School Parties

[Carrot Top]

It's time for end-of-year parties at school here.

I used to get upset when the kids were in elementary school at what seemed to me to be the blatant idiocy of the PTA groups who never took up my ideas of pig roasts or pasta "bar" parties for celebrations but who wanted (always) hot dogs instead.

But there was always the option, in those years, for one to bring veggies and dip, or fruit, or something-or-other different for a "side".

This year, end of middle school, and the parties are fewer and the parties are more tightly controlled.

It is always, and I mean always, hot dogs and hamburgers for grand feasts, and pizza for lesser ones. Soda to drink, in large cheap bottles. My kids actually dread the parties for somehow whomever gets the job of cooking the hot dogs and burgers is the sort that likes things blackened, and I don't mean with spices. Dried out dog food is the general taste of things, and I know because I've seen it time and time again.

Pizza usually is delivered by someone who forgets their keys to their car and has to have the police come to break open the car door while the pizza sits and gets cold, or else maybe they lose their way on the long one mile drive from pizza place to school. Nothing like hockey-puck cold pizza to celebrate end-of-school or whatever-at-school.

The only allowable sides this year have been packaged chips and packaged cookies or cupcakes.

Why? Because everyone (at least in school administration) knows that home-cooked food will kill you, or at the least, the fear of all the kids various allergies is enough to disallow it.

So, for Monday, every "class section" (there are six) during the day has requested a packaged dessert to go along with the hot dogs and burgers that will be offered mid-day. A day-long packaged sweets feast.

I really, truly, feel scared for the busdrivers who have to take those kids home at the end of the day.

What are the traditions at your children's school parties? Have you noticed a trend towards their being overtaken by food fears and sugar madness?

[heidih]

Every since my son started Kindergarten in the local public school system the rule has been that no homemade food is allowed. He is now 16 and most of the kids he came up with are used to decent and often ethnically diverse food. I think the thrill has gone from class parties or pizza day. That crud is so available on a daily basis it is really not a "treat" anymore. In high school I have noticed some "slippage" by the school food police and I think he has gotten some real food for events like food day in language class. On a parallel note, his friend who takes Japanese at school was given a list of authentic local restaurants and told to eat at 2 and do a report. They were actually restos that are well received on local food boards. Basically I think the individual schools yield to the system, and the kids are smart enough to know that this is not really fun. At the beginning of the year he told me he won a food contest with his friends in the cafeteria (he admires the Japanese guy who is the hot dog champ)- I despaired until he told me it was a salad eating contest! Exposed to decent food I think there is hope for the kiddles.

[Kent D]

Oh, don't get me started...

My younger daughter's elementery school this past year decided that they were going to improve the lot of the common child by banning candy and cookies at the "fall festival" (No Halloween here for fear of offending the litigious parents of a single child). They were asking for single-servings of fruit, apple wedges with caramel sauce (because caramel is evidently not considered a candy!), and carrot/celery sticks with individual cups of ranch dressing. There was a mutiny of parents, and about 75% of the kids brought candy and cookies, anyway.

They really didn't have an "end-of-school" snack party this year. My daughter, before she moved on to middle school this year, always took treats the last day of school because her birthday always fell after school ended, so at least in her class we WERE the end-of-school party. I bought 5 pizzas for her class last year, and the kids loved it, because if you offered them pizza for lunch 5 days a week, and for breakfast 3 days a week, they'd eat it.

I just think all these dietary restrictions take all the fun out of school.

[tejon]

No home made foods allowed at our elementary school, outside of packed lunches. Even then, there is a strict "no trade" rule enforced by the lunch monitors. It kills me to bring packaged cupcakes or ice cream cups as treats for birthdays, but there just isn't an alternative. Pizza is also the school party meal of choice here as well.

The packaged foods is really a liability issue. Who knows how clean family kitchens are, and who knows what allergens may be lurking in those home made cookies. The allergy thing really gets me, though. My oldest was allergic to corn for years. Bringing in prepackaged foods is *supposed* to allow teachers and aides to read the labels and ensure that children with allergies aren't exposed to something that will hurt them. However, it's almost impossible for the average person to read a label and tell if corn is there or not. So how a bag of pretzels (with corn based maltodextrin, way at the end of the ingredients list) is somehow safer than the soft pretzels I make at home, the ones I know each and every ingredient for, is beyond me.

[scubadoo97]

With the severity of peanut allergies mixed with the higher chance of litigation these days, I understand why they don't allow outside food.

[rooftop1000]

the real question is why are so many people allergic to peanuts now?

t

[hjshorter]

Most of the parents at my daughter's elementary school in our oh-so-PC community are extremely intolerant of sugar (to the point that the parent listserv is up-in-arms and petitioning the school system to remove chocolate milk from the cafeteria ) so no one brings in birthday treats anymore. No end of the year parties either.

And don't even get me started on the flap about the styrofoam lunch trays...

Edited June 2, 2007 by hjshorter (log)

[ErinM]

I remember back when I was in elementary Catholic school, the whole school would have a picnic in the park in the evening of the last day of school. The whole affair was potluck...everyone was given a catagory of food to bring acoording to last name. Drinks were the responsibility of each family.

