Are you planning a birthday party, and looking for some ideas to cater for kids with food allergies or intolerances? From homemade nuggets to allergy friendly pizza, here are 5 easy party food ideas for kids with food allergies, to ensure all the little guests feel included on the day.

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Planning the Party

When planning a birthday party for your child it is always a good idea to include a note about allergies on the invitations.

Knowing in advance if a child attending the party has allergies or intolerances, means you can plan the birthday party food accordingly and include items suitable for children with allergies.

Chicken Nuggets, Pizza, Fish Fingers, Burgers and Chips are usual party favourites. Cooking them yourself means you not only control what ingredients are included, but you get a more healthy alternative to shop-bought products.

As for the cake, Rocky Road is always a winner in our house.

Tips for Planning

• Decide what you want to serve and run the shopping list by the parents of the child with allergies. Sometimes they can eat a particular brand of certain products, but not another, so it is good to ask for that information too.
• On the day, ensure you don’t include items the child cannot eat e.g. burger buns with sesame seeds.
• Double check ingredients before you purchase.
• Try to have the child over to play on a date before the party so you will feel confident on the day.

You may also like – Top Tips for Managing Allergies at Parties.

1. Allergy Friendly Homemade Chicken Nuggets / Fish Fingers

These are so simple to create and much tastier than shop bought alternatives.

Ingredients & Method:

• Heat oven to 180C.
• Allow 1 breast of chicken or 1 fillet of firm white fish per 2 children, chopped into bite size pieces.
• 1 slice of bread per fillet / breast, made into breadcrumbs in the food processor(check brand with child’s parents). For Gluten Intolerance you can use a gluten free bread.
• Chicken and Fish are naturally sticky so simply roll the pieces in the breadcrumbs and place on an over proof tray lined with parchment paper.
• Pour a little oil over the top and bake until cooked, usually 25 to 30 minutes.

2. Allergy Friendly Chips

As an alternative to oven chips serve homemade baked potato chips or simply chop potatoes into wedges.

• Place them in a bowl and add a little salt and sunflower oil to coat.
• Cook on a lined baking tray for 35 to 40 minutes alongside the chicken or fish.

3. Allergy Friendly Pizza

I usually turn pizza-making in to a party activity. Prepare the dough in advance, and let the children personalise their own pizza with a variety of toppings.

• My Quick Scone Dough Pizza Base Recipe does use milk, which you could replace with water, and flour, which you could replace with a gluten free alternative, but does not use eggs.
• And this yeast base recipe contains flour but no milk or eggs.

You may also like – Party Food Ideas for Toddlers

4. Allergy Friendly Burgers

To create great homemade burgers simply buy the best minced beef you can afford.

• Place in a bowl, add a little salt and use your hands to ‘squash’ it together, this helps the burgers to bind together without the need to add an egg.
• Shape into patties.
• Fry with a little oil on the pan and serve.

You may also like – Creative Party Ideas Perfect for Loot Bags.

5. Allergy Friendly Birthday Cakes & Sweet Treats

My daughter shares her birthday with her best friend, who has allergies to eggs and nuts among other things. Every year we create a giant rocky road cake which gets the thumbs up from all the guests. She can only have certain chocolate and marshmallow brands, so do check brands with the parents before you get going.

Allergy Friendly Rocky Road

Be warned this may be allergy friendly but it is not healthy! This recipe serves 12 to 15. It is very rich so you will only need a small portion for each person

Ingredients:

• 100g butter
• 8 x 200g bars of chocolate
• 1 large bag of pink and white marshmallows
• 1 large packet of digestive biscuits
• 150 ml milk (approx) or add more butter if a child has a milk allergy.

Method:

• Melt the chocolate along with the milk and butter over a low heat. I usually do this over a pot of gently boiling water.
• Add the biscuits and marshmallows to a food processor and blitz until you have bite size chunks. Alternatively add to a sealed bag and crush biscuits and tear marshmallows into bite size chunks .
• Add most of the melted chocolate to the biscuit mix and stir to combine well.
• Place the mixture in a lined tin / dish and pour over the remaining chocolate. Decorate with marshmallows and place in the fridge to set.

For gluten intolerance, check out this recipe for a delicious flour free chocolate cake.

Kids With Food Allergies have some great Allergy-Free Cake Recipes including White Birthday Cake, Lemonade Cup-Cakes and Kathy P’s Wacky Cake! You could always adapt these to create cake pops as small sweet treats for the table.

Sweets

For sweets, check what brands the child with allergies can have and include those in your shopping.

From my experience, most jelly sweets and some hard sweets are okay, but always check with the parents first.

As an alternative to cupcakes you could ice suitable biscuits and add jellies.

For treats that everyone can enjoy here’s 15 Guilt Free Healthy Party Food Ideas the Kids Will Love &  60 Sweet Free Party Bag Ideas

Do you have any safe eat ideas for children with allergies? Please share them with us in the comments box below.