Snack day … the one day a month where you have to find a healthy snack to feed 20 small children that they will want to eat. It started simple enough 3 years ago. Back then, I was even excited about snack day. I remember scouring Pinterest for the perfect combination of healthy, cute, and edible for toddlers. I decided to make my own fruit strips. That happened one time. After that, I gave into my mediocrity and sent in applesauce pouches. But 3 years have passed and we are still dealing with snack day, and I have about 5 more years of snack days to figure out. There are so many reasons why I “can’t even” with snack day but here are my top five:
5) The Cost
I’ve never spent less than $30 on snack day. Since the schools want individual portions of everything and there are 20 something kids to buy for, I end up buying the big box of Goldfish packets. Then they also need us to send a drink, which means water or juice for all. The numbers never add up right, and I always end up having to buy an extra case of Goldfish or water.
4) Remembering Snack Day
I can barely remember what day of the week it is, never mind that we have snack day coming up. And when I do remember that it’s snack day, it’s usually 8 p.m. the night before, which means I have to run to Whole Foods, which means that snack day is going to cost me a small fortune since I can’t buy Goldfish (or anything really) in bulk there which brings us back to number 5.
3) Carrying The Snack
Snack day means that you just can’t roll through the carpool line in your pajamas. Nope not today, friend. Since your child can’t carry their backpack and the snacks, you have to walk them to the classroom. So be prepared to put on your best yoga pants and top knot, because today, you are getting out of the car.
2) The Stress
The very first snack day, I was a ball of nerves. Would my snack pass the discerning palates of the 2 and 3 year olds? Or would they all turn their nose up and refuse to eat the snack we provided? The last snack day, we sent in cheese sticks and water. Looking at that now, it sounds like prison food. And it’s not surprising that my daughter came home crying that day because no one liked her snack. To my defense, we are only allowed to send in water. The cheese sticks are all me though. You win some. You lose some.
1) Actually Forgetting Snack Day
This puts you on the Parent Wall of Shame. And I’ve been on it more than once (see number 4). We recently got an email from school that said something like this: “I understand that snack is an inconvenience, especially for working parents. Can you please send a replacement snack, so that we can replace the classroom snack that we are using for today?” Whoops. Guess this just got lost in the shuffle.
I know one day I will look back with nostalgia upon providing snack for a bunch of toddlers. But right now is not that time. Between getting to work on time and remembering to go through backpacks, snack day falls somewhere between shaving my legs and feeding the dog; important but not memorable.
Have no fear, you are not alone! I used to REGULARLY forget both kids snack day every single month (same day every month) and was regularly sent what I begrudgingly referred to as “snack bag of shame.” It was a giant lime green bag that said “YOUR SNACK DAY IS TODAY (meaning two days ago) PUT SNACK HERE!” I loathed having to bring a snack, but never have enough of a care if the kids ate it or not. Ha! So glad that their school now just includes it in one of those miscellaneous checks we had to write on book night