Coeliac party guest

[Oysterbabe]

DS is in reception and having a birthday party at the weekend. A little boy who is coming has Coeliac disease. Do you think it is better for me to make him his own little lunchbox of food or just put out some gluten free options and point out which things he can have? I've already bought a nice GF cupcake for him.
I want him to feel included but would also be mortified if there was accidental cross contamination or he ate something that made him sick. What would parents of children with food allergies prefer?

My DD is coeliac and I always send her with food as I am always worried about contamination. It is lovely that you have got him a cupcake though, I'm sure he will really appreciate it.

I'd do their own box of suitable foods
Have you spoken to his parents to see if there are foods/varieties he prefers/are safe?

You can get lots of crisps that are safe so those and fruit on the table then sandwiches and cakes get handed round on platters so you have control and can subtly give dc safe food.

Little jelly pots are popular too, and sweets that are safe. Then dc feels included target than singled out.

I would always send ds with his own food. Buffet food doesn't work for coeliacs because of the potential for cross contamination. Of you make a box watch out for the 'may contain' ingredients and remember you are looking for wheat, rye and barley.

I would speak to the parents as gf bread / cakes etc vary massively and some coeliacs ( my daughter included) are particularly fussy about which they will eat . It’s pointless you wasting money on stuff the child won’t eat when you consider a gf loaf is usually £2.50 +

For reception age kids, most would find it hard to understand the importance of avoiding cross-contamination. If you are going to put it all out, I would suggest having on a separate area and have someone policing the little grabby hands. Box sounds like the easier option. Would be nice if it could have similar foods to the "normal" food. Loads of supermarket gf food available these days.

If doing a buffet style party, do him a separate box of GF food. You can get lots of GF crisps etc but you don't want hands going into bowls that have just picked up sandwiches and sausage rolls etc and contaminating the gluten free items.
I am coeliac and a buffet is a coeliac's worst nightmare; even if there's plates of GF food, I won't risk it unless there's separate utensils for serving and I know people are aware. I guess at a children's party this won't be the case - better to be cautious and give the child their own special box 🙂

Ask the parents what the child likes and keep the food separated. GF is expensive! You may find that they will bring their own.

I’m coeliac and I take my own food!

I’ve had instances where people have catered for me. So they have made sandwiches with gluten free bread and pizza.

But they used the same butter to butter my bread as normal, same knife to cut them, used the same cutting board, cooked my GF pizza on the same tray as the non GF ones. So a lot of effort, but they didn’t realise that it was all contaminated.

Yes, some of it is just grim and so expensive.

I make little party boxes for each child- juice box, sweets, crisps, roll, cake etc. much easier to hand the boxes out than police who has what off a shared table.

My dc is allergic to multiple foods, and we always send the food with him. Some parents made an effort to provide some safe food, but I can't really trust them, tbh. Once he was sent home with shop bought safe food which he declined to eat at the party, which contained his allergen if you looked into the ingredients carefully. Cross contamination is other issue.

So I would speak to the parent, and ask what they want to do. Send the food in, or happy for you to provide some safe things they know he will eat.

Thanks everyone.
The mum did message me and offer to bring food but I told her it wouldn't be necessary. I'll make him a GF version of the party food and seal it away in a lunch box before I start preparing anything else.

At the risk of telling you how to suck eggs, don't forget to use a fresh butter/margarine and scrub the crap out of the chopping board first.

Thanks. The butter thing hadn't actually occurred to me but makes perfect sense. I'll have a think about any possible sources of cross contamination.

It's a lot to think about. When I walked out of the peadiatrician's office with a fresh diagnosis of coeliac for my son and all the new food rules spinning round my mind, I had to have a sit down and a good long think about how the hell to make him lunch 😁

A lot of this has already been said but the risk for cross contamination or food sharing among young children is probably your biggest problem. I'd either do each child their own box or at least do all communal food GF and then issue individual items to each child as appropriate. But with scenario 2, people touching gluten food and then attacking the buffet again will still be a potential issue unless you can make sure hands are washed. Possibly the little boy already knows not to share with friends and what he can eat, I know my DS who is 7 can read labels for me and has a pretty good idea. You can't share any prep or serving surfaces, trays, spoons, cutters etc. Surfaces need to be really well scrubbed down before making GF food which should then be completed before the "normal" food is prepared. Anything that has previously (at any time) had a gluten contaminated knife in it (butter, jam etc) is a no no as are wooden chopping boards which are difficult to adequately clean. Watch out for unlikely gluten in chocolate, haribos etc. Read everything. No "may contains" or "made in a factory that handles gluten". I'd definitely recommend asking the parents if you have an item in mind but are not sure.

Honestly OP you clearly mean well but unless you know what you’re doing it would be kinder to let the mum bring her own food as she’s already suggested, so you don’t inadvertently contaminate anything and make her child poorly

An individual box is best but I wouldn't eat anything you've constructed yourself. The risk of cross contamination is too high.
Pre-packaged all the way. You can get lots of individually wrapped snacks in the free from secrionand you could pick up a pre-packed GF sandwich from the lunch section in most supermarkets.
Small packet of GF crisps
Cheese string
Yogurt
Pre-pack sandwich
Pre-pack sweets (haribo are fine)
Pre packed cupcake or cake slice.

It’s a minefield! So many things that you just don’t realise unless you or a family member are coeliac.

Like a PP said, I would stick to pre packaged and keep it in the packaging.

Separate box.

Check labels for 'may contain.'

Be very, very careful about cross - contamination and use clean implements for everything.