Thanks for the idea! We have come up with one alternative idea so far. We are going to do "spirit grams" coinciding with spirit week at the school. We are going to have things like temporary tattoos with the school name or mascot that the kids can purchase or give to their friends. Our principal isn't too crazy with the idea of little toys in the school, but he was OK with the tattoos. We still need to come up with an idea for something to do around the holidays.
We've heard of schools doing little inexpensive toys that are considered cool enough for middle school in place of candy grams. You are right -- pencils and stickers probably won't cut it. At a nearby middle school, they sold tiny rubber ducks and that was a big hit. Go figure!
We can put your question out on Facebook, too, to see if we can get some other parents to weigh in!
Our middle school PTO has done candy grams for years as a small fundraiser and also a fun thing for the kids. For 25 cents, they would get a special piece of paper they'd address to a friend or even a teacher and we'd tape on a little piece of candy and deliver it for them. Sometimes parents would even send in money and buy them for their kids. We've always done this for Halloween and the Winter Holidays, and the school's student council has done it for Valentine's Day. This year due to a new school health initiative in our state, we will no longer be able to sell candy. So... I'm trying to figure out some alternative to the candy in our candy grams. Since this is middle school, things like pencils and stickers don't go over very well. Any ideas out there?