dairy free birthday party?! how do i do it?!

prettypoppyknickers

hello

its my sons 4th this saturday and his best friend has to have everything dairy free so far i have come up with :

• bread
• jam
• ham
• soya butter
• juice
• lemonade
• salt and vinagar crisps and ready salted crisps
• hot dogs (son's request)

but that seems a rather naff food list any ideas would be really good!

thanks in advance.

Becles

Have you asked his Mam's advice?

One of my sons friends has a serious dairy allergy and her Mam said it's too much hassle for the party hostess to check the ingredients of everything, so she brings a packed lunch box of party food that the girl can eat.

I didn't realise, but even things like the hot dog you mention can have dairy by products in depending on the brand, so you have to check the labels for anything dairy related. Sometimes it's not obvious in the ingredients list - eg lactose is milk sugar which can affect my sons friend and it's found in processed meat products so it might be in the hot dog you are considering.

prettypoppyknickers

hello

my son as a baby use to be very sick on milk so for the first two years i cut out dairy but he is ok with it now but then i was the same so it must be a family thing.

the boy can have things like pink waffers as i spoke to her about it the other day but she wasn't very helpful just said he couldn't have things like chocolate spread but usually uses soya items instead so i can handle that i just dont know how to make it look more exciting.

thanks for the advice

jamtart6

id suggest she brought a packed lunch for him too, you will have to fork out loads on soya stuff just for one kid!

fernliebee

Yeah me and my DD don't have any dairy and it seems to be in everything, even things you wouldn't expect!
Like the PP it might be easier to make the little one who can't have dairy his own special lunch, or like was mentioned in a previous party post, what about making them all their own little lunch bag, then his can be dairy free, and he won't feel he is the only one getting a packed lunch, also easier to not over cater! Put in a sandwhich, some grapes, some crisps, a little cake (can get dairy free from 'free from' section in tesco, or bourbon biscuits have no dairy in!) maybe a little jelly pot or something. What about baking some vegan cakes? They are really easy just like normal choc sponge mix, but replace with soya marg, instead of egg put in a spoonful of vinegar (sounds weird but you honestly can't taste it, it just binds the mixture) and a spoonfull of baking powder. I also add a bit of oat milk or soya milk as the mixture can be a bit thick- you google a recipe if you like.

Dairy free goodies:
bourbon biscuits,

co-op's own bakery section jam doughnuts,

most crisps though obv not cheesey ones and some have lactose in so read ingredients,

A lot of the goodies/ organix range- cake bars etc,

A fair bit of choice in the 'free from' section,

Jelly (asda do little kids pots with no gelatin and made with fruit juice rather than colours etc)

This is just off top of my head if I think of anything else will get back to you.

Fat_Fairy

http://www.parsleysoup.co.uk/

here's a great recipe site, i usually make the 'lemon' cake minus the lemon, so its a plain sponge, lovely!
I'm sure the child would appreciate it, you can buy 'Pure' dairy free marg in most supermarkets, and plain icing sugar is fine. It doesn't cost much to make a seperate cake this way, in fact you could give it to all the kids, they really won't notice any difference.

prettypoppyknickers

i dont know if its the same now but when my son use to have soya products it wasn't that pricey imho

i would rather make the whole party dairy free than exclude one and i like the idea of pack lunchs which would actually work well for the beach if the weather is good.

thanks for all the suggestion

jellyhead

'swedish glace' ice cream is dairy-free, my boy loves it. It's in the ordinary ice cream aisle at tesco, in a black octagonal tub.

it tastes a bit different to dairy ice cream but it's still nice. Tesco sell it in vanilla, but I've heard you can buy strawberry or choc flavour too which would disguise the taste of soya, or you could put sauce on it.

newlywed

Yeah I was just about to vote for swedish glace ice cream - the only one that comes anywhere near proper icecream.

There's always jelly too?

The health food shops will sell dairy free chocolate buttons (fairly pricey though ) - whizzers are nice (bit like smarties but no colourings or dairy).

You could still make a chocolate cake or muffins but with soya marge or some muffins use oil instead of butter? Just check the cocoa you add as I have no idea if it had added whey or milk powder.

jellyhead

Do you know how dairy free the boy's diet is at home? my boys are lactose intolerant but rather than make a fuss at parties I just take some lactose free ice cream, and I keep the chocolate out of party bags, limit them to a tiny amount per day.

Intolerance is different to allergy though, so if this boy has an actual allergy then it might not be possible to be lax on special occasions and deal with the fall-out later.

You could try talking to the mum again, because it's possible that she's like me, and just doesn't like parties that are almost entirely focused in chocolate and ice cream. We've been to some where the sandwiches are chocolate, followed by chocolate fingers/biscuits, chocolate cake, ice cream etc. and it's just overload for lactose intolerant children, whereas a small amount of lactose such as butter on the sandwiches would be absolutely fine.

mummy_Jay

Simple things can be fun, its all in how you present them

You want fun so how about jelly boats (orange quarters filled with jelly with a little sail in it)

A mini sausage hedgehog, sausages on a stick stuck into half a grapefruit decorated with a face

Or a fruit dinosaur, make up some fruit skewers (not too big) with strawberries, pineapple, grape, apple etc and stick them in the back of a cucumber

Have a look at this site it will give you ideas.

http://www.annabelkarmel.com/recipes/party-meals/jelly-boats