Edible Gifts for Kids: Candy, Cocoa and a Project
An edible gift for a child has two people to please. The child wants something bright, sweet and fun to open. The parent wants something they are happy to hand over. The gifts below aim at both: candy with clear ingredients, hot chocolate for cold afternoons, honey straws for kids past their first birthday, and a hot chocolate mix that a child can help make and give away.
Each gift has its listed price, and a table at the end sorts them by budget. Start with two questions for the parent.
Check with a parent first
- Allergies and diet. Ask before you buy. The notes below list gelatin, milk and wheat where the product details mention them, and the package label is the final word.
- Age. The CDC advises never feeding honey to a child younger than one year. Ask the parent, too, whether lollipops and hard pastilles suit a younger child.
Candy
Swedish candy is a good place to start for kids who like gummies. BonBon's Moomin Candy Clouds are soft, foamy pillows coated in sugar, with strawberry and blueberry notes; they contain gelatin, and the label notes they may contain wheat (shop BonBon Moomin Candy Clouds, $6.00). BonBon's Sweet Wild Strawberry Fish are a vegan, gluten-free take on the classic Swedish fish (shop BonBon Sweet Wild Strawberry Fish, $8.00). For a bigger bag, So Sweet's Red Mix gathers strawberry, raspberry and cherry candies, sour, chewy and soft, in a heat-sealed 8-ounce bag (shop So Sweet Red Mix, $16.00).
For a gift that keeps its container, Bonbons Barnier's fruit lollipops come in a tin printed with lollipop characters around Paris, Eiffel Tower included (shop the Barnier lollipop tin, $20.00). The empty tin can hold crayons afterward. The Swedish candy guide explains the Saturday candy custom behind these bags.
Hot chocolate
A jar of hot chocolate is a gift the whole family drinks. Dandelion Chocolate, a bean-to-bar maker in San Francisco, makes its house hot chocolate mix from its 70% chocolate ground fine, and the maker says it is the mix behind the American-style hot chocolate in its cafés. The ingredients are cocoa beans and cane sugar, and the mix is whisked into milk, cream or a dairy alternative (shop Dandelion house hot chocolate mix, $20.00). Burlap & Barrel's Royal Cinnamon Hot Chocolate blends Peruvian cacao, panela cane sugar, sea salt, vanilla and its Royal Cinnamon; it whisks into hot water or simmers with milk (shop Royal Cinnamon Hot Chocolate, $23.99).
Honey straws for kids past their first birthday
Savannah Bee Company's honey straws are thirty sealed straws of acacia honey from Hungary, a size that fits a lunchbox (shop Savannah Bee acacia honey straws, $17.00). A bundle of five tied with ribbon makes a classroom-sized gift for kids past their first birthday.
Something to make together
The gift that lasts longest is the one a child helps make. A hot chocolate mix is an easy first project: an adult chops the chocolate, and the child sifts, scoops and fills the jars, then writes the tags. The homemade hot chocolate mix recipe gives the weights for 16 cups and the serving line for the tag.
The kit: Valrhona's cocoa powder, 100% cocoa with no sugar and a warm red mahogany color (shop Valrhona cocoa powder, $25.00); a 70% dark bar to chop, such as Ocumare from Amano, a Utah bean-to-bar maker, made with cacao from the Venezuelan village of Ocumare de la Costa (shop Amano Ocumare 70%, $13.00); and a red gift box with a magnetic flap lid, 8 by 8 by 4 inches, to carry the finished jars (shop the red magnetic gift box, $10.00). Together: $48.00. Add sugar, milk powder and salt from the kitchen, and the child gets to give a gift of their own.
Stocking size
Venchi's Strawberry & Cream Crunch Pearls are single wrapped pieces of milk chocolate around a strawberry and cream filling, made in Italy with gluten-free ingredients (shop Venchi Strawberry & Cream pearls, $1.50 each). Four in a stocking come to $6.00. Pastiglie Leone's strawberry pastilles are small sugar candies colored with natural ingredients, in a pocket-sized pack (shop Leone strawberry pastilles, $6.00).
Edible gifts for kids, by price
| Gift | Kind | Listed price | Note for the parent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Four Venchi Strawberry & Cream pearls | Stocking | $6.00 | Milk chocolate |
| Leone strawberry pastilles | Stocking | $6.00 | Hard pastilles |
| BonBon Moomin Candy Clouds | Candy | $6.00 | Gelatin; may contain wheat |
| BonBon Sweet Wild Strawberry Fish | Candy | $8.00 | Vegan, gluten-free |
| So Sweet Red Mix | Candy | $16.00 | Full ingredient list on the bag |
| Savannah Bee acacia honey straws, 30 | Honey | $17.00 | For kids 1 and older |
| Dandelion house hot chocolate mix | Hot chocolate | $20.00 | Cocoa beans and cane sugar |
| Barnier fruit lollipop tin | Candy | $20.00 | Lollipops |
| Royal Cinnamon Hot Chocolate | Hot chocolate | $23.99 | Cinnamon and vanilla |
| Make-together cocoa kit | Project | $48.00 | An adult chops the chocolate |
Prices follow the listed price on each product page. Products ship across the continental U.S. from theambrosianpantry.com.
Short answers
What is a good edible gift for a kid? Something bright and easy to share, such as a bag of Swedish candy or a jar of hot chocolate, cleared with a parent first.
Can I give honey to a young child? The CDC advises never feeding honey to a child younger than one year. For older kids, honey straws are a small, tidy treat.
What food gift can a child make? A jar of hot chocolate mix: an adult chops the chocolate, and the child sifts, scoops, fills and labels.
The shop is at 263 Josephine Street in Cherry Creek, Denver.
See also: Christmas gifts for teens, for older kids who snack, sketch or have started to cook.
