Starbucks Frappaccino for Kids

My 8 year old drinks coffee most mornings. She loves the taste of it. (And being that she's already 5' tall, I'm not really worried that it will stunt her growth! Haha) The thing that worries me with Frappucinos is that they tend to be high in calories and sugar. But you could probably get the low fat, no sugar kind? Everything in moderation, right?

My 10 year old loves to get a frappucino with me on the MAYBE once a week that I get one. She mainly likes it for the caramel and whipped cream. I don't care. We eat very healthy and she knows that it's a treat, not an every day thing. No biggie in my book. I'm sure it's just as "healthy" as getting an ice cream. Lol.

I'm sorry - don't know. But I would hazard a guess that Starbucks is trying to get 'em young! I'm very careful what I give my kids, since reading up on sugar. It really is very destructive in many ways. We also avoid milk, which completely cleared up my son's constant ear infections.

My son's ADHD, so any of the real espresso drinks are just fine for him. That said... he loves and adores the strawberries and creme frap (and has been buying them with his own money since he was a toddler.

Strawberries & Creme is
- Milk
- Ice
- Strawberries

Practically can't GET healthier than that.

Also, I don't know about your area since it's strawberry land not far south of you... but in our area it's about 2x more expensive to make them at home than it is to buy them. (Sigh. I MISS not paying $10 per lb of strawberries. But that's WA for you; limes are pingpong ball sized and cost a buck, lemons are the size of what limes SHOULD be... produce is just really, really expensive up here).

The don't have the banana one up on the site yet, and my bro's sleeping or I'd call and ask (works for Starbucks)... but one can reasonably expect the recipe to be

bananas
milk
ice

or

bananas
milk
vanilla
ice

Either way; if you let your child have those ingredients individually, why not swirled in a blender? ((HINT: for parents upset with the calories and sugar/fat. Look on the back of your milk box and on fresh fruit. Both have a LOT of sugar in them; lactose and galactose in milk, fructose in fruit. That's where the sugar grams are coming from. From healthy fruit and healthy milk. It's not added sugar. It's part and parcel with milk and fruit.))

By the age of 8 I was making coffee for my father and having half a cup. Is coffee harmful. No way it's just a bean grown on a tree. It might be an addiction but it's legal and kept to one or two cups a day really harmless.
I'm a coffee purist. I won't drink that crud Starbucks puts out.

I would say it's just the amount of sugar to be concerned about over anything else, but that link is terribly old - 2006... Not sure there is an "agenda" to sell to kids since I've never seen a drink labled as a "kid frappucino" before.

Wow - based on Gramma's link below, a Tall (small) size has 60 grams of sugar - that's a lot! Equal to about 4 tablespoons! It appears the ingredients are fine - no high fructose corn syrup - and overall fat/calorie content aren't too bad - but still that's a lot of sugar for an adult, let alone a kid. It seems "safe" to drink but maybe just in very small portions.

They aren't healthy.. I would never allow a child to consume caffeine...
I can tell you that much. =D Never knew starbuck's offered kids frapps... Scary!!

http://www.starbucks.com/menu/drinks/frappuccino-blended-...

Best wishes!

The Vanilla Bean and the Strawberry Creme are both caffiene free. I always get the kids size and still my kids do not finish it.

There is no coffee or caffeine in the Strawberries & Creme Frappuccino, and that's what my little guy and grandkids get when we go. It's strawberries and milk blended with ice and topped with a swirl of whipped cream.
http://www.starbucks.com/menu/drinks/frappuccino-blended-...
Here's the nutritional values for the Strawberries & Creme version with NO whipped cream:
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/foods-from-starbucks/...
~ it has only 3 grams of fat so is considered low fat, and has vitamin C and Calcium. Safe to drink, but has 320 calories.

The Bananas & Creme Frappuccino is made with banana puree and whipped cream, no coffee, according to the article you linked, and isn't listed on the Starbucks site, (or really anywhere that I found) but I'm guessing the nutritional values are comparable.

my son is 16 but for years we have been getting him the vanilla bean frappaccino. he loves them. no caffeine they are vanilla, milk and ice all blended up and then whipped cream on top. he loves them

if your worried about sugar / fat content etc you can ask for fat free milk and the sugar free vanilla syrup. although for kids I would not go the sugar free route because then your giving them artificial stuff. for a treat one frappuccino is not going to hurt anyone

The Strawberry Banana is 290 Calories for a Grande (the medium size) so a little less for the Tall. (smaller size)
Orange mango is 270. They don't have caffeine but you can probably lessen the calories by doing light whip because they put a ton on top. Hope that helps. i just happened to have the Starbucks Calorie counter at my desk.

wow.

i guess it can't be worse than the mcdonald's shakes, fast food hamburgers, chicken nuggets, etc....it's scary to think what we put in our kids' (and our) bodies...and none of it necessary. i just resolved to cook more. although we don't eat out TOO much...but it's still TOO much, imo.