Newly Diagnosed With Celiac And Throwing A B-day Party

[swinkler]

My son was just diagnosed with celiac disease and we are having a one year party for his sister this coming sat. Now should I make 2 cakes or should everyone have the cake my children can have. I have three kids - a one year old 2 (he has celiac disease) and a 9 year old who has ADHD so he is also doing the gluten free diet. This is our first party since we found out.

[Ursa Major]

I think a gluten-free cake for everybody would make much more sense. The kids won't even notice the difference, it will be less work for you, and you won't have to worry about cross-contamination.

[Guhlia]

I would definitely just make one cake. This is one time when your son shouldn't have to feel "different". He will feel different at everybody else's birthday parties. He should at least be able to share cake with his friends at his own party. JMO.

[JennyC]

My son was just diagnosed with celiac disease and we are having a one year party for his sister this coming sat. Now should I make 2 cakes or should everyone have the cake my children can have. I have three kids - a one year old 2 (he has celiac disease) and a 9 year old who has ADHD so he is also doing the gluten free diet. This is our first party since we found out.

I just found out that my son has Celiac, and the B-day party issue has been kind of upsetting to me. (I was planning a pizza party at kid-friendly pizza parlor.) I will have a gluten free cake. I have been told that some bakeries will even make one for you! I will probably also have Lays potato chips, fruits and Veggies, and other gluten-free foods. I'm still new to this so I don't know very many gluten-free party foods.

Good luck with the party!

[vampella]

We just do one cake, we just had our first gluten-free birthday last month and all went well. The key for the children that aren't gluten-free is lots of icing, thats the best part anyway! I would also recommend you try one at home first, the first 2 I made were not so good, a ctually, they were just plain bad LOL.

we used Celimix chocolate cake mix for the party & everyone loved it, I haven't tried different mixes. aside from their white cake which I say STAY AWAY FROM...eeeewwwwwww!

anyway, good luck. I'm sure all will go well.

[e&j0304]

The Kinikinick (sp?) mixes are AWESOME. I always use those for cakes and cupcakes. Also, like someone else mentioned, some bakeries do make gluten-free cakes. Our local chain, Hy-Vee, does gluten free cakes. If it's just a small party I would definitley try to do it ourself though if you can. It would be less expensive that way. I actually make a Thomas the Train cake for my son's second birthday out of gluten-free cake mix and it was so adorable.

Good luck!

Shannon

PS We also only make one cake but our parties are pretty small. If you're having a huge party I don't see a problem with making a gluten-free cake maybe for all of the kids and then a regular one for adults or something because the gluten-free cake mixes are expensive.

[Cam's Mom]

My daughter was diagnosed just days before her 6th birthday party. We switched gears and cancelled the pizza and had a great party with chocolate cake compliments of Pamela's (great mix and dairy free too!). We served tacos which the kids had a blast building (and making a major mess) and we made it a fiesta complete with piniata - no one missed a thing!

Have fun!

barb

[Juliet]

For my son's three year birthday party we also did Pamela's chocolate cake mix cupcakes with lots of icing. It wasn't until a couple of the mothers noticed that my son was also eating the same cupcakes they were before they realized that what they were eating was probably gluten free then. We used the recipe with the sour cream that's on the package, but we also did the "basic" recipe before and it tasted good. Too bake approximately 30 cupcakes it only took me about an hour (and I was doing other things during that time, too, since that includes baking time) and I spent another 10 minutes icing everything, so it wasn't too difficult. We also had simple snacks since the party was after lunchtime - cheetos, popcorn (pre-popped from a bag), grapes, strawberries, orange slices, veggies with Ranch dip (Annie's Cowgirl Ranch), and water & juice boxes. It actually was a lot of fun; we just let the kids play and eat at the park. And it was nice that I didn't have to worry about cross contamination like I normally do at other parties.

[taravabeach]

I recently had a bday party for my 3 year old (Celiac). I made one cake, eveyone ate the cake (chocolate Gluten Free Pantry Mix) and I used regular frosting (look in the store several do not contain wheat products). I put sprinkles on top and it was a hit.

[Nic]

If your buying a cake you can check out ice cream cake. We have a Dairy Queen by us and their ice cream is gluten free. We just as that they make ours without the crunchies inside. For our own birthday cake that we have on the night of my sons birthdays I make Gluten Free pantry's chocolate cake mix.

Nicole

[gfgypsyqueen]

We just made cake gluten-free for me and the kids begged for more. We used the Cherry Brooke Kitchen Chocolate cake mix and home made buttercream frosting. Easy and tasted great!

Cherry brooke kitchen cakes are gluten-free, Nut free, egg free, . . . . free of so many things it should have been awful but the cake was great!!!!!

Plus my kids are really picky about eating any of my food since it doesnot always taste that great. I would highly recommend that cake mix. Don't even tell the kids and no one will notice that it is gluten-free.

Good luck!

[Yelena]

My daughter and her classmate have the same birthday. We planned a party at a skating place, complete with pizza and cake several weeks before my daughter was diagnosed with celiac. We switched the cake to cupcakes, 2 different flavors, the yellow being regular, the chocolate being gluten-free. My daughter had the ice cream, the cupcake, and we skipped the pizza entierly. Worked out fine.

Christine

[momof2]

On my daughter's 2nd b-day, we had an "art party." For the dessert, we had the kids build their own ice cream sundaes in place of cake. We had tons of toppings, and the kids gobbled up the dessert. We simply put a candle in my daughter's ice cream and sang to her. We made "Pamela's" brownies last year, and topped them with icing. My daughter who is NOT a celiac wants an ice cream sundae instead of cake this year, since her sister's was such a hit.

[Kibbie]

My son was just diagnosed with celiac disease and we are having a one year party for his sister this coming sat. Now should I make 2 cakes or should everyone have the cake my children can have. I have three kids - a one year old 2 (he has celiac disease) and a 9 year old who has ADHD so he is also doing the gluten free diet. This is our first party since we found out.

I just had my daughters b-day party Saturday! It was her first b-day party since being diagnosed with Celiac Disease. I made 1 gluten free cake and had only gluten free snacks and food at the party... I figured its her part everything there should be food she could safely eat! Plus then I didn't have to be the watch dog when it came to food with my daughter

Everyone loved the cake and food and I had several people say.... if you an eat cake this good and be gluten free everyone should do it!

[dionnek]

I am the only (diagnosed) celiac in my family, but since I do the baking, for my 2 year old's bday party I made a gluten-free cake and cupcakes. All the snacks were gluten-free too so that I didn't have to worry about CC. It just made life easier for me, and no one even knew the cake was gluten-free unless I said something. I am doing this from now on - I have to worry about what I can and can't eat enough as it is - if I'm hosting a party I want to enjoy it!