What candy to send in with child's valentines?

[Anonymous]

I don't not put candy in the cards because I"m worried about the sugar consumption -- we still have a basket full of halloween candy, easter candy, and last year's valentine's candy sitting in the open. I don't put it in because it's excessive and silly. I want my kid to have the joy of getting a card and not shaking the envelope to see what's inside it.

Some of this may come from the rule that you have to give everyone everything so nothing is special. When I was a kid, we didn't have the rule, so it was fun to see who would give you something. No, I wasn't the most popular kid in the class, but it was still nice to see who considered you a friend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, That is wonderful that you want to make the holiday fun for your child. You must be a good mom.

Fitting in is so important to kids, especially when they have something that makes them stand out like you mentioned for your daughter.

When you can make her happy by something as simple as taping a lollipop to her valentines cards, go for it. It costs very little and ks well worth the fun.
Our favorite is small boxes of conversational hearts. You know, the kind of treat all of us (including the rabidly anti candy folks posting right now) gave to our friends in elementary school, (little pastel hearts with messages on them.)

If those are sold out, we try to get the traditional heart shaped lollipops. You can get these at any Target, Walmart, grocery or drug store.

My older kids like to give out popular candy like nerds. Right now, the coolest of the cool is dipsticks. If you give those away in the older elementary grades your kid is golden.

Don't listen to the hags who berate your parenting decisions for giving a small treat with the cards. They are the outsiders and do not represent most parents.

I would recommend that you stay away from chocolate, as that crosses into allergy teritory due to cross contamination risks.

Have fun!

I wouldn't have gone so far as to call them "hags". But I do kind of feel sad for their kids. I just can't imagine growing up with parents who are that obsessive about what their children are eating. I am a teacher and we have a couple of parents like that at our school. We all think the mothers have serious emotional issues. But what can you do? I think we'll see an awful lot of eating disorders in D.C. kids in a few years.

As to the question, we usually do a card with some kind of candy - lollipops, m&ms, nerds, fun dip....any of those are great. I have a few parents who do a homemade treat, but I'm in a school where that kind of stuff is still allowed. Kids do not care about stickers, pencils, glow bracelets..... That stuff just gets tossed. I try to keep my students from throwing them away in the classroom. But honestly, a lot of it never makes it home. The pencils are kind of nice for me because they all end up in our class basket.

Ugh...Fun Dip. Please do not send in Fun Dip. That stuff is disgusting and messy!

[Anonymous]

Ugh...Fun Dip. Please do not send in Fun Dip. That stuff is disgusting and messy!

I LOVE Fun Dip!!!! My DH teases me about it all the time!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, That is wonderful that you want to make the holiday fun for your child. You must be a good mom.

Fitting in is so important to kids, especially when they have something that makes them stand out like you mentioned for your daughter.

When you can make her happy by something as simple as taping a lollipop to her valentines cards, go for it. It costs very little and ks well worth the fun.
Our favorite is small boxes of conversational hearts. You know, the kind of treat all of us (including the rabidly anti candy folks posting right now) gave to our friends in elementary school, (little pastel hearts with messages on them.)

If those are sold out, we try to get the traditional heart shaped lollipops. You can get these at any Target, Walmart, grocery or drug store.

My older kids like to give out popular candy like nerds. Right now, the coolest of the cool is dipsticks. If you give those away in the older elementary grades your kid is golden.

Don't listen to the hags who berate your parenting decisions for giving a small treat with the cards. They are the outsiders and do not represent most parents.

I would recommend that you stay away from chocolate, as that crosses into allergy teritory due to cross contamination risks.

Have fun!

Actually, I went to school in Europe where Valentine's Day was for grown-ups to celebrate with their significant other. It's cute for kids to want to celebrate it too, but I dislike how commercial the holiday is and how it to leads, again, to overconsumption. You know all about the obesity epidemic, I suppose.

PPs have stated that "it is just one day". NO, it's not. Easter candy, Halloween candy, Christmas chocolate, etc. Every major holiday is geared around food (that's fine) and candy is pushed on the kids more and more often (not fine).

And please, "fitting in"??? Don't be ridiculous. I am happy not to "fit in" if it means dissociating a celebration from too much candy. By the way, lots of people find the constant pressure to follow unhealthy nutrition habits very irksome. In my circle no one adds candy to Valentine cards Hopefully we will not be in the minority much longer.
.
Lord.

Valentine's day candy is not about "nutrition habits." It's about Valentine's day habits.

We get rid of Halloween, Easter and Valentine's Day candy after a certain amount of time.


This is my favorite line form this thread:

"Hopefully we will not be in the minority much longer."

Let the revolution begin.

[Anonymous]

Please don't send crap like pencils or erasers or tattoos or stickers home with my kids. I always end up throwing that stuff away. It's just more crap for the landfill.

Just a card is fine, if you can't take giving out a piece of candy.

[Anonymous]

I have to laugh that candy is considered worse than tattoos. I hate those things why would I want to have my kid think tattoos are cool and okay to have from a young age. I find it vile

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please don't send crap like pencils or erasers or tattoos or stickers home with my kids. I always end up throwing that stuff away. It's just more crap for the landfill.

Just a card is fine, if you can't take giving out a piece of candy.

+1. My kids don't care about or want more pencils, tattoos, or stickers. We get so may of those for every single holiday and birthday that we are overwhelmed with them, and my kids are just in preschool. I do pretzels or goldfish or a small piece of candy. If they were elemtary age, I'd absolutely let them give kids whatever the "cool" candy is these days, and I'm pretty stick about treats and candy and junk food. Let them have fun with it!

[Anonymous]

our preschool gave us an OK on candy, but none will be eaten at school, so parents can sort through. I let my son get individual boxes of conversation hearts for his classmates because they seem to be straight sugar with no possible milk-nut contaminants.

[Anonymous]

PP. This is America, not Europe. OUR tradition is to give these tiny tokens of friendship to celebrate the holiday.

It is fun for the kids and has been a tradition here for many years, at least the last half century, likely longer.

If you don't like our holiday traditions, opt out. Don't try to change us into something we are not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Ugh...Fun Dip. Please do not send in Fun Dip. That stuff is disgusting and messy!

I LOVE Fun Dip!!!! My DH teases me about it all the time!

I love it too but I'd never give it to my kids.

[Anonymous]

We've been at three MoCo elementary schools and they all allow candy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP. This is America, not Europe. OUR tradition is to give these tiny tokens of friendship to celebrate the holiday.

It is fun for the kids and has been a tradition here for many years, at least the last half century, likely longer.

If you don't like our holiday traditions, opt out. Don't try to change us into something we are not.

Amen!

[Anonymous]

OP here. We bought the heart shaped lollipops. Thank you to the PP who recognized that for my child this is a lot about fitting in and being part of the class. You sound like a great mom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids have so much fun with Valentines day -- cards and candies. It's just ONE DAY people. Why does everything have to be such a big deal? It's just cards and candy!! Let them enjoy it!

totally this. there are a LOT of you who need to remove whatever stick is up your butt and let the kids have this ONE day. It isnt going to hurt them!

+100

Team Fun

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't respect the parents that send in the awful candy. Really, does anyone like that stuff?

We do tattoos or stickers.

You do your tramp stamps.

I'll do my lollipops.