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I'm a bit new to this stuff....
Dd1 I having her 5th birthday party soon and she wants to invite a couple of friends from daycare.
These friends I know are not able to have gluten.
Does anyone have any ideas for yummy party foods that are gluten free?
What's the right thing to do with her cake? The majority of kids are not gluten free. What do I do so the other kids don't miss out???
Tia
I'm not really up iwth gluten free but maybe make sure there are lots of fruit and vegie platters if you're not sure whether what you have prepared has gluten in it or not.
You could have an ice cream cake.
Dd wants a princess castle
Talk to the parents, they will be a wealth of information for you. I know that with majority of parties we attend, I tend to take our own little cupcake for the cake eating section. You could alternatively bake your own little GF cupcakes (there are plenty of packet mixes available) you do need to be careful to avoid cross contamination though.
We are having DS birthday soon with GF, we will have fruit platters available. There are yummy chips called "vege chips" in woolworths that DS loves, not sure how healthy they are though lol. Popcorn also. I have a small selection of lollies too.
Coles has some great GF pre-mix cake packets that you can turn into cupcakes. You will have to make sure the icing sugar is GF (I think pure icing sugar ie not the icing mixture). Lollies are not GF, some chips, some premade dips etc.
Entree:
Popcorn
Rice crackers (Sakada/home brand) with cheese and ham
Most plain chips are gluten free, but check the seasoning doesn't contain gluten.
Mains:
Some frankfurts are gluten free (check the packet, I *think* it's the Don ones you buy in packets in the deli aisle)
I cut up chicken thighs into strips, roll in gluten free breadcrumbs (don't bother with flour/egg as the fat on the thighs makes the breadcrumbs stick), spray with cooking spray and bake in the oven for about 15 mins - "chicken nuggets/strips"
Home made chips or oven baked roast potatoes
Fried rice with veggies, chicken/ham/bacon- cheap and easy and most kids eat it. Tamari is gluten-free soy sauce
If you put the above things in the middle of the table with tongs, most kids have an awesome time serving themselves.
Dessert:
Fruit platters - on skewers is great fun (think "fairy wands")
Lollies (check packet)
Chocolate (check packet)
Target sell gluten free Cheezels in party packs of 10 - you could just give each party child their own packet so they don't get cross-contaminated
Cake mixes can be gluten free - I'd get the freedom ones as they don't taste quite as bad.
Hope this helps.
ETA: It would be easier just to do the whole thing gluten free - that way no kids "miss out".
This is what I was thinking. I just need to work out the cake thing cause that's the one thing dd is fussy about lol:
Some icecreams are not gluten free as they have glucose syrup in them that is derived from wheat....check labels.
Basco make quite a few good mixes for cakes that are gluten free.
I did a gluten free party for our LO for his 1st.
One thing that went down well was "traffic lights". I made mashed avocado as one filling, a tomato based dip as another and a carrot dip as another then I spread these on savoury crepes and rolled them up and cut them so they made spiral circles.......then arranged them as traffic lights. They were healthy and kinda interesting and the grownups ate them too!
You can easily check labels for gluten free icing sugar for cakes and most recipies work pretty well if you just use a good quality GF free flour instead of regular flour. Don't make cakes well in advance though as they go stale very fast compared to normal cakes.
Jelly is great too and a fun (usually GF) food.
Some chocolate has gluten so check.......
On the upside I took my LO to a party recently and although there was not much that was GF he didn't really try and eat anything he shouldn't anyway.
Good luck and I think it's wonderful you are trying to do something special for these kids.
There is an amazing online store here in VIC - absolutely gluten free - google that.
The only thing is maybe to check with the parents that they are only gluten free because often can be combined with other allergies/intolerance - you could do a beautiful gluten free spread only to discover also have issues with dairy etc. At DD party I know we have at least one child is gluten free but he is also dairy in tolerant and has issues with many fruits - I said to his mum about doing different cake but she said not to bother and would bring their own cupcake because finding food for him isn't easy and she would rather be sure ok for him. Her big issue is with lolly/party bags in that often parents recognize the issue with the spread of food but completely forget when comes to lolly bags - so he gets handed a bag of things he can't eat which she then has to extract from him.
Google black bean chocolate cake. I make it with red kidney beans and it is awesome. A really moist cake and no-one knows it has beans in it. I make it into cupcakes as well. The beans are a substitute for flour. There's also a vanilla or orange cake you can make with white beans.
most GF cakes go stale quickly, but the bean cakes stay moist for a while.
Everything on my list is nut free too ;)
If you want to go with traditional, Patties make GF party pies and sausage rolls. I would do them specifically for the GF kids as they are expensive! You can make honey joys, just check the the corn flakes are GF (the GF ones are generally in the health food section at the supermarket). As someone else said, you can buy GF frankfurts. A fruit platter is always good, so that you feel like you offered something other than crap!!
Allen's make GF lollies, the bags are specially marked. You could make goody bags with a few lollies and some little toys from a $2 shop?
My mum is coeliac and I bake a GF sponge as our 'celebration cake' (either that or sticky date pudding...mmmm!!). Happy to send you the recipe if you like? It's yummy and not hard if you like to bake!
Wheat glucose syrup actually contains no detectable gluten - it's so processed!:
http://www.coeliac.org.au/content/do...20Resource.pdf
A few kids DD has invited are gluten free to I want to make sure I have some things they can eat. I know some of it they won't be able to but can someone check it over for me and give any advice/suggestions please??
At DD's request the menu includes:
- Fairy bread (I can get some gluten free bread and make some gluten free also)
- Pink Jelly with strawberries and cream
- Pink and white meringues
- Coconut ice
- Choc crackles
- Sandwiches (filling TBC)
- Cupcakes
- Pink milk
- Juice
- Water
Any advice is much appreciated....TIA :)
Fruit, as like myself some parents may still not be comfortable with their child having something made that is gluten free as can't be sure iykwim.
On the fairy bread thing sprinkles would need to be gluten free too.
GF bread is pretty awful, it usually needs to be toasted so the fairy bread might not be great!
Popcorn, jelly, fruit all usually ok. Some chips, corn chips, rice crackers. Regular rice bubbles contain gluten, I'm not sure of the other ingredients of choc crackles but you can buy GF rice bubbles in the health food section. You can also get GF lollies.
Good on you for trying to find some good options, I'm an adult and find it completely frustrating when I can't eat anything at a party (except fruit- which is totally unfun party food!) so it must be so hard for kids!
The strawberries & cream would need to be gluten free as well. Check all the ingredients used in any baking.
Accidently eating gluten when someone is gluten intolerant can make them extremely sick. For someone with cealiac, gluten causes permanent damage. It's very important that no cross contamination happen in the kitchen or on plates etc. if you're putting butter on bread, make sure you use a separate butter for the gluten free bread, separate knives, boards etc.
in many ways, it can actually be as easy to make sure everything is gluten free, but that's up to each host.
Might be easier to buy packaged gf food... Much easier for you, and you can show the parents what it is and they won't have to worry about the cross contamination issues. Ww have really good go options.
When I couldn't eat dairy it was frustrating when people would say 'oh it's dairy free, I used margarine'!
At least there was fruit, I've been to parties where the kids couldn't eat anything at all. And fruit is really popular at all my parties :) usually the first thing to be all eaten. But I include berries etc so not just the usual fruits.: