Remember when you were a kid in school how much you looked forward to someone’s birthday because they’d bring in Twinkies, or cookies or cupcakes? Well, kids these days are having a lot less fun, with unhealthy snacks banned from most classrooms, but one school district in Illinois has taken things to a new extreme, and has now banished all food from school celebrations.

That’s right, schools in the Glen Ellyn area will no longer allow food to be involved in any sort of celebrations, including birthdays, Halloween, and other holiday gatherings. Instead, the district is pushing for “alternative non-food classroom celebrations” like games and such, in the hopes kids will stop associating food with fun.

“It’s about the celebration itself,” superintendent Paul Gordon tells “Today. “We just don’t feel that food has to be the focal point.”

Recent USDA guidelines are stricter when it comes to what snacks are served in schools, but it doesn’t go so far as to ban food from parties, but Gordon sees the ban as a way of promoting healthier attitudes towards food. He also says it’s helpful for students with allergies, who would often skip parties out of fear of coming in contact with something they were allergic to.

Source: Today