Thursday, July 23, 2009

Bradley's Birthday Party

My best friend's son is turning 1 year old next month. Our entire family is invited to the big birthday bash. This will be the first real party that we've been invited to since both boys have been diagnosed with food allergies and are eating solid foods. I am determined to make this a good experience for all of us. A birthday party that's not fun is no birthday party at all!
Knowing that both boys are so young and have such limited understanding of their allergies I have been working hard to avoid as many problems as possible. Luckily, it's my best friend who's throwing the party. She's super supportive and cheering me on the whole way. I don't know what I'd do without her!

The birthday party theme is Sesame Street. There will be hot dogs and hamburgers, chips, a few other sides, and cake and ice cream. Still VERY new at all of this stuff I have been working hard to find alternative food for the boys that they will eat. It's one thing to find an alternative, but another to have them actually like it. Luckily, I've been successful at both!

First the main meal. Applegate Farms makes wonderful turkey hot dogs! Other substitutes we have tried tasted awful, but all of us like these! They are gluten free, dairy free, beef free, pork free, and well free of a lot of stuff! Child II LOVES them. Child I is leary but will deal with it. As for chips-Lays Plain Potato Chips are doing the job! The oil is safe for both kids and the only other ingredients are potatoes and salt. Most importantly the both boys love them.

Dessert was a little bit trickier but I've found a solution. Bradley is having a Sesame Street Birthday Cake. Child I will DEFINITELY want some, especially if it has Elmo on it. So after asking my best friend if it's okay, I went to the Wilton website and found an Elmo cupcake design and decorations. Having some cake decorating experience, I can definitely pull this off! Last night I was able to find the decorations, frosting colors, and Elmo cupcake holders at A.C. Moore Crafts. Child I LOVES cupcakes. If he sees me making them and decorating them, he'll be sure to want one at the party, instead of the cake.

The last challenge was finding a cake mix and frosting that both boys can eat. I'm still working on the frosting, but do have one to two options if I HAVE to use them. Believe me when I come up with my final choice, I'll be sure to post it.

After attempting to make my own gluten free, peanut free, dairy free, egg free, soy free cake and not succeeding I've decided to use Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten Free Dreams Chocolate Cake Mix. Child I loves it and I honestly think it tastes quite good myself. The best part about this mix is that the result actually looks like a cake!
As for ice cream-there is a brand, All Natural So Delicious that makes coconut milk icecream and yogurt that is dairy free, gluten free, and soy free. Both boys LOVE the yogurt. I have no doubt that they'll enjoy the ice cream too. And for the record, I've tasted the yogurt myself and absolutely LOVE it! It's too bad it's so expensive or else we'd buy more.
I'm getting really excited about Bradley's birthday party. The boys will have a fun time despite their food allergies. Best of all they'll be eating what everyone else is eating, just a safer version of it! I'm noticing that birthday parties or parties in general that the boys are invited to will be a lot of work for me, but I know in the long run it will be worth it. Hopefully every parent will be as supportive as my best friend is! (Chances are slim I know, but I can dream right?)
The week after Bradley's birthday is Child II's birthday! Stay tuned for all of the wonderful plans for that party! We're going to have LOTS of fun!

1 comment:

  1. I'm finally just now remembering to add this blog to my dashboard reader, I keep forgetting!

    Sounds like you've done a LOT of work and come up with some good solutions. We LOVE turkey hot dogs (turkey bacon too), I hardly ever buy anything else. Course I'm sure the ones I buy actually have other stuff in them too. I've never actually checked.

    luvs, aby

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