Birthday Parties - Gluten Free

I wrote recently about the perfect gluten free baked goods to eat for celebrations. Today, I take it one step further and suggest ideas on gluten free birthday parties. 

This is an email I sent to my One Month Gluten Free Challenge participants too. So, if you missed out on the challenge, you can get a sneak peek. And I will be offering it again soon. 

Birthday Party - Glutenvrijevrouw - image Pexel.com

Make a Wish and Blow out the Candles!

Hello!
It is Wednesday, Week 2 - Day 3 of the Challenge. 

After the birthday party I attended this weekend, I was left daydreaming about my perfect gluten free party. I have been thinking of it both from the perspective of my ideal birthday party as well as the ideal children's party.

When my daughter, Isabel, turned two this summer, I had a 50/50 party meaning that about half of the options were gluten free. I even offered two cakes - one with gluten and one without. I bought them both from Marks & Spencers in Den Haag.

I won't go into the menu for that party because I made a wide variety of skewers (kabobs). I would not recommend it. I spent so much time in advance preparing them and, by the day of the party, the fruit and vegetables on the skewers were a soggy mess. Not to mention that skewers and small children are not a great combination. Live and learn, I tell myself.

I wrote about my chocolate cake ideas in this blog post:
http://www.glutenvrijevrouw.com/home/2016/7/12/celebrations-in-gluten-free-style

I would also recommend The Welsh Bakestone. She does made-to-order birthday cakes. I have tried her chocolate cake and several of her other baked goods.It is rich and delicious, but maybe too much for a children's birthday cake. 

IKEA also offers a gluten free chocolate and almond cake. You can find it in the freezer section at the Swedish Food Market.

I used Doves Farm Gluten Free Self Rising White Flour to make the chocolate chip cookie recipe mentioned in the blog post. I bought the flour at The Welsh Bakestone, but you can also order it from Amazon.co.uk. The Welsh Bakestone offers a wide variety of gluten free grocery items. It is worth the trip to Scheveningen. 

Children's Party
I would focus on fruit & veggies: 

• Frozen Chocolate Bananas
• Waffle Cones filled with fruit
• A beautiful, yet easy fresh cut fruit board
• Ants on a log & variations
• Fresh cut vegetables and hummus

Other gluten free ideas:

• Air popped popcorn
• All Natural potato chips
• Gummy worms, bears, etc.

My Birthday Party

• Loaded Sweet Potatoes - use dairy free substitutes for the cheeses
• French Fries
• Gluten Free Italian Pasta Salad
• Chips & Salsa
• Mixed Nuts
• Fruit Salad
• Chocolate Truffels
• Leonidas Chocolates

For my birthday cake, the more chocolate the better, I say. So I would order the most chocolaty cake I could from The Welsh Bakestone. It seems more special to me somehow if someone else is doing the baking.

What would you eat to celebrate? Did I forget anything?


Regards,

Jennifer

Gluten Vrije Vrouw