We've done lots of sports at school and through town rec dept.  Have never heard of this.  We do not do it as far as I know.  They may do it in football for the seniors who have assigned cheerleaders, but I don't think so. 
I am LMAO on the Axe comment.  We are finished with the Axe phase Thank God! 

Well, on the bright side, that left it pretty much wide open, though, didn't it?   

Well, it supposedly recently was started -- and I don't know if it was to be before each/every competition or what . . . never got any "official" info on this.  So, half way through season?

If it is team member / student driven there has been ZERO info to the families -- but the team captain has only once sent emails when she was supposed to at beginning of season (regarding pre-season workouts).

This is high school and for a co-ed team.  I *think* the boys draw boy names and girls draw girl names, but I may be all wet on that.  (LOL, accidentally punning, for those who know . . . )

Besides the food allergy concerns, I also have concerns about those families who really don't have any extra $ to put into this . . . and there are a few of those families to consider in this instance.  (And some families with cultural differences on this as well . . . )

 

Superglue the lid of the shaker bottle. 


"spirt bags" are intended to be part of the team building/ comrardery of the team. The expected expense is usually low and yes it often centers around junk food. All the ones I have had to do were for young girls but I did things like embellished cheap flip flops. Hair ribbons in spirit colors. Bead necklaces, painted cow bells for noise makers, I sometimes added a single favorite snack but usually just a drink.

Most likely to sprit gift swap is "run" by the student leadership within the team and not the coach or faculty sponsor though they do likely guide them.

Love the magazine idea -- Sports Illustrated would have Olympics stuff likely right now, so that might be good. 

And since they have super late night bus rides, a small flashlight to read?

I did see a couple good ideas on Pinterest:

"Spirit Shaker" of water bottle filled with beads (school colors) and tied with school color ribbons.  Just wouldn't want somebody to take a swig of this on the dark bus thinking it was the REAL water bottle!!

~ ~ ~


OK -- time for some levity --

And, then, well there was this Google hit when I searched.  Guess we won't include any of these in the bag, LOL!
http://www.khou.com/news/local/Wharton-HS-cheerleaders-benched-for-putting-condoms-in-spirit-bags-229319751.html

Please do not put Axe body spray in the bag! That stuff is horrid and some schools have banned it entirely.

I've never heard of these, but I'd do fruit, some kind of granola bar if there's one that's pn free, water, and some dum dums probably....  I don't have any good non-food ideas for a long bus ride. Maybe a sports magazine?

My niece did them for cross country races.  They called them secret psych bags.  Their bus rides were usually very long so the bags contained a snack for before and after the race.  I think she usually did a piece of fruit, granola bar, water or gatorade and some sort of candy.  She has a friend on the team with allergies so she called me to find out what kind of candy would be ok.  If she knew the person well, then she also included an inspirational quote.