What snacks do you all give to your children? Please help!

[GreeneyesSL]

Hi there,
My sister's children are coming to stay with us for the week and I'm tasked with the packed lunches and they also have a movie night on Friday! What do people give as snacks for packed lunches, and what sharing snack would you have for children for a Friday night treat??

Please help!

Are there any allergies/ foods they don't like? Could you not ask your sister what she gives them usually? There's no straight answer to give you as every child is different - my DC eat veggie sticks like they'll be outlawed tomorrow but friends DC always want chips/muesli bars/ biscuits etc

Before i get flamed - yeah guys obviously my children aren't perfect they enjoy chips and biscuits as much as the next kid. But right now they prefer carrot and celery sticks with hummus. I'm sure next week they'll want something different 😂

How much do you care about the snacks being healthy? Just want to gauge before I suggest all my ones and get flamed for pushing my agenda when I could have just said 'packets of hula hoops' etc

I think it depends on the age... when younger you don't want them filling up on empty calories, when older, they appear to have a snack/pufding stomach much the same as me

Mine are 8 and 9, Saturday night snacks could be maltesars, celebrations, minstrels, popcorn, crisps, cheddars, twiglets.... if I wanted to be healthier it would be hummus, veg sticks and dip, breadsticks, chopped up fruit. Sometimes a bit of both.

Oops- packed lunches they like kitkats, mini flapjacks, crisps, mini cookies, chopped pepper, carrot, grapes, tomatoes, apple.
Some kids like cheesestrings, frubes etc in their packed lunch but mine don't like dairy getting warm

Something savoury: bread sticks, rice cakes, salted popcorn, cheese crackers, mini quiche etc...

Something dairy: Cubes of cheese or shop-bought cheese portions or a Frube

Some veg: Cherry tomatoes or carrot sticks

Some fruit: Grapes, Dried apricots or a banana

A sweet treat: Malt loaf, sugar free jelly, cereal bar, mini muffin, fairy cake or a flapjack finger.

For the Friday evening snack I'd do hot chocolate, ideally made with sugar free hot chocolate powder and Sainsbury's sugar free marshmallows (so they don't get hyper before bed!). The milk makes them sleepy (win win!). You can get Crusha sugar free milkshake syrups from most large supermarkets. My DD likes hot milk made with Crusha sugar free strawberry with a few of the marshmallows on top!
I've learnt to my cost that a salty snack before bed just makes them thirsty in the night and a sugary snack makes them hyper before bed!

Sometimes as a change to hot chocolate we make these (see picture) www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/chocolate-covered-banana-pops-recipe-2013098 but with Rice Krispies instead of nuts on them.

Ask the parents, OP. Guesses are too wild, otherwise.

Two of mine were fruit fiends, so I would have asked for that, but they wouldn't have touched cherry tomatoes.

"Hot" chocolate barely above room temp for mine at younger ages.

My fussy youngest would have had (some types of) biscuits & (some types of) crisps. Not other stuff listed here.

if they were coming to mine and my sister was not one of those "no sugars or unhealthy foods for my children(lighthearted we)weirdos"
then id treat them.spoil them as an auntie should obviously not mad.
movie night popcorn.pizza.choc digestives and Cadbury fingers
sharing bags of maltesers and minstrels.or if they are old enough give them so money enough to get snacks so they get a little walk and time out too.maybe a tub of pringles.depending on whether they are swet or savoury likers.
for luncher. what do thye usually have.id stick to the same sandhwiches.usualy ham.cheese and tomato.tuna and cucumber etc.or if they have some nice baps on offer.wraps etc.some little tubs of strawberries banana and melon
tub with carrot stick and peppers tomato cucumbers.
if weve had pasta and leftover sometimes they've asked for that.
cold cheese toastie.
mini cheddars.
penguin.
kit kat or twix single or time out bar.
plus how are they as people.you want to trea tthem but not do thye go back home and give mum grief if she give different. make them grateful if u give em something different etc.
depending on how you usually feed them it could be healthier snack all week then treat Friday etc.
any more details?

My children’s favourites are
Those individual bags of mini breadsticks
Pombears
Cucumber sticks
Marmite rice cakes

Snack/treats in packed lunches that mine like: squeezy yoghurts/fruit&veg puree pouches/smoothie cartons, popcorn, breadsticks or carrots, pepper, cucumber and hummus, mini biscuits, tortilla chips, rice pudding/jelly/custard pots, blueberries, mini soreen bars.

Friday night special treats: sweets of their choosing (eg Kinder Joy, bubblegums, Haribo etc), tortilla chips and dips, olives, cheese, salami, pizza, hot dogs, popcorn, fizzy pop or hot chocolate. Not all together obviously!

I wouldn’t give anything to someone else’s children without checking first.

For Friday night movie - popcorn. Other snacks - mini babybel, fruit, breadsticks, small cake or a bag of crisps.

Movie night should also coincide with pizza night

Depends on the age. Cheese strings, any fruit, cereal bars, flapjacks. Popcorn for treat night.

What we give our kids is irrelevant.

Ask your sister what she gives and replicate that. In exact detail.

And then maybe add some optional surprises if you feel like it.

Mine like them chicken fridge raiders!

Are the packed lunches for taking to school? If so definitely check as some schools have rules about what can appear in a "healthy" packed lunch...

My 8 yr old today has ham sandwiches, cucumber sticks, 3 big pretzels, raisins and chocolate raisins. Generally they get carbs, protein, dairy, fruit, veg and something puddingy like biscuits or cake or today choc raisins.
On movie night mine get microwave popcorn and some kind of chocolate/sweet. Ds2 won't eat pizza unfortunately, or pizza would be great. When we make pizzas he just has butter/garlic with pepperoni topping instead of pizza sauce, he's a complicated little fella.
Our school has "rules" about what you can send in packed lunches but I'm not sure what happens if you break them.
Have fun OP.