Why so many cupcakes?

I got a phone call the other day giving me a heads up that a mom was bringing in cupcakes to preschool for her son's birthday. She hadn't wanted to bring in a sugary treat, but knew all the other moms had been doing just that and didn't want her son to feel left out. Since she knew there were no safe bakery cupcakes for my son, she wanted to give me notice to provide some sort of safe treat if I so chose. I really appreciated her call, and set to work baking cupcakes (again). As I baked them, I thought how ironic it was. The school has a no-nuts policy and also does not allow homemade food, apparently due to allergy concerns (I can send in homemade snacks for my child, I just can't provide them to the whole class). As far as I can tell, the only allergic child in the class is mine, and these policies honestly aren't keeping him any safer. One mom's peanut-butter cookies were sent back home due to these policies, yet they serve cheese, crackers, pudding, milk, cupcakes, cookies, etc. all unsafe for the Wise Old Owl. What is being served is not as important as HOW it is served--kept away from him and cleaned up thoroughly at the end of snack time. (In an ideal world, they would only serve safe snacks, but I am realistic that most kids wouldn't like the same things as my picky child.) So anyway, there was the birthday child having store-bought cupcakes, and my child having delicious home-made cupcakes. And on my own child's birthday, there were no store-bought cupcakes that could be sent in, so we went with a safe brand of kettle corn (which he also loves). It all just seems so silly.

I am really not hugely opposed to sweet treats. I love to make baked goods. But do they really need so many treats at school? I don't remember ever bringing in cupcakes to school or any other child bringing in cupcakes when I was a kid. Somehow it's grown into this huge untouchable tradition and teachers are afraid of offending parents by not allowing birthday treats. Although I would rather see classroom birthday celebrations that do not revolve around food, I have plenty of other things to advocate for at this time. So I guess we'll go with it, but I am certainly thankful for the heads up so my son can be included.