Need Non-food Ideas For A Birthday With The School Class

[cruelshoes]

My son's birthday is coming up later in the month. He is turning 9. It is pretty much expected that when it is your birthday, you have to bring in some kind of treat to share with the class. If it is a treat of food, it cannot be homemade. Last year we took in Mi-del chocolate chip cookies. This went over like a lead balloon, since a few of the more vocal kids pronounced them

[Lisa]

I was sitting here thinking about what my kids really liked at that age......WHOOPY CUSHIONS!

Twenty-four Whoopy Cushions would most certainly be a hit that could not be undone!

OK, I'll think of something a little more subtle.

[cruelshoes]

WHOOPY CUSHIONS!

That would definitely be memorable.

[angel-jd1]

I know you said you are wanting to avoid the food.....but I say do an icecream sundae party.

Big bucket of ice cream

Whipped Cream

Sprinkles

Cherries

spoons and bowls

enjoy!!

If not, then

-if they have lockers (lots of elementaries do these days) you can do magnets for their lockers.

-glow sticks (light up in the dark)

-wierd yo-yo noodle ball things (look like a plastic sea urchin)

-trading cards (baseball, dinosours, harry potter etc.)

-hats

-some sort of craft or art project that you could do with the class, decorate hats or small bags with things

I hope your kiddo has a great b-day!!

-Jessica

[missy'smom]

My son's b'day treat last year was a flop too so I'd like to do better this year. I made Namaste chocolate cupcakes and homemade frosting and decorated them beautifully but the frosting tasted funny, I think my vanilla separated and mostly alcohol ended up in the frosting. Plus knowing my son, he probably announced that they were gluten-free like it was the yummiest thing in the world and the thought alone was enough to turn some off I'm sure.

I'm not the most creative. Have you checked Oriental Trading Co. for ideas? DS loves the sticky hands.

My son's 9 and just discovered whoopie cushions(he would really go for that idea!) although he seems not to need one as he can replicate the sound quite well on his own

When I worked in a pre-school some moms brought in fruit salad and spray can with whipped cream instead of the sugary stuff.

[gfpaperdoll]

Full size hershey bar wrapped with the birthday boy's name

a themed party favor bag - in a nice bag like a denim bag or a canvas bag...

a small paper bag with the top folded over & fastened with a large paper clip with each childs name written on the bag filled with chocolate kisses or other chocolate candies & include some plastic animals etc...

a coupon to McDonalds...

A little pricier but one time I gave the grandson's class a whole art set in a holder - got them about this time of year at Target for about $5.00 each. Some of the kids were not from well to do homes & my dil said that they were so appreciative when she handed them out. (grandson's BD is in Dec)

or you could just invite the whole class to the movies for the party favor...

ask the teacher for suggestions?...

[ShayBraMom]

Check out the dollar Store or the 99 cent store, ours has a huge selection of things that are cool for kids! Waterballons are loved by kids of all ages. I'm not sure where you are from, but if it is in a colder region of ciurse the idea is not so good, but if you are like me from Arizona, it is still very wamr most fo the days and Waterballons are absdolutely cvool! I found the magnet diea someone had pretty good!

Full size hershey bar wrapped with the birthday boy's name

a themed party favor bag - in a nice bag like a denim bag or a canvas bag...

a small paper bag with the top folded over & fastened with a large paper clip with each childs name written on the bag filled with chocolate kisses or other chocolate candies & include some plastic animals etc...

a coupon to McDonalds...

A little pricier but one time I gave the grandson's class a whole art set in a holder - got them about this time of year at Target for about $5.00 each. Some of the kids were not from well to do homes & my dil said that they were so appreciative when she handed them out. (grandson's BD is in Dec)

or you could just invite the whole class to the movies for the party favor...

ask the teacher for suggestions?...

[taweavmo3]

I also wanted to recommend Oriental Trading company...they have an online catalog, and sometimes free shipping. I absolutely love their catalog, they are super cheap and you can get a ton of little gadgets and crafts for the whole class.

I plan on ordering stuff from them for my dd's class party this year, stocking stuffers for Christmas, and Halloween next year. Emmie got sick from something this Halloween, so I think next year I'll buy a bit of candy, and throw the rest out. I'm just over the whole Halloween candy bit, she always manages to get sick somehow. So, next year it's toys, lol.

[Cheri A]

I love the ice cream party idea! I may have to do that for my dd's birthday in January. I'm thinking maybe root beer floats, though.

I wanted to do really cool non-food treats for my dd's birthday the last two years and she just flipped out. She wanted to be like everyone else, and everyone else brings food. There are other kids with allergies in her class so its not a big deal to be eating a different treat, though. Is there a candy that he could bring? Or, could you buy the store-bought cupcakes for everyone else and he gets his cupcake that you made?

[Darn210]

I think a good "food" is fruit roll ups or fruit by the foot . . . it's ever so slightly better than candy with its vitamin C Also, we gave out the small/individual microwave popcorn one year at halloween and I was surprised by how many kids liked that.

Non food thing . . . my kids LOVE silly putty. Times 24, that can still be too much, but maybe you can find it in bulk somewhere.

[buffettbride]

I love the whoopie cushion idea! I say go for it!

