Ideas for School V-day Treats

One of the mother's from my youngest son's class always did the cutest little things but all I can recall was for Christmas. She took plastic canvas once and filled it all in with yarn leaviing a cuy out hole for a candy cane and clipped ears and made it look like a mouse. She also would crochet stockings and put in small candy canes. She made M&M people and stitched on small M&m bags. I always did things like pealed apples or bags of popcorn. Teachers liked that better than cupcakes and candy. One year when I did the pealed apples I also had melted carmel that I dizzled over them. I personally use to go and help with the parties so when I needed more melted caramel I would just run to the teachers lounge and heat it up and run back. I would take cupcake liners and scoop apples into them to serve. Small paper plates would have worked too. I pealed the apples before I left home which helped speed up serving. Ants on a log is also a good party favorite. That's pretzel logs rolled i peanut butter and rolled in raisins or celery with peanut butter and raisins.
Have fun. That's a must make it easy.

I've always loved giving pencils and erasers to my sons classes. They can never have too many of either!!!

If you choose to go with food, check with the teacher first. The school might have rules or policies that must be enforced. Quite frankly, I'd be surprised if anyone is able to hand out 'home made' goods anymore; most schools are moving toward or have moved to a 'store bought' only policy. Also ask the teacher if there are any students who have food allergies.

Are you a room mom who has to provide things for a party? Is it customary for kids to pass out little gifts along with the valentines? You may wish to check with the teacher first to find out what the protocol is. I'm not saying that your idea is a bad one; I'm just suggesting that you check in with the teacher/school first to find out the routine.

I know you would prefer a healthy treat, but one that my son and I did last year for his first grade class was a big hit. We made rice crispie treats that looked like hershey kisses. Use the same receipe for crispie treats, but instead of putting it into a casserole and cutting squares we used a funnel to press the crispies into. It's a sticky mess but if you use some wax paper sprayed with non-stick spray it helps it move along. Spray the inside of your funnel too. You might want to get more than one funnel so you both can work at the same time. Pack the funnel until it is full, then turn it over and pop it out on some wax paper. Let it cool then cut aluminum foil squares and wrap the kiss. We also printed little pieces of paper that said "Happy Valentines Day, From Bryce (my son) and tucked it in while leaving just enough outside to look like the tag of a hershey kiss. You can get creative with the size of the kiss, color of your foil, and your tucked in message. We had alot of fun.

I am finally able to get to some these messages....here is a suggestion. I feel the same way about treats and prefer them to be healthier. My daughter is taking in pencils as her treat. I ordered Valentine's Day pencils (and her Valentine's Day cards) through Current magazine.

A sugar cookie or two per child really isn't that unhealthy.

But here's something that looks yummy.

http://chefmom.com/recipebox/recipes/1108.htm

I saw the cutiest things that I was going to make for my sons Kindergarten class (and Healthy!)
On shishcabob (sp?) sticks take 3 slices of banannas turned so they are circle shape when looking at them holding the stick perpendictular to the ground.
A sm slice of apple on top of that. From the middle bananna slice have two pretzels coming out (one on each side). Then use mini chocolate kisses to make a face on the top slice, and a line down the middle for buttons.
You have a little snow man. I know it's kind of a winter thing, but I just found it in Family fun magazine.
They had other cute ideas, but none that could be considered healthy. :)

As for other concerns below, I would definitly check with the teacher about food allergies. I haven't heard of any school that has a store baught policy only but it's possible I suppose. We have a list of people that volunteer to bring things in for parties, and are simply told no peanut butter, nuts etc. I'm sure the teacher wouldn't mind, even if there isn't a party to have a snack provided. Our Kindergarten teacher LOVES when a parent brings in a snack for the day!! She says home made is always better than what they provide for snacks.

Marshmallow treats w/ red sprinkles or if you want to get creative, melt red hots w/ the marshmallows and make the treats red. Shape in heart shapes and you can even put on a stick and put some candy hearts on them or one in the middle.

Vanilla Wafers
Caramels
Dipping chocolate - dark or white or both
Red sprinkles of various kinds
Sucker or popsicle sticks

Melt caramels. Put a dab of caramel on the bottom of one wafer and the end of a stick. Top w/ the bottom of another vanilla wafer. Let set for a minute or two. Dip in chocolate and then the end or one side in red sprinkles or hearts or whatever you find. You could even decorate w/ red hots and/or candy hearts.

