Hi Moms,
Our son's 3rd bday party is coming up. The venue we're using only allows finger foods and we plan to cater pizza (yeah, I know. how original). We have two guests on modified diets, a child with a dairy allergy and an adult who is on a gluten-free diet. Any other moms run into this issue and how did you handle it? I'd love to be able to do some kind of pizza for the child so he feels included, but it would have to be simple/easy. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! :)
Thanks so much for your thoughts and suggestions ladies! We've actually provided meals for both families in the past so have an idea of what they like, but I will definitely follow your advice to check with mom first. I agree there are probably so many variables that I may not be considering so will get in touch with the families. Just don't want to turn it into any sort of "issue" and want our guests to come and enjoy comfortably and perhaps give them a break for just 1 meal. If they're okay with whatever we do as long as it's dairy/gluten free, I'll probably pick up a few of the suggested Amy's pizzas. Thanks for your thoughts! :)
If you don't mind making a small pizza for him then you can use soy cheese or if you want you can order a small pizza with no cheese from the place that you are getting other pizzas. Also, they also might have gluten-free pizza.
Gluten-free cake is awesome and taste like regular cake so you might want to try that if you really want. But an adult usually won't care about the cake.
N.
Amy's brand, which is usually available at Whole Foods and most major supermakets, has a soy cheese pizza, also one with no cheese. I think they have a rice crust one also, but not sure if it's marketed as officially gluten free. Most pizza chains offer a gluten free crust, though. But look at Amy's in the frozen food section first, they might be able to hook you up on both counts! What a nice hostess you are!!
Hi J., Check out MOONIE ICY Tunes-Ice Cream delivery. We have a huge selection of Kosher and Gluten free products all delivered FREE-you only pay for the ice cream. VOTED BEST OF 2011-Seattle Magazine S.
Your best bet is to talk to the mom of the child(ren) with the restrictive diet. They will probably be well versed on their child's diet and can offer some great ideas similiar to you intended menu.
Can you make a few mini pizzas without cheese? There are gluten free pizzas, some pizzerias offer them on their menus. Would he be able to eat a pizza with no cheese from wherever you're getting the pizza or is his allergy too severe?
Another possibility is Jimmy John's. All of their sandwiches are available as unwiches - wrapped in lettuce instead of bread - and you can get them without cheese (does mayo contain dairy?). My gluten-free relative said they were good.
Have a good time!
My daughter is gluten and dairy allergic and I highly recommend to you to talk with the parent of the child you mention and the adult for they may have favorite substitute to the food you offer. I so many cases have people tried to accommodate us and just don´t think of or know what works and then a lot of time, effort and $ had been spent for nothing. It is far better to talk to the individuals in question than do guesswork, most of the time I choose to provide food for my daughter anyway.
Happy b-day!
I usually bring my son his own dairy-free pizza to parties, but it would be awesome if you could provide one for the kid. As another poster mentioned, Amy's brand makes one that he likes. It comes in an individual size, so it's good for a young child. It is made from rice crust, I think, and it says "Non-Dairy Cheeze" on it. Make sure you get that one, and NOT the one that is made from Soy Cheeze, as that one actually still contains milk proteins. It has to be the one that says non-dairy on it. It is also gluten-free. This is the one we buy: http://www.amys.com/products/product-detail/pizzas/000266
Looks like Amy's makes another Vegan option, so you could get that if this one isn't available at your store. I've never tried it, but it would work for both dairy- and gluten-free diets. http://www.amys.com/products/product-detail/pizzas/000801
I guess I would consider why the adult is on a gluten free diet. If it's out of necessity (my youngest child has Celiac disease and believe me, I understand necessity) then you might provide something special for her, but if it's one of the new crazy "fad diet" things that are driving me nuts, then I wouldn't accommodate.
There are lots of finger foods that can be dairy free. If you are doing pizza, maybe the dairy allergic child could do breadsticks or pasta?
I wouldn't recommend baking a gluten free cake, for sure. I do them all the time because we have to, but it's very expensive and they certainly don't taste as good (at least I didn't think so at first...now I'm used to them.)
I wouldn't change your entire menu around, though...your son deserves to get what he wants on his birthday, and those of us with issues are used to having to bring our own food or miss out, honestly.
For example...at our last Christmas meal at my in-laws, my mother-in-law (who truly cares) made NOTHING we could eat. NOTHING. I suspected it would be that way, and didn't expect her to change her traditional menu for us, so I brought our own food.
It is so nice of you to take the initiative to accommodate in this way, thank you for your compassion. If you live near a Trader Joe's, they have new dairy-free frozen pizza (roasted vegetables) that are not expensive. They also have a lot of other options, including dairy-free sorbets. But I'd talk to the parent of the child and ask, and also ask the gluten-free adult. That way you can't go wrong!
I would first ask the parent of the lactose-free child how you can help accommodate in case the child is a selective eater or she has a plan of action already and you can warn her of the plan you have for pizza. Don't forget that cake is going to be an issue as well, especially if you order it from pretty much anywhere. The cake itself will be made with milk and the icing will definitely have milk or cream. Any additional snack items like prepackaged popcorn and even potato chips can have surprise lactose ingredients in them. It's great that you want to accommodate a lactose-free child, but know that we don't EXPECT you to. We usually make our own accommodations. My daughter does well with Lactaid chewable tablets, for instance, if we attend a birthday party and pizza is served like this past weekend. When it's family like a couple of weekends ago my mom ordered pizza from a restaurant and asked for one of them to simply have sauce and veggies. She put lactose-free Kraft mozzarella on it and then put the whole thing in the oven until the cheese melted. Obviously you aren't using a home venue so that option is out, but it might work in the future.
Then call the gluten-free mom and ask her the same thing... "I'm unsure how best to accommodate your gluten restriction, especially since I'm not sure if you're Celiac and I don't want to risk even trace amounts of gluten if that's the case."
My daughter is allergic to milk and nuts, among other things. She is invited to birthday parties all the time. I have never expected the host to accommodate her allergies. I just bring her own cupcake and meal to the party so she can enjoy herself while everyone else is eating too.
Planning a party is hard enough without having to worry about other people's special diets. I would just kindly tell the people with allergies what you are serving and let them know they should bring their own food. They're probably used to it anyway.
