Red Ribbon Week is a time for schools and communities to come together and encourage healthy, drug-free choices. In this blog, you’ll find creative ideas to inspire students, build awareness, and make your celebration impactful.
Say Cheese!
Capture students as they pledge to stay drug free. Set up a photo booth in a common area of your school during Red Ribbon Week or during a rally and invite students to use it. Provide Gold Foil-Stamped Red Ribbons that they can wear for their pictures and keep.
Write On!
Challenge students to put their creativity to the test with an essay contest during Red Ribbon Week. Announce the contest at the beginning of the week and ask students to write about an activity they'd enjoy rather than doing drugs. Have teachers incorporate the essay writing into their curriculum and choose the contest winners in their classrooms. Let the winners read their essays during an assembly at the end of the week. Give all contest participants Red Ribbon Pencils and winners a Red Ribbon Week T-Shirt.
Impaired Vision
Give students the experience of using alcohol without really letting them drink it. Plan an assembly where local police officers talk to students about the dangers of alcohol use and drunk driving and provide students with "Drunk Goggles" that simulate intoxication. Hand out Drug-Free Temporary Tattoos to students at the assembly. Then, present the police officers with Drug-Free T-Shirts as a thank-you gift.
Be Your Best
Incorporate all aspects of well-being in your Red Ribbon Week observances. Be sure to include information on how kids can build self-awareness and explore emotional regulation strategies, since substance abuse can stem from the desire to reduce negative emotions. Give students Red Ribbon Bookmarks and Drug-Free Wristbands, which feature tips for how to be the best version of themselves.
The Choice Is Yours
Let students know that the choice to be drug and bully free is an easy one. Talk to them about choices they make each day, like being friendly to others and doing their schoolwork to the best of their ability. Explain that choosing to be drug and bully free is no different. Give each student a Anti-Drug Bookmark and other Red Ribbon Week Giveaways to reiterate how simple making positive choices can be.
Love Being Drug Free
Let your students share something they love that helps them stay drug free. For instance, a student could write something like, "I love to play sports, so I'm staying drug free." Have students write what they love on red construction paper heart cutouts and hand the hearts throughout the hallways of your school. Give each participant a Red Ribbon Pencil.
Show Some Respect
Highlight a different positive character trait each week of Bullying Prevention Month and incorporate how these character traits affect being a buddy, not a bully. Have teachers come up with activities that relate to the character trait, such as encouraging students to write a poem or researching famous people who embody those traits. Hand out incentives that reiterate key concepts of the character traits, such as items from our Red Ribbon Raffle Kits.
Take Time to Paws
Help students be mindful about making the choice to be drug free. During Red Ribbon Week morning announcements, read affirmations that encourage them to make healthy choices, such as "Each day, I make the choice to be drug free" and "Today I choose to take care of my health." Have students close their eyes and practice deep breathing. Then, distribute Red Ribbon Week Prize Packs or Red Ribbon Silicone Bracelets.
Think Positive for your gifts of appreciation!
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