Does your child's public school allow homemade treats for parties?

[disykat]

In fact I have watched kids say things like oh bummer, and then go on about their business.

So have I. I sure didn't mean to give the impression that it's all the time. The majority of people are very accepting of other people, that doesn't mean bullies don't exist though.

I doubt the ratio is any different where you live.

PS - my son would also say he hasn't been teased or bullied about his allergies. Mothers have much longer memories than kids do.

 

[EMom]

I would much rather have store bought "crap" than something made in your kitchen with dog hair, baby slobber, and who knows what else floating around in it.

I know a person who moved to a new town......no one knows her or her habits there. She is now posting on her Facebook page about how she is thrilling the masses at church bake sales and school events with her homemade baked goods. First, I've never tasted anything she made that was edible. Second, her housekeeping is nasty. Now, keep in mind I am not a fastidious housekeeper, so my standards are not the strictest. But I'm talking NASTY, disgusting, healthcode violation levels of grossness. If I was starving, I would be hardpressed to eat anything that came out of her kitchen. Those of us who know her are all all the thought of those poor, unsuspecting folks eating up her "goodies" without having a clue as to WHAT they are exposing themselves to.

So yeah.......I'm wary.

 

[Cinderella94]

I know a person who moved to a new town......no one knows her or her habits there. She is now posting on her Facebook page about how she is thrilling the masses at church bake sales and school events with her homemade baked goods. First, I've never tasted anything she made that was edible. Second, her housekeeping is nasty. Now, keep in mind I am not a fastidious housekeeper, so my standards are not the strictest. But I'm talking NASTY, disgusting, healthcode violation levels of grossness. If I was starving, I would be hardpressed to eat anything that came out of her kitchen. Those of us who know her are all all the thought of those poor, unsuspecting folks eating up her "goodies" without having a clue as to WHAT they are exposing themselves to.

So yeah.......I'm wary.

I have to know you really well to want to eat something that you baked while I wasn't watching. And no, I would not call myself paranoid.

 

[JennaTX]

We can't bring homemade anything to the kids classroom, but last week I took three homemade dishes for the teacher's luncheon.

 

[disykat]

We can't bring homemade anything to the kids classroom, but last week I took three homemade dishes for the teacher's luncheon.

I would guess the assumption is that the teacher's parents aren't going to sue you if they get ill.

 

[polkadotsuitcase]

I'm so used to the "no homemade" rule that I actually did a double-take that it was okay to do it for my son's football team party. Like, "Oooooooh, we CAN?!?!"

 

[Michelle and crew]

Sure. It is silly not to.

 

[cats mom]

California here . We aren't allowed to bring homemade treats, either. California passed the law about two years ago, right before my oldest started kindergarten. While I'm sure allergies factor into it, my understanding about the reasoning behind the law (in our state, anyway) is that a professional kitchen will ensure healthy handling of all foods. We can still bring cupcakes, they just need to be bought from a local grocery store or bakery. It's really sad. Now, if I want to bring in a healthy treat for my DD's birthday, I have to spend an arm and a leg at Whole Foods. They are really encouraging non-food items for celebrating altogether, however, and if you do bring a store-bought treat it has to be given to them outside of the classroom at the end of the school day.

CA here too, and our school must have missed the no foods from home kitchens rule, that or they just choose to look the other way.

They're being strict about district "wellness guidelines" though:

Birthday celebrations are discouraged. If you really want to do something for your childs' b-day, no food of any kind is allowed.

Food cannot be used as a reward or incentive.

Only 3 classroom parties a year, and only 1 treat is allowed at each party that does not meet standards.

Any food served at school wide events must meet standards.

Wellness Standards:

Food
�� Not more than 30% fat
�� Not more than 10% saturated fat
�� Not more than 35% sugar
�� Not more than 175 calories per item

Beverages
�� Fruit-based drinks, no less than 50% fruit juice and no added sweetener
�� Vegetable-based drinks, no less than 50% vegetable juice and no added sweetener
�� Drinking water, no added sweetener
�� 2% fat milk, 1% fat milk, non fat milk, soy milk, rice milk, etc.


