My turn to take snack for the soccer team.  I hate taking snack.  Do you actually like taking a snack?  Don’t get me wrong, I am known as “The Snack Queen.”  But I don’t like it.  (Please make sure and read the whole post.  I am full of love and affection, not just sarcasm.  But I am dripping today.)

♥  I don’t like that I have to work so dastardly hard to make a whole foods snack fun.  (How can I make this apple just as appealing as Oreo cookies?  Hmmm.  Let me think.  Let me think.  Apple fritters.  No, that won’t work.  Apple pie.  No.  And think…)
♥  I don’t like the extra trip to the grocery store.   (Oh, shoot.  It’s our turn for snack.  Just when is that going to fit into our day?)
♥  I don’t like seeing kids waste the grapes I brought.  (Hey, those things are organic!  I feed your kids nothing less than the best!)
♥  I don’t like snacks interfering with lunch and dinner.  (“I just can’t understand why Sammie won’t eat his meatloaf and peas.  He just doesn’t eat anything.”  Yeah, right.)
♥  I don’t like that kids always have food in hand.  (It’s 8 o’clock.  Breakfast.  10 o’clock.  Snack.  12 o’clock.  Lunch.  2 o’clock.  Snack.  4 o’clock.  Snack.  6 o’clock.  Supper.  8 o’clock.  Snack.  Hey, if you need medical reassurance that it’s okay to just feed your child three hearty meals a day with just one snack, I’m here to provide it.)
♥  I don’t like the covertly competitive nature of snacks.  (You know what I mean, moms.)
♥  And yes, I don’t like the snacks you bring.  (And I heard YOU whining about some mom looking at the label, worried about her kid’s food intolerances.)

But here it is.  A nice way to package any whole food and make it just as much fun as an Oreo cookie.  If I catch you Pinnin’ this and puttin’ Oreo cookies in there, I will…I will hunt you down.  I will stare you in the face.  And I will–
CRY.

How to Package Any Whole Food For Soccer or Any Other Snack-Requiring Event

• Make baseballs, volleyballs, softballs, tennis balls.  Make spider webs, pumpkins, sunshines, bugs.
• Fill with grapes, mandarin oranges, frozen blueberries, cut strawberries, raisins, trail mix, almonds, tiny baby carrots.  Not Goldfish.  Not fruit snacks.
• Don’t be makin’ fun of my soccer balls down here.  I had three helping hands, and they did GREAT!

Items Used:

Those are Solo 3 and 1/4 ounces plastic “soufflé cups with lids.”  Any smaller, and you won’t be fitting any snack in there.  I bought them at a “Cash and Carry” store that services caterers.  I looked, and you can get them on-line.  This is not what I used, but it looks the same:  Reditainer Plastic Cups.

And that’s the end of the soccer story for this year.

PS:  I am the daughter of a woman who always made sure my teams and classes had snacks, albeit NOT nourishing ones.  I always thought my mom was so cool because she was there for me and added those loving touches.  So I am inwardly searching to keep my “snack revolution” in-line with the specialness that snacks can and do add to a child’s life.

Peace, love, and joy to you and your life.

Terri