Easy Ideas for Non-food Birthday Celebrations
It’s no secret that I love to bake.
I enjoy baking, eating, and giving all sorts of baked goods. It’s one of my few hobbies I’ve been able to continue in this stage of my life as a mom to three young kids.
So you can imagine how disappointed I was with the news that my son’s elementary school was not allowing birthday treats this year. Especially since my son had his heart set on bringing in treats to share with his classmates.
A quick email to his teacher confirmed that non-food items were okay for birthday celebrations. And so began my deep dive into non-food treats for elementary students.
I had a few reservations about non-food celebrations. To be frank, I didn’t want to give junk that would break after 30 seconds or contribute to the endless clutter of “stuff” kids bring home from school. I also wanted an item that would appeal to both boys and girls. And I wanted something that kids would actually play with and use.
My child’s birthday was only the third week of school, so I was very aware that his favors would set the tone for the rest of his classmates for the year. For this reason, I was trying to keep the total cost to $5-10 or less. For his small pre-K class, this was approximately $0.50-1 per person and comparable to what I thought cupcakes from a local grocery store would cost.
12 Easy Non-food Treat Ideas
I’m a big believer in allowing kids to make their own choices when appropriate. Since this was my son’s birthday party, I wanted to give him the final choice with his non-food birthday treat for school.
While I narrowed his choices down to three options, here is the full list of easy non-food treat ideas that I came up with for younger elementary students:
Bubbles
Sidewalk chalk
Play doh (not the best choice for a class with wheat allergy or Celiac disease)
Stickers
Animal masks
Crayons (I liked the idea of 5 crayons attached to a small notepad)
Glow stick bracelet or necklace
Keep in mind that my child is in pre-K, so some of these ideas may not work for older elementary kids. Instead, you could substitute in markers, colored pens, or even mini flashlights.
During my research I came across several other great ideas, like gifting a favorite book to your child’s classroom and asking the teacher to read it in honor of their birthday. A similar idea would be to donate a new game for indoor recess. With any of these ideas, I recommend talking with your child’s teacher before purchasing anything.
Easy Sidewalk Chalk Birthday Favor
So what did my child choose for his non-food birthday treat?
Drumroll please…
Sidewalk chalk! Here is how we did it:
Step 1: Gather supplies.
Sidewalk chalk
Sandwich baggies
Stapler
2 x 4 - inch printer labels
Step 2: Place chalk in plastic sandwich bag. We choose three per bag, but two or four would also work. My birthday boy enjoyed picking out the three colors to go in each bag.
Step 3: Remove air from bag and fold in half to prevent chalk from moving around. Secure by stapling the top of bag.
Step 4: Design a 2 x 4-inch mailing label with a catchy saying like “CHALK IT UP to celebrate ___’s birthday!” This can be done on the computer or written by hand with permanent markers.
Step 5: Attach the mailing label sticker to the bag of chalk. I left a little bit of label hanging off the left side so I could fold it over and secure the back half of the plastic bag.
There you go! These bags of sidewalk chalk would work well for non-food Halloween treats, Valentine’s day gifts, or small stocking stuffers.
In the United States, 1 in 13 children have a food allergy. The next time you provide treats for a birthday or holiday celebration, consider bringing a non-food item to give kids a choice. This small gesture makes a huge impact on the food allergy kids that would otherwise be left out .
I’d love to know your favorite non-food treat - share in the comments below!
You might also be interested in…
