How about banana bread, or muffins? You don't have to put nuts in them.

You could make little mini muffins, they're cute and less messy and depending on how old your DS is, perfect for little hands.

The dollar store has chocolate covered graham crackers.....? It's easy and well received. Or carrot cake muffins, or motzarella string cheese sticks? Fresh strawberries?

If you buy something - read, read, the label. Just
because there aren't nuts in the item - it could be
processed within a plant that also processes things
with nuts.

Please do not buy from the Dollar Store on this. My
nephew has a peanut/tree nut allergy. It can be
very, very serious. It isn't necessarily about "itching",
"Hives", etc. It can be about "Death".

The 100 Calorie Snacks are usually very reliable - and
many of them are labeled as "safe". Anything processed
by Kellogg's are very-well and thoroughly labeled.

Or, if you are a baker - you can make your own cookies
or the muffins that were mentioned earlier. However,
my nephew never ate "goodies" coming from someone's
home. Just too risky - not to be rude - just to be
entirely safe.

Have you checked with the teacher about an allergic
student? If there is one - please call his/her Mom.
That would solve your problem.

Good luck - and thank you for taking the time to "worry"
about this problem. Too many people just assume if
there aren't nuts actually put into the food - it is
perfectly safe.

Many schools don't permit any home-made treats BECAUSE of the allergies problem. Our DGS once brought bakery-made cupcakes; that was acceptable to the school.

I like the graham cracker idea. Grapes? (Oh dear, what if someone *choked* on a grape? This is getting crazy!)

My son was allergic to peanuts, but not to any other nut. Peanuts are legumes, much different organically from nuts.

We made almond butter sandwiches for him.

If you want to avoid junk food, a treat can be hard to come up with. Broccoli for everyone? I don't think they'd touch it.

I have made the Jello jiggles and shaped them with small cookie cutters for very young children. I have made several boxes of brownie mix and packaged an extra large brownie for each child in Saran Wrap. You could make popcorn balls too. And then you could just make or buy cookies or cupcakes.

Our schools don't allow home cooked foods.

I don't like all of the junk food that gets sent by the other parents so I send things like string cheese, or the individual containers of applesauce or the lighter version of the individual fruit cocktails and spoons. My kids love it when I send baby dill pickles and carrots. You may have to buy a couple of containers. It usually costs around $10 total for the class buying generics. Also, check with the teacher to see if it is ok to put string cheese in the teachers' fridge or to send the pickles. My kid's teachers have always been ok with it. So many parents send crackers and other junk that they welcome the change.

If you can bring home-made treats, how about good old-fashioned Rice Krispy treats? Get generic marshmallows and puffed rice and follow the microwave directions. From start to finish takes 5 minutes, really! Add sprinkles on top to make them extra cute!

wonder if the teacher would mind if you bought a new box of crayons (one big one not indeviduals) or a packet of colored craft paper? they might thank you more than you think...or a reading book? know by this time of the year, teachers are running out of almost everything...

I was thinking of rice krispie treats. You could cut them up in small squares or small balls and individually wrap them in saran wrap.

Trin

I'm with adellabedella on this one. There was a thread on one of the forums talking about no baked goods allowed because of egg allergies. Ironically, they'd allow cupcakes from a bakery but not from home. I guess bakeries don't use eggs? (scratching my head...) I guess it's all about what limitations there are with the people in the class. Almost feel like you have to have a notarized release form signed to do anything for anybody these days.

Another concern: With all the sugar-laden things that often get sent, by chance is there a diabetic in the class? I see people concerned about allergies but seldom is this disease considered and seeing a young gal grow up watching others eating cake, cookies and such all the time, it's really sad when she can't partake and is left out in the cold. Plus most kids could do without the sugar anyway.

My first thought was the little fruit cups or applesauce. There's different flavors of applesauce and unsweetened too. I like the idea of cheese sticks too, possibly a meat stick to go with it? Juice with something?

Some little appetizers of some sort? Cocktail franks in BBQ sauce? Crackers & cheese? Chex Mix, Ranch oyster crackers, cheese curls, pretzels, Sun Chips or something? Of course someone could have gluten or dairy sensitivities so again, without knowing what's allowed or not allowed, you're in a tough spot. Maybe ask the teacher what's been popular in the past?

What about coloring books? Don't know the ages, but word search or puzzle books? Mini jigsaw puzzles, etc. Maybe hit the dollar stores and see what they have.

Way back when DS was in school, they stopped allowing homemade treats. A year or two later, his teacher made an exception when a child brought a gingerbread house he and his mom made. The next week they were both diagnosed with hepatitis and the whole class had to be given gamma globulin by the public health department.

Fraom what I remember DD (perfect pets, the poster!) the main concern is the nut allergy, as there seem to be many in the school with it. Last I knew they hadn't banned homebaked items. They have been very good about letting parents know ahead of time about allergies/diabetes. Poor PerfectPets is miserable with allergies with all the tree pollen right now, so slow to respond, & I know Damien is driving her nuts, too! I know she's grateful for all your help.

And, yes, she's VERY good at reading labels! It's me with the garlic allergy!

Tami

Here is another snack that might work for you...individual yogurts. You can get good flavors and find kinds that are healthy at the same time. I've also bought the individual Danimal drinks that are in the yogurt section.

I guess it's been a while since I had kids taking treats to school! I had no idea home made treats were allowed!!

I think the string cheese thing is a safe idea!! (as long as there are no dairy allergies!)

How about little containers of bubbles! Heck, they'd have a ball at recess!

Donna (^_^)

My son has a peanut allergy and I bring him separate snacks. I think it's too risky to trust the teacher or other parents to determine what is safe and what is not. All I hope for is that other parents don't bring a peanut snack that poses a risk for a contact reaction. May contains are perfectly safe for my son to be around.

When it's my son's turn to bring snacks we bring rice krispie treats (even though snacks are supposed to be healthy - the teacher actually suggested these when I asked her what went over well with the kids) or Smartfood popcorn.

Well, lots of kids have milk allergies too. It is hard to accommodate the whole world's problems. Just ask the teacher what you need to avoid for her students only.

Now, Rice Crispie treats would make me a happy camper too!!!

bananas are good. and they seem cheap here right now anyway!

I think the little mini bubbles is the absolute best idea...is there any possible way anyone in that class could be allergic to watered down dish soap???
Suzan J

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for their advise and suggestions. I've been really busy this week so I haven't been able to respond yet.

We are allowed to bring homemade treats to school we just have to be carefull as to what is in it. Our school has been pretty good at letting us parents know if there is any food allergy in the class and have even stopped doing class parties for the most part because of food allergies and religion issues.

I love the bubbles idea and even thought about it but figured that it would be too messy and knowing 7 year olds, they would want to open them right away in the class room. So I decided to save the teacher some hassle and left the bubbles at the store.

I ended up sending in string cheese and whole grain club crackers. We individually wrapped everything and sent the treats in little party bages with a gold medal to go with it (DS wanted to to do race cars as his show and tell so we sent in medals for all the kids). I sent the lables in also so that the teacher coiuld double check everything.

The kids liked the little bags and DS was happy to be able to give his friends "presents" as he put it. And I was happy to have found a healthy snack to send in.

So many parents send in junk food and I hate it. I try to feed my family healthy stuff as often as I can and junk food is an no no in my house due to DS and SS both having soft teeth. Well DH still manages to bring junk food (pop tarts!) in the house. Grrr! But DS rarely gets it.

Thank's again you everyone I really appreceiate all your help.
Pets