Diabetes Type 1 - children’s party food?

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My dd is soon to have her 6th birthday. She has invited 4 friends out to play and have a birthday lunch. One of her friends has very recently been diagnosed with Diabetes T1 and is still coming to terms with it. She might not come because she feels bad about the food she can’t eat and self conscious about checking blood sugar levels and maybe having to inject etc.

If she does come, I am trying to put together a party menu that is as diabetes friendly as possible so she doesn’t feel she is missing out on whatever other people are having.

I have looked at internet info, but wondered if anyone with first hand experience might be able to give me some suggestions?

So far I thought of:

Chicken drumsticks
Cheese cubes & pickled onions on sticks (straight from my 70s childhood, but beloved by dd)
Strawberries
Mixed berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries etc)
Toasted wholemeal pitta with hummus (or possibly refried beans, grated cheese, guacamole & salsa?)
Apple slices
Individual small packets of crisps? (I know potato isn’t ideal, but at least this way it’s an exact known quantity. Or not worth it?)
Salted nuts? Advice seems conflicted on whether this is okay?
Any other good ideas?

I should say there will also be a birthday cake and some party ring biscuits because dd has requested specially and it is her birthday, but i want to minimise the “missing out”. I can make the birthday cake with stevia rather than sugar if that would help? Sorry, i’m a bit clueless!

My dd is Type 1 and has been for 10 years since she was 2. It's really lovely that you've put so much thought into this, but most T1's can eat whatever they want these days, and she'll still have to inject insulin even with the menu you've prepared. Unless you cut out all the carbs and sugar (including fruit) she'll still have to do it (and I wouldn't recommend that anyway).

Have her parents said she won't be able to eat certain foods?

Hi, my advice to you would be to not worry too much.
Party's generally include a lot of running around especially at age 6 so Mum would benefit for not trying to keep her in range whilst she's there.
The only thing I would avoid during a party would be full sugar fizzy drinks, sweets like haribo. Everything else would be fine. Mum would probably give her child things like cocktail sausages, cheese, carrot sticks if she's trying to not make the child's levels spike but like I said as there is so much running around Mum will be trying to avoid the child going low at the same time.
The child will want to be like her friends so I would avoid making things just for her. There's nothing wrong with letting her child eat exactly what her friends are eating, she will just need to carb count to make sure the correct amount of insulin is given.
You're very kind to want to accommodate, it's not the easiest thing to understand.
I hope my post makes sense. Feel free to ask questions.

What might help is doing the food in party boxes or ready plated rather than a buffet, so she gets a set portion and it's easy to count carbs. I would avoid nuts with young children as a bit of a choking hazard.

Brilliant, thank you. Am adding cocktail sausages and carrot sticks to list. And yes, plating up definitely a good call.

I also remembered sugar-free jellies?

I hadn’t thought of the running around cancelling out some of the sugars anyway - hopefully there will be a lot of this as dd is getting some obstacle-course stuff from us for her birthday present

I haven’t had a proper chat to her mum yet, but she mentioned in passing that the little girl didn’t want to go to another party happening sooner, and one of the reasons was “she couldn’t have the cake etc” so i wanted to err on the side of caution.

In general, Would you all say it is better to have the lower GI foods i’ve mentioned, or better to have a more mixed standard “party food” (so probably the above plus a couple of chocolate fingers, part rings and a portion of birthday cake) but have it all exactly portioned out and have the carb info ready (as far as i can from packets) so mum can work out what’s necessary?

Low carb brownies are quite a good treat. Again she will still have to inject like with anything but it sounds like if they are not allowing cake etc they might be having issues controlling her sugars whenever she has anything high carb so a lower carb sweet treat might be nice?

Low carb brownies, you say?

...And if were to, purely hypothetically, want to try out low-carb brownies for breakfast in the spirit of scientific research, do you have any recommendations for recipes?

Afraid I don’t! Lost my recipe but there are loads online that use almond flour and I think you can get some with packets you just add water or similar to.

Ideally, you want ones that are less than 10g of carbs per brownie - that way if active she might avoid an injection.

To answer your other question above I think it will likely depend on where they are in her diabetes journey - ie are they being really strict on carb counting or on what she eats. Not all diabetes education is the same so they are probably still learning how to manage it and have a lot still to learn and anything you are able to do to make it easier will I’m sure be appreciated.

This sounds like a child who needs to get to go to a party and know that it will be ok! Dealing with diabetes is a steep learning curve and they may not yet have discussed much beyond dealing with everyday meals and food. I think your initial menu suggestions sound ideal, creating a fairly balanced selection. I'd be inclined to give the mother a copy and talk to her about it, ask if they've talked with their diabetes specialist nurse about parties yet, and say you were happy to talk with someone directly if it could help you work out what to provide so the child doesn't have to miss out.

Really lovely that you're thinking this through carefully for them.

Personally I wouldn't worry too much about boxing up portions. I've always found there's more waste as it's difficult to know what each child likes.

A good low carb age suitable lunch could include:
Cheese cubes
Yogurt- frube as an example
Sugar free jelly
Sandwich with ham in or cheese
Slices of ham rolled up
Cocktail sausage
mini scotch eggs
Pepperami if allowed
Carrot sticks
Cucumber sticks
Fridge raiders

I would avoid giving mine party rings if possible but chocolate is fine. Although if she wanted a party ring I'd let her have one. Like a previous poster has said it also depends on how strict she's being.

Oh, it is really hard to organize such parties with restrictions. But it makes the menu more interesting!