Healthy Eating at School

Healthy Classroom Celebrations

Make the mood, not the food, the focus of the celebration! Classroom events can be fun and exciting with an activity, a small gift or a healthy food choice. When school celebrations do involve food, provide healthy options and ensure that the food is safe and served in appropriate portion sizes.

Ideas for your next classroom celebration:

Small school supplies such as pencils, erasers, bookmarks or stickers
Purchase a book for the classroom or school library and read it to the class
Plan extra activity time outside or in the gym
Frozen fruit or yogurt bars
Fruit kebobs or cut-up fruit with vanilla yogurt dip
Vegetables and dip
Yogurt or yogurt tubes
Cheese strings
Chocolate milk
Air popped popcorn and fresh fruit
Pizza on whole wheat crust with vegetable and lean meat toppings

Benefits of offering healthy foods and beverages

Reinforces the classroom healthy eating education
Teaches students that healthy food can be “fun food”
Keeps students’ teeth healthy
Promotes healthy eating within families
Fosters a school environment that values and supports healthy eating

Developed in collaboration with Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit

Healthy School Fundraising

Choose activities to raise money that are unrelated to food, or that offer the healthiest food and beverages. These activities can be just as profitable and popular as the more traditional chocolate sales while offering a healthy option. The Ministry of Education, School Food and Beverage Policy (P/PM 150) supports positive, healthy messages taught in the classroom by promoting healthy food choices and non-food items for school fundraising ideas even if they occur off school property.

Tips and Ideas

Promote quality products (e.g. oranges that are in season)
Offer competitive prices
Offer product samples to view and if possible, taste
Keep your community motivated and involved in your fundraising; advertise in the school newsletter, newspaper and community centre, and on outside school signs
Mix it up. Select from a range of different activities throughout the year (e.g. family-oriented, physically active ideas or helping others in the community) instead of relying solely on food sales

Healthy School Fundraising: Ideas Beyond Food

Collect donated items for a garage sale or hold a penny sale
Hold a silent auction featuring the products and talents of local businesses (e.g.
round of golf, haircut, gift baskets, manicure, etc.)
Produce and sell an annual school calendar
Sell raffle tickets for a donated prize (e.g. local grocery store, garden nursery, sports
equipment, etc.)
Charge a small admission fee for a school dance, sports event, etc.
Ask students to collect pledges for a reada-thon, jump-a-thon, walk-a-thon, etc.
Hold theme days where students pay to either dress up in their pajamas, etc., or have a crazy hair day
Hold a raffle for gift baskets with different themes
Gift cards
School spirit days
Evening events (e.g. family movie, trivia, bingo nights)
Rummage sales (e.g. used books, equipment, clothing)
Active ideas (e.g. treasure/scavenger hunt,
Amazing Race, basketball competition)
Rent-a-helper (e.g. rake leaves, paint fence, gift-wrapping)

Links and Resources

Additional Fundraising Ideas

Additional Resources

Eat Great and Participate (Healthy eating for student athletes)
Healthy Schools: Trans Fat Standards Regulation
Nutrition Guidelines (Ministry of Children and Youth Services) (Healthy eating at school including healthy classroom rewards)