Holidays can become overwhelming if your child is recently diagnosed with celiac disease. Many questions run through your mind. How can I make X? We always have X on St. Patrick’s Day. Is there anything good that is X and is gluten free? How long is it going to take me to find X?
Magical Idea #1
I have been there- asking all those questions. For me the “X” was gold chocolate coins. The lephrechaun ALWAYS brought gold chocolate coins. After our diagnosis, I wondered if there was even such a thing as gluten free gold chocolate coins. And as those of us who deal with celiac disease know…not all chocolate is gluten free.
Luckily I found some on Amazon. They are for celebrating Hanukkah. But my kids have never noticed that there is a menorah on the gold wrappers. Plus these are Belgium chocolate. So you just can’t go wrong. All my kids were happy with the Lephrechaun’s upgrade! And this year, I found these adorable black pots at Hobby Lobby to put the coins in. In true Hobby Lobby fashion, they are on sale right now! They come in a pack of six.
Magical Idea #2
Our Lephrechaun also brings skittles in the bowl we leave out for him. Luckily that could remain the same for us. Skittles are an easy way to incorporate the rainbow into this magical day. If you don’t want your kids eating a ton of candy, leave them out for the day, then pour the rest into a container to save for another fun day.
Magical Idea #3
Charcuterie boards are super trendy right now. But let me share why I think they are so good for kids who have celiac disease. Trying a lot of new things is part of the deal with this diagnosis. I have spent oodles of money trying a new snack only for my kids to hate it and it goes straight into the garbage. I think many times, they already have decided lots of gf food is gross, so they go into it with that mentality.
Making a charcuterie board allows you to add one or two “new” veggies, fruits, crackers, cheeses, or meats in a fun way. When you mix in foods the kids know, with a few new ones, it takes their focus off solely thinking of the new food. For example, in this board, I used “normal” kid friendly fruit. I added a new fruit dip and a new French inspired cheese. They had tried these crackers before, and not really liked them. But they didn’t even realize it when it was set up this way.
Kids often need to try things MULTIPLE times before they will like something. So, this was an easy way to have them re-try the crackers. They didn’t see the bag I took them out of, they only saw them on the board next to yummy cheese.
So get creative! Use this fun trend to help your kids discover they may like more things than they thought they might. There are crackers that are legitimately disgusting to me for sure. But I knew if my kids tried these again, they would like them more each time.
Magical Idea #4
Making sugar cookies for EVERY.SINGLE.HOLIDAY was a tradition I LOVED growing up. And I tried to continue that with my kids. We didn’t make them for every holiday, but we did for a lot. And after our diagnosis, I struggled finding a recipe that turned out, and that tasted good.
So I created my own recipe! It rolls out perfectly and tastes so good! You can find my gf sugar cookie recipe here. I use my blend of gf all purpose flour which creates the flavor of the cookie. You can use whatever blend you like and have on hand, but the flavor and results may vary(the dreaded phrase on every gf blog!). I love buttercream frosting. I much prefer it over icing. I love how people can decorate their cookies with icing, but for me my childhood favorite wins every time. You can find my buttercream frosting here.
Magical Idea #5
Sometimes mom’s need to make a dessert that they will love. Just saying. And I LOVE lemon anything. And macaroons are also trendy right now. They are naturally gluten free and, honestly, they are so fun to create flavors and fillings. My lemon macaroons taste like a lemon bar in a macaroon! They are just so so good!
I am not a professional macaroon maker. They aren’t perfect looking. BUT they are perfect tasting. As I continue to make these more often, I know I will get better. But we are TRYING not to eat so many sweets at our house, so sweet baking has to be occasional. These lemon macaroons can act as “gold coins” for adults. I mean I love Belgium chocolate too, but these lemon macaroons with lemon curd and lemon buttercream frosting are a good competitor! My kids love to eat just the macaroon part. They don’t love the fillings. Which it totally fine! However you eat your macaroon, I love you.
Magical Idea #6
Sometimes you are sick of treats for every holiday. I hear you. And so I wanted to let you know about a company that my cousin Tricia and her husband own called T of the Month. They make custom t-shirts and hats and some are GLUTEN FREE THEMED! Tricia has celiac disease too, so she gets what we all go through with this disease. Let’s support her small company!
Check out all their gluten free stuff and use the code GTUTAH for FREE SHIPPING on your order. The code is good from March 2, 2023-March 8, 2023.
Other non-food ideas for St. Patrick’s Day are fun socks, fedoras, stickers, shamrock lights, pencils, and so much more! Both Walmart and Hobby Lobby have great selections right now for non-food options.
I hope these six ideas have helped you start planning for St. Patrick’s Day. When we take the time to plan ahead we can create magical moments for our families. It doesn’t need to be fancy. I am so not about fancy. I like easy and simple.
Much love.
Emma
