You are organizing your child’s birthday party. You’ve got the decorations, purchased your child’s gift, the invitations are sent out and the menu is planned. You have put a lot of thought and effort into the details when you get an RSVP saying one of your child’s friends is excited about coming, but has an allergy.
Allergies and food sensitivities are increasingly common. Unless it’s your child who has these health issues, you may not be knowledgeable about how to accommodate dietary changes. Even if it is your child who has the allergies or sensitivities, adding another child to the mix who has different allergies or sensitivities can complicate things. To complicate things even further, you still want to provide a fun meal that everyone will enjoy and that will be memorable for all the children.
Some common foods that people react to include nuts, citrus, strawberries, eggs, gluten, dairy, soy, shellfish and corn. While nuts, citrus, strawberries and shellfish are easy to avoid, foods like dairy, gluten, soy and corn are very common ingredients in many packaged and prepared foods. With these ingredients being so common, traditional birthday party foods like pizza and hot dogs or a store-bought cake are no longer suitable choices.
Few people react to meats and vegetables, so these can be used as a starting point.
Here are some simple and fun options that should help you avoid most food reactions:
Meals
Dinosaur-themed party with two large platters. One platter is the meat-eaters platter and can be piled with chicken wings and meatballs. Keep seasonings simple, since some seasoning mixes can contain gluten. Sea salt might be all you need. The other platter is the plant-eaters platter and can be piled with all kinds of vegetables like cherry tomatoes, peas, carrots, celery, peppers and cucumber slices.
Knights and princesses party. Serve a meal cooked on ‘swords.’Place cubes of chicken or beef onto metal or wood skewers and grill or barbeque them. Depending on the age of the children, the ‘swords’may have to be removed from the table as soon as the meat is pulled off. You can also create raw or cooked vegetable skewers, or for a more princess-like meal, use a small heart or flower cookie cutter to cut peppers and cucumber slices into these shapes.
Outdoors party. You may want to hold a party outdoors. A bacon burger is always a pleaser - I have yet to meet a child who doesn’t love bacon! For quality bacon that is gluten-free and nitrate-free, visit a health food store or farmers’market close to home. Make the meat patties yourself, as store-bought versions may contain fillers. Bun options can include regular buns, gluten-free buns or a lettuce wrap. If doing a lettuce wrap, place the patty and bacon between two pieces of lettuce and wrap the burger in a piece of waxed paper to hold it together for eating. Simple!
Desserts
Fruit juice jello cake. If multiple foods need to be avoided, this dessert has you covered! Use a good quality, richly colored juice. I like to use the brand Just Juice blueberry, grape or sweet cherry juice, which is available from health food stores. Pour two cups of juice into a pot and bring just to boiling. Remove from heat and whisk in 4 tablespoons of plain gelatin, adding one tablespoon at a time. Add the remaining juice and pour the mixture into an 8” x 8” pan. It can also be poured into molds, but you may need to use more than one litre of juice depending on the size of the mold. Refrigerate until solid. When set, it will be much firmer than regular jello and can be picked up and eaten with hands once it’s cut. This ‘cake’ is firm enough to put candleholders into so the candles can still be lit and blown out.
The Internet is an excellent source for recipes, so do an online search for ‘gluten-free’; ‘egg-free’; ‘dairy-free cake’ or whatever your requirements are. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the choices available to you. Paleo websites and cookbooks are often excellent sources for people avoiding multiple foods.
Once you decide on your menu and find recipes to use, do a trial run of the meal before party day to make sure everything comes out to your liking. Doing so will ensure that you have something your child likes and that will be a hit at the party.
Tracey is a Calgary-based Holistic Nutritionist, former special education teacher and mother of three including one special-needs child. She specializes in a dietary approach for autism, ADHD, developmental delays and learning disorders, and is a GAPS certified practitioner. For more information, visit traceyreed.ca.
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