Easy Back To School Snack Mix Recipe

This is a really easy recipe, the perfect cooking activity to do with kids.  Not only can they help you assemble it, no cooking required, but it would be fun to shop for the ingredients at your local grocery store together.  Have them pick out some of different flavors and ingredients to include, and be sure to let them add in some of their favorite snacks.  If your looking for snack ideas, we think kids will love a big bowl of our back to school snack mix to enjoy.

Alphabet Cookies

The first ingredient in our snack mix is alphabet cookies.  We found ours at Trader Joes.  If you can’t find these, look for other alphabet cookies at Walmart, or Earth’s Best.  These are the perfect back to school snacks.  Your kids will love looking for the letters to spell out their names, or other words as they snack.  The ones we used are cinnamon flavoured and pair perfectly with the apples we also included.

Mini Cookies

We wanted to add some mini cookies to our fun snacks.  So many of us grew up taking cookies to school as part of our lunches.  We used the Trader Joe’s tiny chocolate chip cookies, and they’re so good.  You could use any mini cookie that you like, such as mini chips ahoy, or oreos. 

Fruit

We wanted to include some real fruit in our snack mix and used freeze dried cinnamon apples.  The texture of the freeze dried apples is crunchy and they’re really delicious.  The cinnamon is a welcome addition as well, but if you prefer, they’re also available plain.  If you can’t find the freeze dried apples, or prefer the texture of dried fruit, then dried apples would be a great addition as well.  

I think raisins would be a great dried fruit to include as well, since they always make me think of the little raisin boxes that are perfect for a school snack.  You could include other dried fruits as well in the snack mixture.  If you’re looking to make it a little healthier, a great way would be to substitute some of the sweets for more dried and freeze dried fruit options like apricots, mango, cherries, cranberries, banana chips or whatever your family favourites are.

Chocolate 

We added in some milk chocolate covered pretzels.  They’re a family favourite, and milk chocolate is usually a good choice for kids.  Dark chocolate could be a good option too, or plain regular pretzels.

We also included some chocolate covered almonds, again their a family favourite.  There are so many chocolate snacks to choose from.  You might want to add plain chocolate chips to your mix, peanut butter chips, or mini peanut butter cups.

Candy

I wanted to add a little candy in our snack mix as a special treat.  If you’re looking for a healthier version, you could leave these out, or just add smaller quantities.  Colourful M&Ms seemed like a very back to school kind of addition in their bold primary colours.  We opted for mini M&Ms, but choose whichever is your preference.  Peanut M&Ms would be a good choice too, if you’re including nuts.

We also added in some gummy worms.  These made me think of book worms, and seemed like the perfect snack idea to include for younger kids, and gummy fans.

Nuts or No Nuts

We made our snack mix with lots of mixed nuts in it, since it’s one of our favourite salty snacks.  If you are making this snack mix to be part of school lunches, you may want to leave them out or substitute something that is allergy friendly and safe to bring to school.  The nuts in our snack mix helped create that salty sweet combo that so many of us love.  Ideas for substitutions for your salty snack mix are something like popcorn, snack crackers like goldfish or Annie’s cheddar bunnies, or any pretzel variety.

We included mixed nuts in our mix, and then added extras of almonds and cashews.  We used roasted and salted nuts, but if you don’t love the salty combination with the sweet, you could use unsalted nuts.

Heading into the school year and back to the school routine can be tough, but special school treats like this one can help kids get excited.  This is the perfect afternoon snack when kids get home from school, especially if you make the nut version.

The non-nut version would be great to include in a school lunch or as a school snack.  And a great surprise treat for kids too.

Back To School Gift

This snack mix would make a great thoughtful gift for kids or teachers.  Package some up in a cellophane bag and tie it tightly so that it’s airtight.  Use our free printables for packaging.  Choose a gift tag from our back to school free printable collection.  Just print, cut out, and tie on to the bag with a ribbon as the perfect little gift.

We also have a really cute free printable pencil gift box.  It would be perfect for gift giving to your kids or teacher.  Just seal the snack mix in a cellophane bag and then put it into the cute pencil shaped gift box.  

With back to school snack mix, life really is a party!

More Back To School Ideas

You might also like our Back to School Free Printables here.

Also check out Back To School Notebook Paper Cookies here.

You might also enjoy our Back To School Smart Cookie Party and Free Printables here.