birthday treats - cheap and peanut-free!

[KNJWDW]

I have to bring in birthday treats this month at school. We are doing things differently this year. Once a month, we celebrate all the birthdays during that month. All of the parents contributed money at the beginning of the year and we use a portion of that money each month to buy treats. The treats need to be peanut-free. I have $20 to spend and there are 44 kids in the class. (I know 44 sounds crazy, but it is a double class w/2 teachers). This is for
3rd/4th graders. Anyone have any ideas? Last month they did rice crispie bars, so I don't want to do that again.

Thanks!

 

[Kayka]

pudding cups
cupcakes
brownies
cookies

 

[TLuvsD]

Starburst candies meet the peanut free guidelines...you could do little treat bags with X number of starburst candies per bag. Cute bag toppers are easy to make, even if you are not particularly crafty. You can always just cut Happy Birthday giftwrap to size and use that.
Tootsie Rolls, Teddy Grahams, Nilla Wafers, Yoplait

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Rice crispy treats. If you have BJ's wholesale club or Sam's they sell a box of 40 for $7.00. To make up the difference you could buy a box of them at the grocery store. They usually come 12 in a box for a few bucks.

Oh and the box does not contain plain rice crispy treats. Some are sprinkled with mini M & M, Chocolate chucks. But none of them have nuts!

 

[mjkacmom]

I don't know if they're peanut free, but I find Little Debbie snack cakes to be very reasonable.

 

[monorailsilver]

My son is allergic to peanuts (tree nuts, dairy & egg whites too).

If there is a child allergic in the classroom I would suggest contacting that parent & asking them what is safe for their child.

For me, my son keeps Target brand rice krispie treats in his back pack for birthdays. He doesn't eat cake or cupcakes or most cookies (he loves fruit) so those work for him.

But another boy in his grade is allergic to peanuts & tree nuts & the mom doesn't let him have some of the things I let my son have.

Some stuff may not contain peanuts but it says on the package "may contain" because they are processed on the same line as things that have nuts. My son eats Ghiradelli semi sweet chocolate & it says "may contain" on the package but the boy in his grade, his mom doesn't let him have that.

 

[Swimalie]

How about making Rice Krispie treats? My son's pre-school had a nut-free (not even processed with nuts) policy so I had to watch things a lot. I made rice krispie treats for his birthday celebration every year.

 

[clh2]

What about ice-cream cups? I'm thinking specifically of the ones that come with the little wooden spoons? I think sherbet also comes in those little cups too!

Popsicles would also be a peanut free choice.

(Of course - the elem school my DD went to had a freezer that was available for use.)

 

[LuLuO]

Pepperidge Farm brand Goldfish Crackers. The chedder kind specifically. You can get twelve packs in a box at walmart for about $3.50.

 

[MSSANDRA]

Peanut allergy mom here and little debbies nor any m&m products are peanut free. If you choose food, be sure to read EVERYTHING. They hide everywhere!

Maybe consider a non food treat. Maybe ink pens, or silly bands or maybe the coupons that a lot of the fast food places have right now that are really cheap????

 

[LuLuO]

I don't know if they're peanut free, but I find Little Debbie snack cakes to be very reasonable.

Unfortunately not peanut free. Avoid for sure.

 

[wide awake]

Homemade cookies. Snickerdoodles, choc chip, brownies, sugar w/ frosting...all are safe. So is fruit. Popcorn balls. Chips and dip. Choc dipped pretzels. Caramel apples. Homemade cupcakes. Homemade marshmallows...trust me, if you haven't tried them they are completely different than what you buy. Chex mix w/o nuts. Homemade fudge or divinity. Saltwater taffy.

 

[MSSANDRA]

If there is an allergy kid in the class, and you have to be peanut free, home-made might not be a good choice. Some chocolate chips do contain a peanut warning, some pretzels are not safe. Most allergy parents would not allow the child to eat a home-made goodie without knowing for sure that every thing in the item is safe. Now I always have snacks at school for DGS and he sometimes has to skip a snack and that is just life for him but if want to include this child, stick to something the teacher can read the food label for.

 

[skw444]

Another peanut allergy mom here and you may not want to do homemade. We do not allow our dd to eat anything homemade since labels can't be read. There are a lot of foods out there with the warnings "may contain" or "processed in a facility" and we don't allow her to eat those items, so many things that you think would be safe aren't because of these warnings. One idea is fruit flavored snacks...if you get a store brand or with a coupon, they can be inexpensive.

 

[4MCMICKEY]

What about gogurts or individual goldfish crackers, pretzels....I would check out the Halloween candy isle..you should be able to get a snack for 44 for under $20.

 

[clh2]

What about popcorn and juice boxes? Jucie boxes might take up about $10 or $11 (Based on the price of capri sun at a Sam's club in my neck of the woods.)

I would probably get "pre-popped" bag of popcorn in the snack aisle of the store - and figure out how many bags I could get that still kept me in the $20 budget, and then divide it 50 ways.

 

[scrapquitler]

Rice Krispie treats

 

[Swimalie]

Another peanut allergy mom here and you may not want to do homemade. We do not allow our dd to eat anything homemade since labels can't be read. There are a lot of foods out there with the warnings "may contain" or "processed in a facility" and we don't allow her to eat those items, so many things that you think would be safe aren't because of these warnings. One idea is fruit flavored snacks...if you get a store brand or with a coupon, they can be inexpensive.

With my son's pre-school, we had to bring in the labels of everything we used in making any treats to prove that no peanuts nor anything in the treat was processed in a nut facility. We had to provide labels for all snacks that he ate in class as well (loved Trader Joe's snacks for this reason).

 

[wide awake]

I had another thought on this. Why is the allergy kid dictating the snacks for the whole class ? When my son was gfcf I provided his snacks and did not expect the entire class to be limited to his choices.

 

[smacky1]

apple slices with a little side of caramel dip for dipping.