“My daughter’s school principal is requesting ideas for alterna- tive snacks for parents to send to school to celebrate their child’s birthday, rather than the usual cake/brownies, etc. Do you have any handouts/suggestions that I could use?”– Mary Therese Maslanka, RD, LDN, Registered and Licensed Dietitian, Mount Prospect, ILOur guidelines:

• Desserts should have fewer than 100 calories.
• Parents can make it quickly.
• Kids want to eat it
• Can’t make too much mess

Our treats below ring in annually at about 2,500 calories and this saves, on average, about 8,000 calories per child per school year, which is quite a bit.Use candles, sprinkles and decorator’s frosting for a fun, festive touch. It is best to offer a variety of cookies and fruit - even if you had the perfect ice cream cake there are kids who don’t like that - they always love a choice.Here are 4 different presentations:Rice Krispies Bowl - 90 calories each ($3.99 for 16 of them) Arrange in a bowl and unwrap one, placing it in the center. Dec- orate with frosting and a candle for a treat that is easy to serve.Dip Me Sheet - 60 calories per serving ($12 for cookies and fruit) Place a variety of fruits, cara- mel dip and vanilla wafers in an attractive square pan. Decorate with balloon candles.Newton’s Fruit Cake - 85 calories cookie/fruit ($12 for cookies, fruit) Place cookies around the outside of the pan and fill with dried or fresh fruits. Add sprinkles and then adhere 8 candles to the tops of the cookies with frostingRice Cookie Cake and Fruit - 50 calories cookie/fruit ($5 for rice cakes and berries) Arrange them in bowls and garnish a few with frosting and candles – yummy!One more idea: cut layers of cake out of a melon and decorate with grapes and berries on skewers.You can also see these in greater detail on foodandhealth.com - click on What’s Cooking and then Happy Birthday to You.