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6 Min
13/11/2025.jpg%3Ffmt%3Dwebp&w=1080&q=60)
Children’s Day is a sight of joy every year as schools fill up with colourfully dressed kids, abuzz with excitement. The day is marked by performances, games, and, most importantly, the sharing of sweets and treats in many schools. Teachers, parents, and communities partake in this tradition, making the day special for every child. In fact, one might just say, it’s one of the sweetest food holidays of the year!
In India, 14 November marks Children's Day. Unlike most holidays where sweets play a supporting role to ritual or religious observance, here, they're the main event. Children’s Day is as much about joy as it is about tradition, and nowhere is that more visible than in the sweets shared across schools and homes. The day turns ordinary treats into symbols of care and celebration. From simple homemade laddoos to regional favourites like rasgullas and barfis, these treats capture the spirit of the day. It’s a celebration that quietly honours childhood, making the simple act of sharing sweets feel special.
The world celebrates Children's Day on 20 November 1954, which was established by the United Nations. The date is symbolic, as the global body also adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) on the same date. India also used to follow this tradition until 1964.
But after the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru’s passing, the Indian parliament proposed to change the date to his birthday on 14 November from 20 November. Nehru was affectionately called ‘Chacha Nehru’ by children, and as Prime Minister, he wanted to create an atmosphere in the country where there was more focus on children and their welfare.
Nehru often wore a fresh red rose on his coat after his wife Kamala Nehru's death in 1936, keeping her memory alive – the rose became synonymous with his warmth and affection towards children, representing his belief that children are like buds in a garden needing nurturing. This wasn't just political theatrics. Nehru established the Children's Film Society in 1955 exclusively for children, creating educational and entertaining films and television shows, and demonstrating his commitment went beyond rhetoric.
Students don't wear regular uniforms to school on Children's Day – they are asked to put on their best dresses and are treated with sweets, gifts, and sometimes a special lunch. Teachers also put on cultural shows exclusively for this day – drama, dances, singing and charades. Some parents also present gifts and offer special delicacies to their kids on this day.
As for sharing candies and sweets in general, the roots lie in the cultural DNA of the country itself and a simple truth — most kids, if not all, love sweets. While on most days, even other festivals, parents and teachers take care not to let the child overindulge and harm his gut health or teeth, Children’s Day offers a fun, free pass. Additionally, sweets have always been part of celebrations in India, and no, it’s not just because of our universal love for desserts. There’s history at play. India was the first country to refine sugar around 2500 years ago. Since then, they have sneaked their way into mithai. Aside from sugar, milk, and ghee tend to be used in general in many sweets and are considered 'sattvic,' meaning pure. Thus, combinations of sugar, milk, and ghee make up sweets that are readily distributed to children. Some of these sweets are also a way to offer additional nutrition and sustenance to children, especially in government schools situated in impoverished areas.
While not universal, there are specific sweets you might remember eating on Children’s Day, no matter which part of the country you come from. These mithai become a celebration of innocence and youth. These sweets have still not lost their appeal alongside the pots of candies, toffees and chocolates that are distributed on this day.
A sure-win on any celebratory table, gulab jamun consists of soft milk-solid (khoya) or paneer dough balls, deep-fried and then soaked in fragrant sugar syrup. It’s often cited as the country’s most popular sweet, topping festive orders for its comforting flavour and universal appeal.
Originating in East India, especially Bengal and Odisha, Rasgulla is made by rolling cottage cheese (chenna) into soft, spongy balls and steeping them in light sugar syrup. Its light texture and syrupy sweetness make it a refreshing option among heavier mithai, and on Children’s Day, it adds regional flavour and variety beyond the ‘usual’ sweets.
Barfi (or burfi) is a broad category of fudge-style sweets, which is why every kid must have had this at least once. It’s made from milk or condensed milk, sugar, ghee, with flavourings like pistachio, cashew, coconut or cardamom. Because it’s easily cut into squares or diamonds and distributed, barfi fits right into home celebrations.
For a little visual fun and treat-time excitement, jalebi brings in the bright orange coils of fried batter soaked in syrup. On Children’s Day, it can double as a playful snack as well as a sweet, particularly good in informal or outdoor celebrations where kids might enjoy something crisp, sticky and fun to eat.
Ladoos are spherical sweets made in many variations: gram-flour (besan) laddoo, motichoor laddoo, coconut laddoo, etc. Their round shape and easy portioning make them perfect for giving each child a sweet treat on Children’s Day. Plus, the many flavour variants allow inclusion of regional tastes or dietary modifications if needed.
Celebrations around Children’s Day often include more than just sweets. In some schools (for example, in a city like Jamshedpur), the event becomes an outreach moment: students and teachers collect sweets, chocolates and biscuits to donate to shelters or under-privileged children, turning the treat-giving into a community gesture of sharing. This adds value to the day by showing sweets aren’t just for indulgence – they can also support inclusion and outreach.
Diwali drowns you in sweets for five days, until people can't look at anything sweet for days. Holi has its gujiyas, Eid has its seviyan, Ganesh Chaturthi has its modaks, but these sweets serve the gods first, children second.
Children's Day inverts this hierarchy. The celebration is not just about giving gifts or throwing parties – it acknowledges the unique needs and talents of every child and creates a safe and supportive environment for them to thrive. The sweets aren't religious offerings that trickle down to children after satisfying divine appetites. They're direct transfers of joy, one generation to the next.
Nehru famously stated, “Today's children will make the India of tomorrow. The way we bring them up will determine the future of the country”. Every sweet and snack hamper distributed on November 14 carries this weight – not as a burden, but as a promise. The sweetness isn't just sugar dissolving on tongues; it's adults acknowledging that children deserve joy, not contingent on good behaviour, academic performance, or religious observance.
That's what makes Children's Day India's sweetest food holiday – it's the only one where the sweets flow downward unconditionally, where childhood itself is reason enough for celebration, and where a nation pauses to say: you matter, and here's something delicious to prove it.