Talking Allergies

S Christmas is coming and with it Gingerbread houses, candies to decorate it, candy canes, chocolate balls, cookies and other homemade confections...
Any plans?
I am planning to send a box of approved xcandy canes and a list of approved candies (no bulk foods) also some recipes for crafts with out the major fod allergens-I just have to come up with some.
Any ideas?

At Micheals stores last year they had some non-food gingerbread houses that could be decorated with plastic candy... it costed a little bite more... but they were nice!

There were a lot of nice christmas crafts at michaels. My mom bought us the ginger bread house, but we have not done it yet. There was also a kit of 30 foam picture frame ornaments which I made last year that were really nice. Also there is foam garland with foam candies and gingerbread men. We made it last year.

Stockings where you take 2 pieces of paper and hole punch all around the edge (except the top), and "sew" together with yarn are nice.

Candy cane decorations can be made with pipecleaners. There are also numerous felt and pop pop crafts. I have a "low temp. glue gun" which only stings slightly if you touch the tip or glue immediately after it comes out, it will not cause a burn with normal use. I let my four year old use it with supervision. It holds a lot of crafts together a lot better than white glue, and it sets almost immediately.

There are numerous christmas ideas that do not involve food. It is better for all kids to not have more junk pushed on them anyway. It really bothers me how schools push junk, candy and dainties on kids. I think that a lot of non-allergic parents are bothered by the junk food too, so you have to wonder why it is still a continued focus at holiday times and party days.

Thanks for your replies. I took them and a few others that I downloaded to our parent support meeting and they were really interested in them.
We are trying to be proactive in finding areas of concerns and problem solving with the principal to avoid reactions.
One mother in our group is baking the gingerbread men and bringing the icing. I have spoken to her and she has a very good understanding of cross-contamination. Myself and another mother will gather appropriate candies for decorating. The school will reimburse us for the supplies.
I'm feeling much better about Christmas now.

I took a box of Allans Tree Trimming Candy Canes 250 count, a bag of Swedish Berries and FruitLoops Winders to ur daughters school today.
They will be decorating gingerbread men soon and these are dairy, egg, nut and tree nut free. (I contacted the companies first)
I met another Mom there who was volunteering. She asked about dairy free margarine and I gave her a couple of choices as well as a quick lesson on cross contamination. I told her how wonderful it was that other parents tto make fods that are safe for our children. I told her that our daughter has been taught not to eat foods unless Mommy or Daddy have OK'd it. I meant to say that it still helped as I didn't have to worry about her developing a reaction on contact. Didn't quite get that point out.
The teacher asked me to prepare a list of safe candies. here aren't too amny others that I have found that are dairy, egg and nut free. Any one else have any suggestions?

Fuzzy peaches, sour cherry blasters, sour patch kids, skittles (read closely just to make sure), possibly sweet tarts. We do not eat candy very often, I just remember this from halloween.

Ahhhhhhhh, you know, at the beginning of the school year I taught all the teachers and assistants how to use an EpiPen (those who weren't familiar with one anyway). I brought in pamphlets and brochures about nut allergies and anaphylaxis. Heck, before my daughter even started at her Montessori school, they had a strict "Nut/Peanut Free" policy. They have been so vigilant about my daughter's nut allergy that if they don't have anymore "safe snacks" (provided by me), they don't give her any treats at all when the other kids are celebrating someone's birthday and my poor girl misses out on the fun.

Well, today was her class Christmas party and as always, I went through the list of snacks and let them know what my daughter could and could not have, plus I packed extra boxes of Dare cookies and crackers, just in case. And just what do you think I found sitting at the very bottom of the treat bag her teacher so carefully packed with treat-sized Smarties and candy canes? A FREAKING FERRERO ROCHER!

!!!!!!

You'd better believe I called the school right away to let them know what they had done. Her teacher was horrified and duly apologetic. I didn't get (outwardly) angry with the school. I reminded them that A) chocolate is a dangerous minefield for a nut-allergic child, and to send a nut-filled, nut-coated chocolate home with a severely nut-allergic child is just careless, and B) that girl in Quebec died so very recently from such a minute exposure to her allergen.

I'm so glad that, even at 3 years old, my daughter is very cognizant of her allergy (remembers the last couple reactions and resulting trips to the ER vividly). She's very aware that she's never allowed to eat chocolate unless I have given it to her, even if a grown up says there are no nuts. And thank goodness for that!

