"okay...but why are you doing this for us?"

"m'am, it's a long story...they have my files. Also, I am recording you. Who wants breadsticks?!"

Someone apparently got arrested for offering candy to kids though, so I wouldn't count on it.

https://www.shawlocal.com/2020/10/26/man-charged-with-disord...

Maybe not arrested, but you are pretty likely to have an unpleasant interaction with the police at a minimum if you're walking up to kids and asking them to come with you. Honestly the best way to do this (as in least likely to interact with the police) in the U.S. would be to hire actors -- which would feel awfully scummy to me, but that's honestly the safest way to do it.

Now, if it asked you to buy some pizzas and just hand them to some less fortunate kids, you could probably do that without interacting with the police. You'd still need to be careful, but it could probably be done.

OK, show us how it's done

it's unfair but a woman may be able to pull this off with kids that live on her street with parents she's at least waved at. A man? not so much, and the police will definitely be engaged.

Not in most of the world, but I could definitely see someone get arrested (or worse) for that in the US.