One of the hardest things I've had to witness is watching my son interact at birthday parties. Many times we arrive and he can't have the ice cream, the cake, the pizza, or any of the goodies. I usually ask if I can look through their pantry for something he can have. Often he ends up with a graham cracker or a Ritz cracker with honey or peanut butter on it.
These situations really make it hard for your little one to belong and fit in. One idea that I want to start doing is to make a whole batch of chocolate cupcakes, frost them, and then freeze them. That way whenever he needs to go to a birthday party, I can just grab one of the cupcakes and send it with him. I also want to have the "So Delicious" ice cream on hand. It truly is "purely decadent" as its label states.
Another idea for birthday parties is to ask ahead of time what the meal will be. I have done this in the past and it has really helped. If the meal is pizza, then I can grab a frozen calzone (homemade - dairy-free) and at least he can have something that tastes similar. Another quick pizza is taking an English muffin or Bagel (READ THE LABEL!!!), spreading spaghetti sauce on top, adding a few pieces of pepperoni, and cooking it on broil for a few minutes. This is a very quick and tasty pizza. If pizza is too hard to make, then something similar is Hamburger Macaroni (www.milkallergycompanion.com). It is easy to make and he loves it. Our favorite hot dogs are the Hebrew National Hot Dogs. There is no dairy and they are DELICIOUS! I always like to have a few on hand in the freezer as they are a really quick and handy lunch that can be brought to almost any social setting. Preparation is the key to success with birthday parties.
At one birthday party, I was touched by the care that the mother took to make my son feel welcome. She called me ahead of time to double check ingredients. She ordered Papa John's pizza for the kids, and ordered a Papa John's pizza with no cheese on top just for my son. (Papa John's pizza crust doesn't have milk.) She also made the cake herself and made it dairy free. It is amazing how much people are willing to accomodate an allergy if they are just educated.
6 comments:
You can try and look for products with kosher symbols, that will help. Since people who keep kosher dont eat dairy or meat together, every product is marked even if it has the smallest trace of dairy in it. If it says pareve, it means there is no dairy. if you live in an area where people keep kosher, it's amazing how many products you can get that are dairy free. (Cheese, yogurt, ice cream, cake, crackers, etc...)
Absolutely! Thanks for bringing this up. I have a list of kosher symbols in this section of my blog:
Dairy-free Margarine and a complete list of dairy ... September 12, 2007
I love the Tofutti brand for ice cream sandwiches and cream cheese. Completely dairy free and so yummy:)
Birthday parties have always been so hard for us too. I learned early on to always have unfrosted cupcakes ready in the freezer so I could pop one out before the party, frost it up, add a few sprinkles - this always guaranteed a happy little girl at the party. I also always call ahead and check on any other food or candy that might be served so that I can take our own alternative.
That's great! Thanks for the tip.
I look forward to your interactive forum & discussing further what I am doing to make my life easier. I also have dairy allergy to all forms of dairy. It caused migraine headaches, which I had for years. I certainly understand the challenge of finding replacements for dairy products. I look forward to interacting with you & others with the same problem. Butterfly
I am learning so much from reading your posts. I know these posts are old but they are new to me. Here I thought I was okay getting Papa Gino's pizza for my daughter with no cheese on it, I never even thought about if the crust had milk in it. Thank you
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