It’s about that time of the year when families start to plan holiday parties. Lots of preparation goes into these parties: decorations, guests, cleaning. However, one of the most important preparations includes the food.

Most families do not even take into consideration about a kid’s allergies. On any other day, they would plan meals around the allergies, but with all the chaos that goes on in the holidays, kids with allergies get pushed aside. Then when it comes time for the party, the kids sometimes have close-to-nothing to eat.
Some families do plan around the allergies. They will alter recipes, and the kids will even help out to make the day smoother. When the party comes, the kids do not feel left out. They also do not have people feeling bad for not thinking about cooking especially for them.
Kids with food allergies are very used to the apologies or the pity of not being able to eat certain foods. So why should they feel any different on the holidays? Kids with food allergies hope their families will be the ones to make the adjustments needed, so they are comfortable as well.
Let me put you in their shoes. Imagine you cannot have gluten, and all the food at Thanksgiving is turkey, vegetables, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, mac and cheese, and any kind of casserole. Desserts like pie, brownies, and cake are there as well. The only thing those kids could have is the turkey, veggies, and maybe the mashed potatoes because some families use flour to thicken them. See, imagine how weird you would feel having to pass all the food and not being able to eat what you’d like.
On the other side, some families have recipes that have been passed down that they make every year and do not want to adjust them because it is a family recipe. All it takes is simple adjustments. Get the gluten free, diary free, or nut free ingredients needed to go into the recipe.
In all, kids with food allergies want to be able to eat and not have to worry about if they will be sick later. I hope families will make it easier on the kids who have food allergies even though we all have much to worry about. Allergies should not be one of those concerns.
Happy Holidays, Everyone!