Honestly it's easier to just buy uber expensive, individually wrapped 100 calorie packs and call it good.

 

[torinsmom]

I would guess the assumption is that the teacher's parents aren't going to sue you if they get ill.

Yeah, It's a rule that applies to students. Teachers are adults and most would not sue the school over something like food poisoning. I do have to say that I always ask who brought certain dishes. I will say, "That looks good. Who brought it?" If its someone I know personally, and trust, I will eat it. If not, I will make an excuse. I don't eat homemade Christmas cookies the kids give me around the holidays either, unless I am familiar with the parent. They got to the teachers' lounge.

 

[torinsmom]

If your school has the no homemade goods deal, and you want to make homemade cupcakes(or whatever) for a party, you can ask the teacher if making the item can be part of the day. We have made pumpkin muffins,waffles and homemade ice cream in our class. Parents send in the supplies and we make them with the kids(the cafeteria will put things in the oven for us) All the ingredients need to be sealed when they are brought in, and all the kids wash their hands(with us supervising) AND wear disposable gloves when they help. We have several parents to help us, to make sure the hands are not in their mouths or anywhere else while they are waiting their turn. Our school is fine if these measures are taken.

One fun thing is to make up a rice krispy treat recipe and then give each child a big spoonful on a paper plate. Let the kids make their own rice krispy sculpture. We did have to give each child a dollop of butter to rub all over their hands, so the stuff wouldn't stick while they were working. I have also done a "cooking" class at school, where we made some neat snacks(like snowmen using marshmallows, icing, chocolate chips and pretzel sticks. Each child had his/her own supplies, so no risk of spreading germs. It was a lot of fun!

 

[fairyprincess1]

At my son's daycare, all items had to be prepackaged. However at this school, they do not. We have just been asked to watch for nuts as one of the students has a severe peanut allergy.

 

[Erin1700]

Eastern PA ... we can bring in homemade stuff!

 

[disneybound2010]

I know a person who moved to a new town......no one knows her or her habits there. She is now posting on her Facebook page about how she is thrilling the masses at church bake sales and school events with her homemade baked goods. First, I've never tasted anything she made that was edible. Second, her housekeeping is nasty. Now, keep in mind I am not a fastidious housekeeper, so my standards are not the strictest. But I'm talking NASTY, disgusting, healthcode violation levels of grossness. If I was starving, I would be hardpressed to eat anything that came out of her kitchen. Those of us who know her are all all the thought of those poor, unsuspecting folks eating up her "goodies" without having a clue as to WHAT they are exposing themselves to.

So yeah.......I'm wary.

All this could be said for the bakery I worked for(I quit in May) I had known the owner since we were children and I have worked on and off as a baker since high school. I was thrilled to start working with her as her bakery was one of the best known in town. The place was an absolute pigsty I'm not talking normal kitchen chaos messy. I'm talking absolute filth. Mice running through the ingredients, caked on grime, dishes with actual MOLD growing on them from having sat for 3 weeks! It was insane. SHe always got a heads up when the inspectors were coming so she would have it justcleanenough to squeak by. As I said, I didn't last long there. I couldn't believe that it was as bad as it was.

The bad part of it all was that she did have the majority of the town coming to her. We did a ridiculous amount of children's birthday cakes and almost each and every time, I wanted to warn them about the conditions there

 

[golfgal]

Our kids were in a Catholic school when they were young enough to still bring treats in for parties so I have no idea what the policy is here. I do know that for DD's birthday a friend brought in a cake he made and they ate it at lunch but it was just the kids at their table.

I know in our old town you are not able to bring in homemade food for ANYTHING. Most of the sports teams would have a potluck after the season to hand out awards, etc. Well, they changed the policy and those events have to be catered now.

