Back To School Themed Foods and Treats

Back to school themed foods and treats that are easy to make and perfect for celebrating the first day or at a back to school themed party.

If you're kids are heading back to school, there's nothing like some special back to school treats for students to help set the mood and get them excited.  We've got lots of ideas for fun back to school themed foods that are perfect for a back to school party, class treats, or even as a treat for teachers during teacher appreciation.  We hope some of these easy back to school treat ideas will inspire you to celebrate at home or at school.  

1.Paper Sugar Cookies

We made regular sugar cookies -get our sugar cookie recipe here, and cut them into squares.  After they were cooled we iced them with white frosting and let the frosting set until the top was hard.  Then we used edible food markers to add lines to make them look like lined paper.  They're so cute!  You can even write a message on the "paper" cookie using the edible food marker, like your child's name or a back to school message if you wish.  Get all the details to make your own paper back to school sugar cookies here.

2. Apple Truffle Pops

We made easy truffles, put them on a stick and then dipped them in melted red chocolate.  While the chocolate was still wet, we added a green M&M candy to look like a leaf and a small piece of green liquorice to look like the apple stem.  These are so cute and delicous.  You could also use this same method to make apple cake pops instead of truffles if you prefer.  Check out the full recipe to make the apple truffle pops here.

3. Rice Krispie Treat Pencils

If you're a rice krispie treat lover, you will love these rice krispie treat pencils for celebrating back to school.  Make regular rice krispies, and then instead of letting them set in a pan, place the warm mixtue on waxed paper in long lines and use your greased hands to form them into long ropes.  Cut the ropes into pieces about 3 inches long  to form the pencils.  To decorate them, dip one end into melted pink chocolate to resemble the eraser on a pencil, and use melted milk chocolate to stick a hersey's kiss candy to the other end as the pencil tip.  Let the chocolate set and enjoy.

4. Back To School Trail Mix

This back to school trail mix is full of back to school themed ingredients like alphabet cookies, freeze dried apples, book worms that are actually gummy worms, teeny tiny chocolate chip cookies, a few sweet treats like mini M&M's in the primary colours, chocolate covered pretels, and chocolate covered almonds, along with salted mixed nuts.  It's the perfect treat for kids as an afternoon snack when they get home from school on the first day.  Or leave the nuts out of the recipe and use it as one of their school treats, or for a classroom party.  Get the full recipe for the Back To School trail mix here.

5. Chocolate Pretzel Pencils

These cute little pencils are actually pretzels dipped in chocolate.  Use large pretzel rods for this treat.  Melt some yellow chocolate and dip all but one end of the prezel into it.  Let is set on a piece of parchemnt paper.  Once it's set, dip the other end into some melted pink chocolate to resemble the eraser end.  Let it set.  

Lastly, use some melted milk chocolate to add a chocolate chip to the other end to look like the pencil lead.  Let them fully set and enjoy.

6. Apple Cinnamon Rolls

We love baking prepared cinnamon rolls to celebrate special occassions.  This time of year, we wanted to make a back to school version.  These would be a great treat for breakfast on the first day of school or as a sweet treat after school.  Shop for the prepared cinnamon rolls in the refrigerated section of your grocery store.  The first step to make them into apple cinnamon rolls, is to add some apple pie filling.  Use about 1 cup of canned apple pie filling and place it on a chopping board and use a knife to chop the apples into smaller pieces.  Then roll out the cinnamon rolls all in once piece and spread out the filling on top of them.  

Then roll up the cinnamon rolls and pull them apart gently into individual cinnamon rolls.  Place them in a baking dish and bake according to the package directions.

To make the apple red frosting, add a few drops of deep red food colouring gel to your prepared icing.  Once the cinnamon rolls are baked and cooled, spread them with the red icing.  Make a stem for your apple cinnamon rolls with a rolled cookie, and a leaf decoration from a piece of green construction paper.

7. Marshmallow Pencil Treats

These treats are easy to make.  Use coloured mini marshmallows and a toothpick to make them.  Thread the marshmallows onto the toothpick to look like a pencil, starting with a pink one to look like an eraser, then filling in the rest of the toothpick with yellow marshmallows to look like a pencil.  Finish off the end with a chocolate chip to look like the tip of the pencil.  These are not a good choice as back to school snacks for preschoolers or very young children.  This treat is best for older kids who understand not to eat the toothpick.  You can also substitute a piece of spaghetti for the toothpick.  Check out the recipe for making these marshmallow pencil back to school treats here.

8. Apple Donuts

Make your donuts look like apples for back to school.  Pick up some plain or honey glazed donuts at your favourite donut shop.  Also pick up some prepared frosting at the grocery store, or make your own.  Use a few drops of red food colouring gel to colour the icing bright red.  Apply it to the donuts to make them look like apples.  Add a gummy candy leaf and stem made from a pretzel stick.

9. Smart Cookie Chocolate Chip Cookies

We made regular chocolate chip cookies using premade dough from the refrigerated section of the grocery store.  Or you could use your favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe to make your own from scratch.  After they were cooled, we added some icing glasses using some black icing, candy eyes glued on with more icing, a smile mouth, and some rosy pink icing cheeks.  Our smart cookies are so adorable.  This idea is a fun one for kids to make themselves too.  See more Smart Cookie ideas from our Smart Cookie Back to School party here.

10. Pencil Cupcakes

This is one of our favorite back to school treats for kids.  Use a cake mix and follow the directions on the package to make cupcakes.  Instead of baking them in regular paper cupcake liners, bake them in a flat bottomed ice cream cone instead.  Be sure to only fill the cones about ¾ full so that they don't overflow.  Bake them according to the package directions for regular cupcakes.  Be sure to test them with a toothpick to make sure they're fully cooked before removing them from the oven.  Let them cool.

Once they're cool, dip the bottoms into melted pink chocolate to look like an eraser on the end of a pencil.  Let the chocolate set on a piece of parchment paper.  Once set, frost the top of the cupcake with yellow icing.  Make your own icing or use store bought and add some yellow food colouring to make it yellow.  Add a hersey's kiss chocolate on top to look like the tip of a pencil.

11. Candy Apples

Apples and back to school just go together.  So what could be better than a candy apple as welcome back to school treats for students?  Candy apples are not difficult to make.  Check out the recipe for full instructions on how to make your own candy apples here.

12. Pencil Gum

These are quick and easy treats for students on the first day of school.  Look for test tube containers at the craft store.  Plastic is a better choice for kids than the glass version.  Fill them up with gum balls, starting with one black gum ball, filling in the middle with yellow gum balls, and finishing with one pink gum ball, to resemble a pencil.

13. Caramel Apple Trifle

We love having a special back to school dinner on the first day of school to hear all about the day.  We always like to have a special apple dessert.  These caramel apple trifles are festive and delicious.  Check out the full recipe to make them with pound cake, apple pie filling, custard, caramel sauce, and whipped cream.  Get the full recipe for the caramel apple trifle here.  

14. Apple Floats

To make these special back to school apple floats fill a glass about ⅓ full of apple juice, add a scoop of vanilla ice cream, then top off the drink with ginger ale for a little fizz, and a drizzle of caramel sauce.

We hope these welcome back to school treat ideas inspire you.  They're perfect for celebrating at home with family, as part of your back to school themed party foods, or even as classroom treats.