If not, the ice cream sundae idea is great too, even though it is a food idea.

I like the glow sticks (they also come in bracelets or necklaces, etc).

[gfgypsyqueen]

Although the teacher may hate you, go with the Whoopie Cushions in a goodie bag of candy (main stream candy of course). The kids will love it...even the girls. It'll be a huge hit and lots of laughing and fun. If you want a really cool bday at school, that's it! (Maybe a sympathy present for the teacher...a few really good chocolates)

Hope he has a great bday!

[angel-jd1]

I was just curious what you ended up doing for the b-day party??

-Jessica

[cruelshoes]

I was just curious what you ended up doing for the b-day party??

His birthday isn't until the 19th, so we still have a lottle more time. I asked him, and he said he would rather to treat bags than food. I think he is still stinging a little from last year.

I looked into Silly Putty, and even on Ebay it was more than I could afford. Good suggestion, though. I am going to check out the dollar store this week to see what I can find. Oriental trading has lots off good ideas too. My head is swiming there are so many! I wonder if they sell whoopy cushions in bulk?

Thanks for all the great ideas. I'm going to see what I can bring together. Hopefully something that will dazzle the ungratefull little brats with it's awesomeness!

[brendygirl]

I teach fourth grade and my students love:

popcorn, pencils, ice cream, toys from Oriental Trading Company

I also think a GREAT idea would be to order the CUSTOM M&Ms with cool colors of your son's favorite sports team or his name or age or something.

ALSO

Those SMELLY PENCILS that come in the long tube. SMENCILS? You order them online and my students LOVE them like no tomorrow. They smell like root beer and stuff.

I also got COOL cell phone replica calculators at the 99cent store one time. Big HIT!

[mcsteffi]

My son's birthday is coming up later in the month. He is turning 9. It is pretty much expected that when it is your birthday, you have to bring in some kind of treat to share with the class. If it is a treat of food, it cannot be homemade. Last year we took in Mi-del chocolate chip cookies. This went over like a lead balloon, since a few of the more vocal kids pronounced them

[Juliebove]

I think a good "food" is fruit roll ups or fruit by the foot . . . it's ever so slightly better than candy with its vitamin C Also, we gave out the small/individual microwave popcorn one year at halloween and I was surprised by how many kids liked that.

Non food thing . . . my kids LOVE silly putty. Times 24, that can still be too much, but maybe you can find it in bulk somewhere.

My daughter took fruit snacks last year. The kids liked them.

Pencils are another good thing. Kids can always use those. Get whimsical ones.

[Sarah8793]

Check with your grocery store bakery and see if their icing is gluten free... most of it is. Get them to make a just icing cupcake to match the "regular" cupcakes and take that. I get them to put it in a container by its self so crumbs from the "regular" ones dont get all over the icing one. My 3 year old only eats the icing anyway so thats where I got the idea. Then they all have something that looks the same. But trying to get non celiac kids to eat gluten free is like serving them a bunch of veggies for treats.

stephanie

I like this idea. We had ds's party at our house in Sept. and I made cupcakes with frosting and the kids took one or two bites and left the rest. Sometimes I wonder if it might just be excitement because I know at other gluten parties, kids do the same things. I have wanted to see if I could get a bakery to decorate my cake or cupcakes but haven't found one. I wonder if I got just an icing cupcake if it could somehow be transferred onto my ds's cupcake while the others get the full store bought version. Don't know if this would work or look hokey.

[mcsteffi]

I like this idea. We had ds's party at our house in Sept. and I made cupcakes with frosting and the kids took one or two bites and left the rest. Sometimes I wonder if it might just be excitement because I know at other gluten parties, kids do the same things. I have wanted to see if I could get a bakery to decorate my cake or cupcakes but haven't found one. I wonder if I got just an icing cupcake if it could somehow be transferred onto my ds's cupcake while the others get the full store bought version. Don't know if this would work or look hokey.

I actually got the idea from a parent in my son's class. She was going to bring in cupcakes for her twins in a mickey mouse theme and wanted my son to have something of the same look. She called me with the ingredients in the icing and the store was happy to do it. So my son had the same looking cupcake as the rest of the class. Store bought cupcakes are mostly icing anyway with the decoration on top.

Stephanie

[cruelshoes]

Thanks for everyone's input. We made a trip to the dollar store this weekend, and picked up the finest they had to offer Sean picked all these things out - Most of them contain sugar. Each kid will receive a colorful bag containing the following:

- Stickers - snakes and lizards, very boyish!

- kazoo - guaranteed to make parents go crazy!

- pixie sticks (the gluten-free tube of sugar that everyone loves)

- Smarties (gluten-free in the US, not Canada)

- Tootsie pop

- Chinese finger trap - good for hours of fun

- A plastic thingie shaped like a piece of fruit filled with fruit flavored sugar.

We did find silly putty there at the last minute, but they didn't have enouugh. We spent some fun time stuffing bags yesterday. Hope he has a great time giving these out in class today.

[neesee]

I'm sure the kids will have fun with this stuff. My grandson is 8,will be 9 in January. I know he'd get a kick outta all those things.

Happy Birthday to Sean!

Today is dd's birthday too. She is 32 I feel old! lol

neesee