If there is a child at your children’s school allergic to peanuts, the school probably discourages or may not allow peanut products to be brought into the school. You may want to check with the school nurse or your child’s teacher to see if any children in the class are allergic to peanuts.
Celebrate Kids’ Birthdays with Peanut-Free Treats
Young children who take a treat to school for everyone in their class want to share the happiness of their birthday with their friends and classmates. Even if they love peanuts, they will be completely happy to take a peanut-free snack for their class. This once a year event calls for something that everyone can eat to share in the fun.
Children Can Have A Reaction From A Tiny Morsel
Many people think that an allergic reaction to peanuts couldn’t possibly happen with a tiny bit of food containing peanuts or peanut butter. The truth is that young children share their food. It’s possible for an allergic child to take a bite of the snack that the rest of the class is eating. Another way that the allergic child could be affected is if one of the kids has crumbs from cake or actual peanut butter on their hands and touches the table or items in the classroom.
Serious Reactions Can Happen Within Minutes
An allergic reaction called anaphylaxis can happen if the allergic child touches the crumbs and puts their fingers in their mouth. Within minutes of eating peanuts or peanut products, the child must receive emergency treatment because this reaction is life-threatening.
Ideas For Peanut-Free Treats
Almost all kids love chocolate chip cookies, so they are always a great and safe treat to send to school. You can either bake them yourself to be sure that they do not contain peanuts or if you buy them from your supermarket bakery, read the label carefully to be sure that there aren’t any peanuts in the cookies. Cupcakes with sprinkles on the icing are another classic treat. Just read the labels carefully or make them yourself.
Make The Treats With Your Kids
You can do some peanut free baking if you make your own cupcakes with a cake mix, check the box to be sure that there are no peanut products in the mix. Yellow cupcakes with chocolate icing are usually a safe bet, and you can have your child sprinkle multi-colored sprinkles on top. Even the label on the sprinkles needs to be checked for peanut products.
Contact Parents of Peanut-Allergic Classmates
The safest way to be sure that you are sending safe treats that all of your child’s classmates can eat is to contact the parents of the child with a peanut allergy. The parents may have a suggestion of a safe treat, or they have the option of sending their own treat for their child if they know that a party will be taking place in class.