 

[Michelle and crew]

All this could be said for the bakery I worked for(I quit in May) I had known the owner since we were children and I have worked on and off as a baker since high school. I was thrilled to start working with her as her bakery was one of the best known in town. The place was an absolute pigsty I'm not talking normal kitchen chaos messy. I'm talking absolute filth. Mice running through the ingredients, caked on grime, dishes with actual MOLD growing on them from having sat for 3 weeks! It was insane. SHe always got a heads up when the inspectors were coming so she would have it justcleanenough to squeak by. As I said, I didn't last long there. I couldn't believe that it was as bad as it was.

The bad part of it all was that she did have the majority of the town coming to her. We did a ridiculous amount of children's birthday cakes and almost each and every time, I wanted to warn them about the conditions there

I am so amazed that people think packaged food is clean. Ewwwwww... Aside being filled with fake ingredients, they are not able to police the amt. of scunge in them.

 

[disneybound2010]

I am so amazed that people think packaged food is clean. Ewwwwww... Aside being filled with fake ingredients, they are not able to police the amt. of scunge in them.

One thing I found kind of ironic...karma maybe...was that she would always roll her eyes and shake her head when we had customers with nut allergies. She never took any precautions when dealing with them and I was just waiting for something to happen. It did. To HER! She developed a nut allergy! One day she was fine, the next she was allergic to nuts. She barely made it to the hospital! From that point on, she was a bit more careful in that area and didn't have the same outlook when dealing with certain customers.

 

[enigmaticorange]

Wow. Is that really a policy? I am trying to see the reasoning behind that one..allergies? So they can read ingredients? In case a parent want to poison the food? (kidding.) I made my son birthday cupcakes for his class the other day.

 

[golfgal]

Wow. Is that really a policy? I am trying to see the reasoning behind that one..allergies? So they can read ingredients? In case a parent want to poison the food? (kidding.) I made my son birthday cupcakes for his class the other day.

I think it has more to do with food handling safety. At least store bought food is subject to some regulations. I know that there are some people, after being in their homes, that I would NEVER eat anything they sent in .

 

[arminnie]

I have a dog - but when I cook (especially for others) I banish him from the kitchen, scrub it thoroughly, use my steam cleaners to sanitize everything, etc. I would die if I gave someone some food with dog hair in it!

I don't have kids so the school thing isn't an issue, but I do take stuff to potlucks and have people over for dinner. Even though my place is tiny the dog is not allowed in the room where we are eating. He can live in the bedroom for a few hours.

But you never know what others are doing.

 

[Music City Mama]

Homemade treats are allowed at our elementary school. Our pre-school is nut-free, so no homemade treats there. I think they always had the no homemade treats rule (due to health/food safety issues), but now they're really strict about you can't bring anything from the grocery store bakeries because of "made on shared equipment" warnings. All of this is FINE by me as my child who goes there has a peanut allergy. There are plenty of "safe" foods out there. Nuts aren't too hard to avoid.

When my little one goes to elementary, I'll just make treats for him on party days. He can have cookies, cake, etc., but made homemade BY ME. I would never trust anyone else's cooking/baking for him. A lot of people think that if it doesn't have actual peanuts in it, it's safe. They don't pay attention to the "may contain", "made on shared equipment", etc. warnings like the parents of food allergic children do. AND, who knows what kind of cross-contamination may be in their kitchen -- made PB&J for their kid earlier, didn't wipe the counter down good enough, etc.

I have no problem if homemade treats will be allowed in his class (he'll be old enough to know that he can't have it -- he does great dealing with it now at 3 -- I let his older brother have things he can't). But, I'm pretty sure the no homemade treats rule that started in certain states/school systems had to do with health issues (as someone else pointed out, foodborne illnesses, etc.), not allergies. I'll be the first to admit, I NEVER buy from bake sales because I have no idea of some stranger's cleanliness practices.