Happy Birthdays 4 You
Relax, even with food allergies, your child can have a blast at parties.
Birthdays are a great time to share friendships, fun and food. And, as a parent of a child with food allergies, you can ensure that your child always feels a part of these celebrations. By delivering delicious menu additions and suggesting a few simple ingredient alterations you can help any hostess be the mostess, serving up a party where everyone gets their cake and can eat it too.
Lori Sandler, founder of Divvies, an allergen-safe bakery and also mother of a child with food allergies, recommends approaching birthday invitations with the right attitude. “Birthdays are a wonderful opportunity to turn a potentially isolating experience for your child into one where everyone has fun and feels included and no parent feels put out.” These few helpful guidelines might be just the recipe you’ve been looking for to put the fun back into birthdays...for you and your child.
Be an early responder
As soon as your child receives an invitation, rsvp. You want to make sure you give your child’s hosts plenty of time to comfortably work out food solutions. But for heavens sake, when you make that call, don’t just rattle off your child’s don’t-touch food list and then expect the person on the other end of the phone to deal gracefully with this sudden dearth of menu options. Instead, tell them about your child’s specific allergies and restrictions and then jump in with suggestions of what you could do to make her life easier and her party a huge success.
Divvies Chocolate Chip Pancakes
Remember: Playing with your food is allowed! Feel free to adjust ingredients so they meet your needs for taste and safety!
- 2 cups unbleached flour
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cup rice milk (soy milk or any other milk will work fine)
- 6 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
- 4 tablespoons unsalted, dairy free butter substitute, melted
- 2 teaspoons white vinegar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoons grated lemon zest
- 1 cup Divvies™ nut- and dairy- free chocolate chips
-
1 tablespoon unsalted, dairy free butter substitute for cooking the pancakes
- Some Confectioners sugar
- Pre-heat a griddle over medium-high heat while preparing pancake batter.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
- In a separate bowl, stir the rice milk, brown sugar, granulated white sugar, melted butter substitute, vinegar, vanilla, and lemon zest until smooth.
- Stir the liquid into the dry ingredients until almost smooth; there may be some lumps.
- Lightly "butter" the griddle. You may need to reduce the heat slightly. Gently drop the batter by heaping tablespoons, and cook until the bottoms are slightly golden in color and bubbles are forming on the surface. Add a few chocolate chips to each pancake; flip, and cook for about 1 minute more on the other side.
- Repeat, using up all the batter and chocolate chips. Sprinkle the pancakes with confectioners sugar and serve with maple syrup.
Notes
Lori loves to serve these with maple syrup
she buys every summer when the Sandlers pick up their oldest son, Adam
from camp in New Hampshire.
More pancakes than you need? Cut the recipe in half or just freeze what you don't need.
Be the ingenious-solutions person
Ask the hostess what food will be served at the party. If the party includes dessert only, go with the party’s theme when suggesting safe and delicious solutions. Never offer to bring something --- tell your hostess what you can make and then just bring it. That way the hostess does not feel guilty taking you up on an offer. Make sure that the dessert you bring not only tastes great but looks intriguing and festive. And that means serving platter included. Don’t bring over something the hostess has to scrounge around for something to put it on. She’s busy, don’t add to her work.
If the party is a sleepover, find out what is being served for dinner and breakfast. Point out all the things on her menu that are safe foods for your child and then give her a few items which kids love but she may not have thought to include. Again, make sure you grab onto some of the items on her menu and tell her you’ll make/bring them. If dinner is a cookout w/burgers and dogs, then why not bring “safe” hamburger buns so no child’s left holding a fork.
Rise and shine in the eyes of your child’s hosts by bringing pancakes the next morning for overtired tent dwellers. Lori Sandler has perfected the practical pancake that kids love, and are known to bring parents to their knees in gratitude. You can even make these ahead because they freeze well. Just let them sit out overnight before delivery.
Don’t take over
Always remember that this is not your party. So don’t try to substitute your host’s butter cream cake that has been a birthday tradition since the family came over on the Mayflower. You now know the menu, so review with your child the few things that will be served that are not safe for them. And then dazzle them with all the treats they can have that everyone will be sharing at the party. Even though you may be bringing quite a bit to the party, make sure you maintain a gracious, behind-the-scenes presence. Arrive early with your deliveries so it does not appear to the other guests that the host punted and passed off all the work to you.
Follow up
After the party make sure to express your appreciation for all that your host did to make the event a fun and inclusive occasion. A hand-delivered note would be great; or a little “now it’s time for you, steal a moment and treat yourself” gift. Say all that with a bag of gourmet ground coffee; a white mug and some blue rock candy.