If you asked an allergy parent (or indeed an adult who has allergies or intolerances) to make a list of the things they find most difficult about having allergies, I am almost certain that celebrations and occasions would make an appearance. Here we are, already a week before Easter (how did that happen so quickly?!) with thoughts turning to how we can ensure that loved ones with allergies are included in the celebrations whilst at the same time keeping them safe. In our household, my husband is dairy and soya free and our younger son is dairy, soya, wheat and fish free.
The biggest challenge of all is often making sure that we include our elder son who has a super long list of allergies as well as suffering from fructose malabsorption. Because of these restrictions, his four confirmed safe ingredients are rice, chicken, sunflower oil and potato, and we are trialling small measured amounts of cocoa, corn and sucrose. As you can imagine, this means that we often have to think outside the box when it comes to anything that involves food (including craft activities).
Two big traditions that typically aid the reflection and celebrations of the Easter weekend are exchanging and eating hotcross buns and Easter eggs. Here are some of the things ways that we will be trying to adapt these traditions in our home.
For my husband and youngest son I have got some free-from hot cross buns from Sainsburys, and for my elder son I am going to try and adapt my biscuit recipe into something that resembles a hot cross bun so that he doesn't feel left out...watch this space!
For my husband and youngest son I have got some free-from hot cross buns from Sainsburys, and for my elder son I am going to try and adapt my biscuit recipe into something that resembles a hot cross bun so that he doesn't feel left out...watch this space!
I bought some packets of polystyrene eggs from The Works, and we have had fun decorating these with allergy friendly paints and marbling inks by Brian Clegg (read about them here). Some of these will be used as gifts for relatives and I'm still deciding whether to hang the rest up or incorporate them into our family egg hunt. We also used the marbling inks and Brian Clegg's gluten free glue to make our Easter cards.
Our boys are car mad at the moment and are particularly into Hotwheels so (although they are not very 'Eastery'!) I have been looking for some plastic eggs big enough to fit them in, and my husband found this tub of assorted plastic eggs in Sainsburys which are perfect.
We have been buying Moo Free chocolate for about three years, and to our delight they now make Easter eggs, hooray! These organic vegan Easter eggs are an estimated 100g in weight, are dairy, gluten, casein and soya free and look just like other shop bought eggs (they come in foil which is encased in a card box). The flavours that the eggs are currently available in are Original, Bunnycomb (Honeycomb) and Cheeky Orange (Orange). Another Moo Free Product which comes in really handy this Easter are their 'Mini Moo' chocolate bars which are a great size for wrapping up and hiding in an Easter hunt. For more information on ingredients, flavours, and stockists visit the Moo Free Website.
Easter can be a confusing time for any child - there is a lot of new life symbolism involved and I have been keen to try and keep this in mind when planning allergy friendly alternatives (perhaps I'm pushing it a bit with the Hotwheels though!) to try and avoid causing further confusion. One fantastic (and definitely allergy friendly) resource that I have been using for this is The Easter Poem booklet by the Bible Society. Using great illustrations and simple words, the booklet tells the Easter Story and has been a great resource to use whilst trying to explain to my boys why we do the things we do at Easter.
So, there are my plans for an Easter for everyone in our house, I look forward to picking up some new ideas from others that we can use next year.
Our boys are car mad at the moment and are particularly into Hotwheels so (although they are not very 'Eastery'!) I have been looking for some plastic eggs big enough to fit them in, and my husband found this tub of assorted plastic eggs in Sainsburys which are perfect.
We have been buying Moo Free chocolate for about three years, and to our delight they now make Easter eggs, hooray! These organic vegan Easter eggs are an estimated 100g in weight, are dairy, gluten, casein and soya free and look just like other shop bought eggs (they come in foil which is encased in a card box). The flavours that the eggs are currently available in are Original, Bunnycomb (Honeycomb) and Cheeky Orange (Orange). Another Moo Free Product which comes in really handy this Easter are their 'Mini Moo' chocolate bars which are a great size for wrapping up and hiding in an Easter hunt. For more information on ingredients, flavours, and stockists visit the Moo Free Website.
Easter can be a confusing time for any child - there is a lot of new life symbolism involved and I have been keen to try and keep this in mind when planning allergy friendly alternatives (perhaps I'm pushing it a bit with the Hotwheels though!) to try and avoid causing further confusion. One fantastic (and definitely allergy friendly) resource that I have been using for this is The Easter Poem booklet by the Bible Society. Using great illustrations and simple words, the booklet tells the Easter Story and has been a great resource to use whilst trying to explain to my boys why we do the things we do at Easter.
So, there are my plans for an Easter for everyone in our house, I look forward to picking up some new ideas from others that we can use next year.