It's a good thing that your child is allergy aware--although it must be hard to have to trust to a 3 year old to 'get it' better than adults! From what I've been reading on these boards, it sounds like the safest thing is only to allow young allergic kids to eat things prepared at home because I don't think you can really trust non-allergic adults no matter how well meaning.

A ferrero rocher!!!!! I also feel that I have to trust my peanut/nut allergic 4 year old way more than a 4 year old should be trusted when it comes to food. I also struggle with the idea of my milk/egg/chicken allergic daughter in school next year.

We went to see Santa today. My 2 year old would not go near him. He tried to hand my four year old a candy cane and she said "I have food allergies...and no label means no thank you." She got really annoyed and continued. "Remember, I am Brooke...and I told you last year that me and my sister have allergies. I was hoping that you would have remembered, and had safe, labeled treats for us...could you please have some for us next year...and I also want a care bear...and please do not bring any food to our house as gifts or in our stockings unless it is free of nuts, milk and eggs and properly labeled so my mom can tell if it is safe. " Santa appologized and said that he would definitely look into having safe, labeled treats next year.

Saskmommy your story is too cute - I love it!

Here is another annoying story from school. I am a teacher and although my daughter does not attend my school, I work hard to be an advocate for allergic children at my school. I trained my staff on the epipen and anaphylaxis and everyone knows about my personal experience with allergies.

Well yesterday I went into the staff room and there were many treats sitting on the table. Many people bring in special things at this time of year. Well one item was fudge and the note on top invited people to eat it but stated that it did contain nuts!!! I was so frustrated. I do not want to be seen as the nut/peanut police at my school. We are supposed to be a nut free school. The students are not allowed to bring in foods with nuts. People do not understand - even though they receive the info - it does not register. I wrote a note on bright yellow paper asking people to wash their hands if they ate the treat. One teacher who saw me do this said," do we have any nut allergic children?" AHHHHHHH! I said well yes we do - 2 in fact and I named them. This is the reality of schools I am sad to say.

At this point I am also worried about the impact Sabrina's Law will make. I have written my board about being on the committe reviewing our anaphylaxis policy and they agreed to let me participate but they have canceled a recent meeting. Our directer thinks that our board is already compliant with the legislation. My fear is that Sabrina' s law might mean the status quo in many schools and school boards. Our current policy is very short on detail and substance. I plan to continue to push the board to improve the policy but as like many large organizations - big changes are a slow process.

I think the holiday stress is getting to me - I just had to vent about these issues!

My friends daughter attends Irish Dance. They know of her allergy, and my friend made dainties for their christmas concert so that they would be nut free. But, what do you suppose her daughter got from her dance teacher for christmas...but a box of SLOWPOKES.

Katec, that is really horrible that the teachers at a nut free school would eat nut filled fudge in the staff room. It shows that they clearly do not get it how serious allergies really are...and then to not know which kids have allergies. I really fear this whole school thing. It seems that there is so much focus on food at school. I previously assumed that if my kids ate breakfast, and came home for lunch...that food would not be a big part of school...boy was I wrong!!!

bump!

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Moderator
Daughter: asthma, allergies to egg, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, most legumes (not soy) & penicillin. Developing hayfever type allergies.
Husband: no allergies
Me: allergies to some tree that flowers in May
Cat: allergic to beef, pork and lamb

Thanks for bumping Susan, great thread.

Have to re-raise Saskmommyof3's Santa story:



Any holiday school stories this year? Maybe some positive ones? (I'm ever hopeful.)

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Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

I feel sometimes like the nut/peanut police at the school too, and I really don't want to be, because the principal has been really great at implementing policies and training the staff so far. The PAC did a fundraiser for Christmas selling chocolates, many of which contained nuts, but not a biggie because really meant for people to give as gifts and not to eat at school. I mentioned this to the principal and said what if the teachers receive these as gifts, would they open them in the staff room, and she assured me they won't eat them if there are nuts and will just bring them home. I hope that happens!

I did have to train a sub in my daughter's class who was supposed to have been given the anaphylaxis/epipen training by the principal or secretary before going up to the classroom, but I think the principal was away that day and it didn't get done. She was ok with me showing her the epipen and running through symptoms before I left. Another reason it makes sense for me to be a stay at home mom right now!

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DD 2004 Allergy to peanuts, egg, sesame, and new: lentils and chick peas
DS 2006 Allergy to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, egg, kiwi fruit, eczema