My son recently had a birthday. He is my gluten eating and gluten loving son, who does not deal with any food allergies or issues.
He puts up with a lot, and sacrifices often, for those in the house that deal with food issues. And I have to say he is great about it. I am so proud of his attitude and willingness to put our food needs before his food wants.
So, for his birthday we gave him a special treat. My daughters and I decided that for one day, my son should be able to eat his favorite foods, pizza and chocolate cake. And we are not talking gluten free pizza and gluten free cake, we wanted him to have and enjoy the real thing.
We decided take out pizza at my in-laws would work perfectly and I bought a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting from Sam’s Club for him.
Yes, those are both gluten filled foods and foods that my girls and I cannot eat, but it was my son’s day, so we simply ate something else and let him enjoy his birthday meal. We felt it was the least we could do for all the sacrifices he makes for us.
For us this worked. I was able to give him his favorite gluten filled foods for his birthday and taking the “mess” elsewhere, made it much easier on those of us that deal with the food issues. I was able to take food the girls and I could have and we all ended up having a very nice day.
Birthdays and food allergies and issues can be very challenging and I would love to hear how you deal it. Do you have any tips to share?
For us it is the opposite, my son is the one who is GF. Our approaches seem to be the same, though. We eat mostly GF dinners and try to send leftovers for lunches. We do have regular bread, cereals and some snack foods in our home, but I haven’t used regular flour in over a year. For his birthday we are all GF. For our birthdays we try to be as gf friendly as we can and I sometimes end up making a substitute for him. It has been eye opening to see how many family traditions involve food!
I have not used regular flour in a long time either. It is just not worth the pain and the mess of cross contamination. Ordering a birthday cake is much easier. And yes when you deal with food issues you really start to realize how much of our life involves food and celebrations.
Hi Lynn, my daughter has a dairy intolerance. She is three, so family gatherings and parties have been very difficult at times. Other people don’t get food allergies, and one too many times, I’ve been told that the food would be ok, only to have her vomiting the next day. So typically what we do is call ahead and ask what the main dish will be. I then try to make a replica of that meal to take along for her. We usually just have it the night before so I can package it up for her. As far as desserts go, I make her a piece of cake, pie, or cookie, whatever they are having, to bring along. It just makes things easier to know that I prepared the food myself. For my other daughter, who can have dairy, we do let her have treats on occasion, because like in your situation, the others sacrifice a lot, so it is nice to let them have a treat sometimes!. Best of luck to you!