Classroom party time…how to keep the gluten out.

With the start of a new school year your kids will make new friends, classmates and have a lot of opportunities for class parties. With thirty kids in a classroom, chances are there will be at least one birthday celebration a month. Add to that the many “reward” parties and special holiday parties, a gluten-free kid could feel extremely left out.

So what is the mom of a gluten-free kid to do? Well for starters, you need to establish open communication with your child’s teacher and make sure to educate of your gluten-free kid about what to avoid and also what is completely safe. Gluten issues are not an unheard of thing these days, most likely your child’s teacher has some experience with such issues.

The next thing to think about is if your school will allow homemade treats to be brought into class. There are many schools out there that won’t allow them, pretty sad I think. That being said, I do understand the “why” behind their decision to make such restrictions.

If your child’s school doesn’t allow homemade treats, you’ll have to get creative. Do you have the blessing of a local gluten-free bakery in your town? I know there is a bakery here that has certain days set aside for gluten-free baking, I’m sure there are many out there that I have yet to hear about. If you don’t have access to such a bakery, your local specialty food store may sell baked goods. I know the gluten-free store that I visit often carries many freshly made treats. There are so many options out there these days, it may just take some looking.

Perhaps you are in a school district that has not adopted the “no homemade treat” policy. If that is the case, you have many options at your disposal. With cupcakes being the “traditional” party treat for any classroom, that is the focus of this article, but keep in mind that there are many options out there. Get creative, have fun with it, after all you are having a party right?

For sweet treats the sky is the limit! What kid doesn’t love a cupcake? In recent years they have become hugely popular, there are even dedicated cupcake bakeries.

For a class party, making cupcakes is a great option. It is super easy to make up a batch of gluten-free free cupcakes either from a mix or from scratch and also make a batch of glutenous ones for the kids that don’t have an issue. Of course you want to be very careful and mindful to avoid cross contamination. If your child is super sensitive this is not advisable. Thankfully, many of the cupcake recipes and mixes are so tasty the gluten eaters in the classroom won’t know the difference.

Gling has many extremely tasty recipes to choose from in many amazing flavors. You may end up having a hard time choosing one. Even if you don’t see a recipe on Gling, or have a favorite already, most cake recipes can easily be converted to cupcakes. There are also many really good gluten-free cake mixes on the market these days that will make wonderful cupcakes.

Having a child that has a food intolerance should make you more aware that there are kids out there that just can’t have certain foods. Make sure that you are aware of any in your child’s classroom. Really, if you are going to go out of your way to make sure that your child enjoys the parties in their classroom, it would be nice if all of the students could enjoy it as well. A good food to totally avoid in any classroom is peanuts and anything that may contain them. There are so many kids these days that cannot even be in the same room as a peanut product. Just something to keep in mind.

Having open communication with your child’s teacher will help make any classroom party a huge success for all of the students, including your child. Make it a fun and food safe year! Have fun with your kids class and join the party.