birthday and food allergies

[tcookie]

i have a child coming my sons birthday who is allergic to fish, nuts, raw egg and icing sugar...help

sandwiches and pizza are safe, and you can get nut free cake from tesco

Ask him mum for suggestions or if not confident for her to provide a pick of box

How old are the children. I’d suggest talking to the parent of the child with the allergies. Many parents of primary aged kids will just send them with their own food and if they are v young stay with them as well.

If they are reasonable and responsible then they should be able to say what they plan and what they expect. Don’t agree to anything you aren’t comfortable with. Eg if they say they can’t have anything that may even contain traces of the allergens and they want you to know how to use an epipen then you can say no!

At a basic level apart from the icing sugar those should be fairly easy to avoid for party food but with the icing sugar the kid needs to be able to not eat any cakes and biscuits and if contamination is a risk then it will be harder. If traces are ok and the kid is 10 you should be ok. If traces are a problem and the kid is four then it’s going to be impossible to manage yourself without the kid’s parent there. Little kids get into a frenzy when they see the food in my experience and you can’t run a party and watch that one child like a hawk. Also it’s not fair to expect you to be the bad guy saying no if the kid is likely to strop. One option would be to ask the parent to stay.

My son is allergic to three of those, what are you planning on having?

I always make my son cakes to have at home as it's pita for others to deal with. I can find a chocolate cake in a mug (made in the microwave) if you're interested. My son loves it.

Btw I always stay and ask if they want me to supply food. I'm pretty good at policing it though as I know a lot of brands he can/can't have

Sorry posted too soon!

DS is used to having his food policed so there is no dramas there.

Also clarify the icing sugar issue. It’s very specific and not one I’ve come across before. You should ask if other sugar is ok as if there is a general problem with sugar then they may not be able to have eg bread in sandwiches. Ask if it’s a specific component added to sugar when it is icing sugar that is the problem and where else it might be found.

To be candid the others are all fairly common allergens and depending on the severity relatively easy to avoid and also easy to spot on ingredients lists. Icing sugar isn’t one I’ve come across before and the cynic in me wonders if that’s been mentioned as the child doesn’t like icing.

I should add here you have to take any allergy seriously. Never make the call that someone’s just being picky and using it as excuse. That puts people with allergies at life- threatening risk. Hence it’s really important to understand exactly what is going on with that before you agree you can handle it.

Hi my sons friend is 10 and mum has said that asda/lidi own branded Margherita pizza is fine. She has said that she can provide food so I think I might be going down that route

thanks for all your advice

I think the icing sugar may need to be avoided because there is a product called Royal Icing which is icing sugar and powdered egg. My dd is allergic to raw egg and reacts to this kind of icing sugar and has also reacted to the little sugar decorations you put on cakes.

When DD had severe allergies and went everywhere with an epipen I always provided food. I used to make very similar food to the party food and send her with a platter of lovely things so she didn't feel left out.

I didn't expect anyone else to share the pain of severe allergy catering.

Loads of free-from/vegan foods on the market now.

@Pinkkahori thank you. That makes more sense. I was really struggling to understand that one. I hope I didn’t offend with my comment about being cynical. I have a DC at risk of anaphylactic reactions so always assume good faith and would never ignore an allergy claim but that one did confuse me a bit I’m glad I understand more now.

www.silverspoon.co.uk/faqs
The answer to question 10 on this link explains it.
When dd was diagnosed with her egg allergy we were given a list to avoid.
There are many things that contain egg that you wouldn't expect.
Jars of pesto, powdered gravy, so many things.