and celebrations!

I love my smoothies to contain as many natural, tasty and seasonal ingredients as possible, and I LOVED using  Bob’s Red Mill Vanilla, Chai, or Chocolate Nutritional Boosters as part of my smoothie recipes!

Not only these Nutritional Boosters are plant-based protein at its finest with 20g per serving and fiber, but they also have probiotics and pre-biotic fiber, chia seeds (which I love in my smoothies) and they're sweetened with Monk fruit, so no need to add sugar to your smoothie recipes!

Not to mention they taste SO yum, my kids and I loved how they helped keep our nutrition game strong with such tasty flavors!

For a party you can't go wrong with bright bouquet of flowers. Bonus if you can incorporate some fruits or vegetables into your floral arrangements, like we did here with cherry branches from my garden!

Of course, blenders and mixers are essential for any the smoothie bar. Be sure to also provide napkins, cute party straws, scoops, chopping boards, ice buckets with ice and knives so guests can really get stuck into the fun of smoothie-making!

We also used pretty watercolor buffet cards and labels from BirdsParty.com to inform guests of all the ingredients on offer.

For the table backdrop we simply penned a pretty script onto kraft paper. Easy and cute right?! 

The first thing when setting up a smoothie bar is to decide on your smoothie menu. This will give you an idea of the ingredients you'll need to make available for your guests.

I like to have at least three recipes on hand (see smoothie recipe ideas below) to suggest to my guests, but the idea is that each person create their own tailor-made smoothie flavors.

So your smoothie bar essentials are:

* Liquids: milk, almond milk, coconut milk, yogurts and fruit juices

* Fruits/vegetables: berries, fruit chunks, whole fruits or even frozen fruit works great ( no need for ice!)

* Add-ons and sprinkles: Bob’s Red Mill Nutritional Boosters, oats, nut butters, chocolate chips, instant coffee, cocoa, nuts etc

Berry Delight Smoothie 

- serves 1-2 persons

*1/3 cup Bob's Red Mill Chai Protein Powder

* 1 cup of orange juice

* 1 peach cut into chunks

* 3/4 cup berries of choice (I use frozen)

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and serve!

Tropical Breeze Smoothie 

- serves 1-2 persons

* 1/3 cup Bob's Red Mill Vanilla Protein Powder

* 1/2 cup coconut milk

* 3/4 cup pineapple chunks

* 1 banana cut into chunks

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and serve!

Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

- serves 1-2 persons

* 1/3 cup Bob's Red Mill Chocolate Protein Powder

* 1 cup almond milk

* 1 Tbsp peanut butter

* 1 banana

* 1/2 cup ice cubes

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and serve!