I remember as a child I loved those prepackaged, seemingly overstuffed (but then they really weren’t) Easter Baskets that were available at grocery stores and pharmacies. They seemed so magical, especially that large, hollow, chocolate Easter Bunny with a bow. I also loved everything else about Easter Sunday; my mother’s special deviled eggs, creamy mashed potatoes and her Krakus canned ham with sliced pineapple and butter on top. Not exactly an allergen free meal I guess.
Times have changed. Most of us either live with or know someone with a food allergy or intolerance. Big heavy dinners or brunches with an overabundance of cream and butter are long gone. (I’ve always wondered how popular TV chefs like Ina Garten, Martha Stewart and Paul Deen would handle food allergies in their house if they had to). Those big fabulous Easter baskets are also a thing of the past. They are an allergic child’s nightmare.
Even though we have allergies to contend with doesn’t mean we can’t have a fun, food filled holiday like everyone else, right? Seasonal and fresh ingredients can be dressed simply and beautifully without all the extra cheese and milk. Ham or lamb can be prepared with a delicious maple or apricot glaze, rather than coated with butter. And I think you know how I feel about dessert; allergen free treats can and should be delicious. Make my dairy, egg and nut free sugar cookies in fun, whimsical bunny and flower shapes and decorate with pretty icing or colorful, allergen free sprinkles.
Finally, the Easter basket. I assure you that the first year the Easter Bunny was pretty skimpy on treats. (Bear with me here, my kids like to read my posts from time to time!) But over the years my son John has delighted over his basket, receiving goodies such as little hot wheel cars, stamps, stickers, silly putty, cool pens and notepads, sunglasses, seeds to plant, and of course allergen safe candy such original skittles, dum dum suckers, original starburst and smarties. The Easter Bunny also always gives each child a cute little book or stuffed animal. No one ever feels slighted that that they didn’t get tons of candy.
FAAN’s website www.foodallergy.org also has some great tips on how to handle allergies for Easter. I hope you all have a fabulous holiday weekend.
I like the idea of pretty sugar cookies! I think maybe I’ll add that as a tradition. Making a batch of cookies and decorating them for Easter desert.
In our basket this year for our corn and peach allergic 3.5 year old we have:
Yummy earth lollypops
Scharffenberger Dark Chocolate Squares
A book
Disney Princess Headbands
Dora Bubble Whistle
Mega Block Mini’s (Well they don’t really fit in the basket. I’ll call that the mommy and daddy feel guilty about the lack of treats easter present.)
My son is 2.5 years old and is allergic to dairy, egg and nuts. The Easter Bunny is bringing him two books, a new ball for outside, matchbox cars, fruit snacks, little Oreos(they are dairy free), a couple dum dums and jelly beans.
Happy Easter.
Love these new ideas! I might, I mean the Easter Bunny might have to add some more fun trinkets to my kids’ baskets this year!
My daughter is only 16 months and so luckily, she doesn’t even know that chocolate Easter bunnies even exist. Her basket contains a pair of bunny ears, an easter bonnet, several board books, a new pair of shoes, a necklace, and a magnet. For the Easter egg hunt, her eggs will contain teddy grahams, cheerios, raisins, and Elmo stickers.
I think the Easter Bunny is extra generous to our food allergic kiddos. This year, word is he is bringing new spring jammies and t-shirts, books, puzzles, DS-games and the usual candy suspects…Skittles, Starbursts, Nerds and Peeps. I found plastic eggs at Target that came prefilled with safe candy, so we’ll be using those for our Easter egg hunt. We will also bake and decorate Easter sugar cookies to bring to brunch. That meal is a bit of a landmine with all the cheese, eggs and milk, but it gets less stressful as the kids get older (they are 6 and 9-allergies are dairy, egg, peanut, tree nut and sesame); I bring safe food and everyone is happy. Happy Easter, everyone! (or Passover!)
I am sure a lot of you guys already know about this but I just heard this idea today. Coloring wooden eggs from the craft store and keeping them from year to year. Can’t have anyone left out of the coloring Easter egg fun.
Coloring wooden eggs is such a cute idea. I think my kids would much prefer to be at YOUR houses this Easter. Lots of really cool stuff.
This year, my easter bakets were a bit eclectic; each had a few individually wrapped Homemade Vegan Peppermint Patties http://dairyfreecooking.about.com/od/confectionscandies/r/pppmntpatties.htm,
a bag of Dairy-Free Caramel Popcorn http://dairyfreecooking.about.com/od/confectionscandies/r/caramelpopcorn.htm or a bag of homemade granola (caramel popcorn for the kids and sweets-loving adults, granola for everyone else:) ), a few dairy-free chocolate bars, and a small wrapped stack of Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies http://dairyfreecooking.about.com/od/cookies/r/vegancchip.htm. I apparently want my family and friends to lose all of their teeth this year. In years past, I’ve made homemade fruit leathers, but this year I just felt like splurging on the chocolate side of things. Great ideas, everyone!
My daughter (4) has been begging for a chocolate bunny this year so I bought a few candy molds from an online place and made her a couple of big bunnies along with some smaller bunny treats. I used vegan chocolate chips and it couldn’t have been easier — I melted the chips in a glass bowl in the microwave, spooned the chocolate into the molds, put them in the refrigerator to set, and voila – an hour later we had gobs and gobs of chocolate candy. I am going to post pics of the candy on my blog soon (www.foodallergyfamilyfun.blogspot.com).
Have a great Easter!
Leigha
Guardian Angel Foods (nut, egg and milk free) spring chocolate bunnies.
Love the ideas! Our baskets were filled with new and fun stuff this year thanks to all of you!
Well, my baby is 14 months old, so no sugar here…..here is what I came up with if you would like to take a peek! LOVE YOUR BLOG!! I am so excited for Easter and created a basket on a budget if anyone has little ones to buy for….txoxo, Shelli
http://www.alamodemaven.com/2011/04/fill-your-basket-without-emptying-your.html