Companies selling chips and treats for lunchboxes offered back-to-school packages with space for parents to write notes to their children, with an option to add braille stickers on Rice Krispies Treats.

Frito-Lay Variety Packs, including Cheetos, Doritos and Lay’s potato chips, included a bubble of white space for the messages, and Rice Krispies Treats from Kellogg Co. had a heart-shaped spot for writing.

For the first time, Rice Krispies offered braille stickers and recordable audio boxes to share messages with children who are blind or have low vision. Customers could choose from sayings including “You’ve got this” and “Love you lots.”

Rice Krispies partnered with the National Federation of the Blind to create the “Love Notes,” which also include boxes that hold marshmallow squares and play 10-second messages when opened. New messages can be recorded over old ones, making the boxes reusable. The stickers and boxes were offered for free through the brand’s website until the supply ran out. 

Jessica Waller, vice president of sales and co-chair of Kapable Business/Employee Resource Group at Kellogg, says that the company has a connection to supporting customers with vision impairment due to the legacy of founder W.K. Kellogg, who lost his sight for the last decade of his life, yet continued to work at the company for several years.

“Inclusion is in our DNA and is now shared through Rice Krispies Treats ‘Love Notes,’” Waller says. “Everyone is important, and we want each child to be able to feel loved, supported and acknowledged.”

PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay paired its “Snackable Notes” packaging offered through Sept. 9 with an online message-writing contest and a partnership with Amazon’s Alexa smart speaker and app, allowing parents to ask for funny, encouraging or thoughtful note ideas. 

For more information, visit  www.ricekrispies.com, www.fritolay.com