Birthday parties and classroom celebrations are fun and exciting for students! We want our students to feel special on their birthdays and to come together to celebrate holidays. We realize food is a common way for people to celebrate. We would like to encourage these celebrations to occur in a fun and healthy way that reinforces all the healthy habits students are learning at school.

But it’s just a cupcake!

Most school celebrations include cupcakes, cookies, candy, pizza. So, what’s the harm? There is nothing wrong with an occasional treat, but unhealthy choices have become the norm rather than the exception. Students are constantly exposed to high-fat, high-sugar, low-nutrient choices during classroom parties, fundraisers, school stores, etc. During school, we want to send a consistent message about health and nutrition while promoting a healthy school environment.

Another goal we have as a district is to protect our students with food allergies. When parents send in food, it’s difficult to ensure the safety of the students with food allergies since we may not know what is in the item. Non-food celebrations are the best way to ensure the safety of our students with food allergies, or using food items from our food service department.

Our staff works hard to teach our students the importance of eating healthy and being active.

Healthy Celebration Ideas
- Dance Party
- Reading a child’s favorite book
- Extra recess or “free choice” activity at the end of the day
- Child can bring in a t-shirt for classmates to sign
- Extra library time
- Art project for the class. Parents can bring the supplies instead of food!
- Goodie bags filled with stickers, pencils, crayons, etc.
- Scavenger hunt in the classroom, outside or around the school
- Nature walk around the school
Healthy Classroom Snack Ideas
- Fruit cups or Fruit Kabobs
- Trail Mix (pretzels, fried fruit, low-sugar cereals, etc… Avoid nuts please)
- String cheese
- Low-fat yogurt
- Cut up vegetables and low-fat dip
- Pretzels
- Low-fat popcorn
- Graham crackers
- 100% fruit juice

Hays Consolidated Independent School District

Promoting a Healthy School Environment

Mental Health

Activity

Nutrition

Classroom Celebrations

Short on time?

Healthy Fundraising

Healthy Families