We'd then take over the largest park in our town. The kids would run around with their friends, the adults would talk, and everyone would eat. I remember the dessert table being the best table to be at...always lots of things to try! I don't remember the other tables very well. I was, after all, a typical kid and the treats were my thing.

It makes me sad that kids today aren't able to have these experiences, or even just have the experience of bringing something yummy from home, even if it's something made with a boxed cake mix. Sure I understand allerigies, and I'm sure that kids had allergies even when I was young. However, kids knew what they could and could not have and avoided things they couldn't have without issue. I never once remember food being a problem for anyone.

I hate how times have changed.

[SuzySushi]

No such rules here, thank goodness. Hawaii's still queen of the potluck parties!

Still waiting to hear if my daughter's class will be having an end-of-year class party (DD generally gives me 3 hours notice!) -- she's graduating from elementary school this year and they're taking them all to a banquet lunch at a restaurant on Tuesday.

[pax]

My oldest is 14, my youngest is 5.

I have stopped giving a rat's ass what they eat at school or at friend's houses. When they are home, which is where they spend the majority of their time, they eat well.

There's only so much stuff I have the ability to micro-manage.

It's hard to be the odd kid out..as much as you and I know school party food is terrible, it's worse to be the kid whose Mom always brings something "weird".

[Carrot Top]

Oh, yeah. Well, you know. I've stopped giving a rat's ass what they eat at school or at friend's houses or even at home pretty much too as long as they are healthy and relatively happy.

But the thing is, they *want* to be the kids whose mother brings something wierd. They are constantly encouraging me to be this way.

Therefore I must try to live up to their expectations.

[Stevarino]

Oh, How ironic! I'm sitting here reading eGullet threads, and my six year old keeps coming back time after time, for another cracker, spread with duck foies gras mousse, and a little fig jam. How unhealthy is that?!

And by the way, I must address Suzy Sushi. I grew up in Hawaii, and we had the very best school lunches, compared to what mainland kids get. And... we're talking about a multi-cultural colony there. People in the islands know how to eat well. Go to any beach park on a Sunday afternoon, and smell the hibachis all over the place! Come to the mainland... all hot dogs & hamburgers. I miss it.

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

the real question is why are so many people allergic to peanuts now?

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There are a lot of theories, some make better sense than others. Everything from how our foods are processed compared to decades prior, to cleanliness and vaccinations.

The really confusing part is that the peanut allergy rate in places like China, where peanuts are typically boiled rather than roasted, is not as high.

My oldest is peanut allergic, and let me tell you, at least in the US, trying to find peanut free cupcakes, cookies, granola bars and chocolate is a pain in the ass if you have to rely on the packaged stuff.

[ratgirlny]

What I don't get is why the kids have to have all these in-school food parties anyway. I don't recall any parents EVER bringing food in for a party back when I was in school, in the 60's. It just wasn't done. Now, it seems like my kids are eating those disgusting packaged cupcakes every week because of someone or another's party. And the teacher sponsors these "lunch bunches" where she invites about 5 kids at a time, and the parents have to send goodies in. I send in fruit cups (because that is all I have on hand and I only get one day's notice), and the other parents send in bags of Fritos, and more of those god-awful cupcakes!

[Toliver]

What I don't get is why the kids have to have all these in-school food parties anyway. I don't recall any parents EVER bringing food in for a party back when I was in school, in the 60's.

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And I recall the opposite. During my elementary school years (San Diego in the '60's), we had "room mothers", a volunteer parent (usually a stay-at-home mom) who would supply homebaked cookies or, more often, homemade cupcakes and punch for our classroom parties. The parties usually coincided with a holiday (Halloween, Christmas, Easter, etc). I can't recall an end-of-the-year party although I am sure there must have been some.

And it's just not school parties with all the rules and reg's these days. My mom's hospital worker's retiree board can't have homemade anything present if their meetings are held within the hospital's meeting rooms.

[SuzySushi]

And by the way, I must address Suzy Sushi. I grew up in Hawaii, and we had the very best school lunches, compared to what mainland kids get. And... we're talking about a multi-cultural colony there. People in the islands know how to eat well. Go to any beach park on a Sunday afternoon, and smell the hibachis all over the place! Come to the mainland... all hot dogs & hamburgers. I miss it.

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I don't know how good the school lunches are -- my daughter, the little gourmet -- complains the pizza crust is too soggy! -- but they sure are varied. Typical lunches last month included rotisserie chicken, beef & bean burrito, chicken teriyaki with stir-fried noodles, creole macaroni, and the latest menu addition, curry! (DD loves curry, but says some of the other kids won't touch it -- a lot of kids from military families are in her school, so they didn't grow up in a multicultural environment.)

The school potlucks also tend to feature everything from the ubiquitous brownies and Spam musubi to stir-fried noodles, Vietnamese summer rolls, and fresh pineapple with li hing mui powder!

[sanrensho]

and the latest menu addition, curry!

Just out of curiosity, what kind of curry are they serving? A Japanese one made out of commercial roux? A southeast Asian curry?

[SuzySushi]

and the latest menu addition, curry!

Just out of curiosity, what kind of curry are they serving? A Japanese one made out of commercial roux? A southeast Asian curry?

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Asked my daughter. She says Japanese style curry -- mild, with a lot of sauce.