Easter Egg Hunts and Food Allergy Issues

Offer to provide a special treat if they don't eat the candy but instead give what they collect to others who can eat it. They get the joy of the hunt, you get to control the allergens and protect them at the same time you offer them an opportunity to be philanthropic. Everyone wins. We do a similar thing at Halloween and it works beautifully for us.

I don't have any kids with food allergies, but it they are old enough you could pay them for the candy (ex. each piece of candy is 5 cents).
You could also make them some special treats in exchange for the candy.
Instead of taking them to an Easter egg hunt make your own & fill the eggs with something they can both eat.

God bless!

You could put trickets, money, or snacks they can eat in the eggs.
What I do if we go to any egg hunts (I also do this at Halloween) is I make a goodie bag myself. After the egg hunt (or Halloween) I trade her the goodies she just collected for the goodie bag I pre-made and tell her I have to go through everything. Hey goodies are goodies and it's the activity they like the most.

try using toys instead of cany. Stickers, work great! Give each one a sticker book to display their treasures.

Happy Easter

Have stickers, little stampers, small toys, decrative erasers, candy they can have, and coins like pennies or dimes on hand as trades.
Kids can do the hunt with understanding no eggs opened until with Parents. At that time all not ok candy will be traded with parents for the above items.

And for your own eggs... fill with above ok items. Check your dollar store manytimes they have small itmes that can that fit in eggs.

And for the bunny basket we put... 1 specail toy the kids are wanting, a favorite charater teeshirt (superhero, barbie ect.), and small bag cookies or bar of something they are not allergic to in the basket instead of candy.

Hi. My kids don't have food allergies, but I hope you don't mind me answering the question anyway.

I would suggest, just don't take them to easter egg hunts. I know, it's hard to do that, but just avoiding the problem will make it so much better!

Or, another solution, is what I do every year for my kids anyway. I get the same number of eggs and fill them and hide them. Then I tell one child, "You search for the yellow eggs" and another "You search for the orange eggs". That way they will all get the exact same number of eggs. It's all fair! (And so not like real life!!! ha ha)

But anyway, you could have an easter egg hunt with your friends but put the appropriate kind of candy for your children in their eggs. Tell each of your kids what color egg they can hunt for, and if they eat what's inside you've already got that covered. And you can put whatever kind of candy in the other eggs for your friends' kids.

Good luck to you!

I know when our church does their Easter egg hunt, it has to be candy that doesn't contain nuts because we have some kids with nut allergies. Now I'm not sure if skittles, jelly beans, etc contain soy and or gluten- my mom's allergic to soy so I know it's in just about everything you can ever imagine and things you wouldn't imagine, I just never thought to check those. Maybe you can find a group that does the same thing or set one up that's for family and do it on Easter morning.

I suggest that the Easter Bunny do his candy shopping at a health food store that offers a variety of allergy-safe foods. Whole Foods and Sprouts are OK, but the best we've seen is the Natural Health Market in Frisco. New to food allergies? First lesson: having allergies doesn't mean living without - just differently. You've got some education ahead of you - good luck!

Find fun little things to put in their eggs. Or don't even put stuff in them. My youngest we took off sugar for a while and that year we left them empty. If you are hunting them with others just make sur they don't open them and maybe have something you can give them in exchange for their eggs. My kids just like to hunt the eggs. My kids also have allergy's just not as sevier as your kids allergys but I do understand the concern you have of them getting something they should not have.

Good luck and God bless.

You hide money. Coins. And you hide coupons (handwritten) for things they love including stuff like, "You get to help cook the breakfast of your choice with mom on a special Saturday", "You get to choose the game for game night", "you get to choose what book we read aloud at bedtime tonight" etc.

V.

I would find something else fun to do, like go to a movie or the zoo, etc. on Easter Egg hunt day. Why risk it? The Easter Bunny can always visit your home and leave only acceptable treats, specially chosen for your boys.

Blessings,

M.

P.S. I am building a team of SAHM's who want to earn a 6 figure salary with full insurance benefits over the next 2-5 years. Do you know anyone ready for change?

You've gotten a lot of great responses. We deal with this issue as well, since my daughter is allergic to all nuts and dairy. When we get candy anywhere - at Halloween, egg hunts, etc. - she has been told from day one that Mommy or Daddy have to inspect it first. The other parents (aunts & uncles, grandparents, friends) know this and have followed suit with their kids, so she doesn't feel left out. Her cousins are awesome and they will trade her candy without nuts for her candy with nuts. Everyone goes the extra mile to make sure she is not left out. It's definitely a team effort to keep her safe. If you make it well known to your children and the people they're always with, it makes things much easier. You can't protect them everywhere and all the time, but to make them understand that it is dangerous if you don't check things out first, it goes a long way. My daughter is only 4 and we started this when she was 2. She understands perfectly. Good luck!

My kids had issues too for awhile and we sold our treats to daddy for money so we could go buy what they could have or a toy....worked great....they were 2 and 3 at the time we started that and it was fine.

Temporary tattoos, stickers, small cars and trucks, gluten free pretzels.. Just find little treats at Whole foods (ask for assistance) that they both can eat..