String Beane is in kindergarten this year. He is my first born and off to school he went. It was traumatic for me to say the least.
He goes to a Christian school and there are only 11 children in his class.
3 of them have food allergies. The total breakdown is: No peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, or milk! That is a tall order, my friends. Also, since it is a Christian school, nothing too "Halloweenish". All of these demands makes throwing a party difficult. But, I am hear to tell you, it can be done.
I found most of my inspiration on Pinterest. Here is what went down.
I had three stations set up. One was a counting game.
The second station was a craft station.
The third station they made their own cake push pops.
We did not use the ghost peeps, only the pumpkin ones. I did not want to push the envelope first party of the year.
The candy corns for the counting game met our allergy needs. I made mini cakes from a gluten free cake mix that happened to be milk and peanut/tree nut free too. I made up yellow, white, and orange frosting from Crisco and powdered sugar to squirt in the cake pops.
Everyone seemed to have a great time rotating through the stations and making things.
Then they all sat down at their desks for the food. We started out with:
These were water bottles with some orange flavored "on the go" drink packs. I tied them with green ribbon and a straw. The kids seemed to think this was some sort of a magic trick!
I used a gluten free brownie mix and used dairy free margarine for the brownies. The marshmallow was okay for our allergies and I used a can of Pillsbury vanilla frosting and orange food coloring. The pumpkin stem is a green gum drop that I cut down to size.
This was made with popcorn, marshmallows, candy corns, and dairy free chocolate chips. It was very cute when I cut it into slices.
They also had bags of chips.
While they were eating I carved a Jack-O- Lantern using the Pumpkin Prayer.
As I carve my pumpkin, help me pray this prayer:
Open my mind so I can learn about You
(Cut the top off the pumpkin)
Take all my sin and forgive the wrong that I do
(clean out the inside)
Open my eyes so Your love will see
(cut eyes shaped like hearts)
(cut eyes shaped like hearts)
I'm sorry for times I've turned up my nose at what You've given to me
(Cut a noes in the shape of a cross)
Open my ears so Your Word I will hear
(cut ears shaped like the Bible)
Open my mouth to tell others You're near
(cut the mouth in the shape of a fish)
Let Your light shine in all I say and do!
Amen
(place candle inside and light it)
The pumpkin carving seemed to be the favorite part. It was really amazing how still they were while I was trying to hack into the pumpkin!
All I have wanted for String Beane, was for him to be able to do what the other children are doing. I don't want to have to worry about food. I guess since he is in a class where 3 of 11 have severe food allergies, he would be considered "normal". Funny how God chooses to answer our prayers.
Special diets and situations are certainly more difficult to deal with than what we may be used to, but it can be done! I am here to tell the tale.