Spread peanut butter (or almond butter or cashew butter) on a Ritz cracker. I use low fat Ritz. Put another cracker on top. Make SURE there isn't any nut butter oozing out.
Dip in white chocolate and then sprinkles. Cool until set.

You can do the SAME think w/ large pretzel rods, white chocolate and red or red & white sprinkles. You DONT need to dip the entire pretzel rod into the chocolate. I usually only dip them about 1/2 -2/3 of the way.

What about red JELLO jigglers? You can do them in heart shapes.

Popcorn balls w/ some red hots or red M & Ms.

How about corn & wheat chex, small pretzel sticks, a bag of Valentine M & Ms and maybe some dry roasted nuts. Mix & cover w/ white chocolate. Spread on waxed paper & cool. Break into chunks.

Hope this helps

How about a pencil and eraser. Dollar Tree has packs of both for every holiday, at 12/$1. Both are something every child needs! Sometimes you can even find packs of crayons there too, either 4 or 8 for $1. I would steer clear of food items unless you have checked with the teacher and are sure there are no food allergies. If you do go with a treat, rice crispy treats are fun and easy to make, and loved by all!! You can even decorate them with frosting or sprinkles, and they are semi-healthy. Hope this was helpful.

try familyfun.com - there are a ton of fun, inexpensive crafts you and your daughters can make to pass out - much better than candy!!!

You might see about finding fruit snacks that are heart shaped , most have some that are made with real fruit juice.They aren't cheap but they are still healthful. Try to stay away from anything with artificial coloring as many children have food dye allergies that make them hyper .
At the day care I used to work at we made ants on a log, celery with peanut butter and the ants were raisens, the kids loved them but be sure no one is allergic to peanuts.
My Mom always made home made cup cakes and decorated them with little heart tooth pick type things.She used cherry juice to make them pink and added it to the frosting also.And instead of using cup cake papers she would pour the batter into Ice cream cones that have the flat bottom.No waste or trash for the teacher to clean up.

Good morning,
Last year, I bought cute printer paper and typerd out "From the desk of Nathan" etc...on the top (in a fancy typeface). SO- Each kid had their own stationary. I cut them accross in half so I could get more for the money after the were all printed on, and folded them to make a note card. About 10 or so for each kid, then added envelopes also (plain white inexpensive) I added a cute pencil and wrapped it in a cute see throuch plastic bag and wired them closed with a tiny label that said "Happy Valentines Day, Hanna- Stay in touch with your firends!". My daughter said everyone loved it- especially the teachers. They told her how clever she was! Everyone got enough candy from the other kids.

Good luck!
A.

I always buy those VDay cards that have the pocket in them. We put a piece of candy in them, which let's face it, candy always is a winner. If you wanted to do something other than candy, maybe stickers, fake tattoos, fake rings for the girls and little cars for the boys...something along those lines.

Because kids are loaded with junk at these celebrations, I'm glad you're choosing a healthier alternative. So, my suggestion would be to make pretzel rods dipped in chocolate (semi-sweet) and then dipped in things like coconut, chopped pecans, sprinkles...etc. Kids love these and the ease of creating a beautiful treat makes moms happy too!

Best of luck!
D.

sad they dont' want parents to send in homemade snacks for parties , but alot of peanut butter snacks are being recalled, nice call. How about sending a bag of apples if you dont have time to make something.

Jello squares in red and pink will work well, easy to make and colorful. You can cut them into heart shapes if you have a cookie cutter or it can be poured into a heart shaped candy mold.
This year we bought a bag of wooden heart shapes, painted them red, pink and white and put a magnet piece from a magnet strip on the back. You can add the child's name or initals on the front with a craft pen in gold, white, red or whatever to make them a little more personal if you want. The total cost for us was about $7.00.

Hi there, I am a former kindergarten teacher and mother of 3 with #4 on the way. I think my favorite #1 and healthy snack was when a parent broght in fruit kabobs! You might see if you and a few other parents could go in together because of cost, but the kids loved them (and the teacher did too) :)I think she had grapes, blueberries, pinapple, and a strawberry on a skewer!
Good luch and enjoy!