A couple years ago a Christmas gift arrived from our uber cool Vegan friends from the San Francisco Bay Area. Not only did they have the best tasting recipes, they were creative, intelligent and smart dressers! Well, the gift was a darling box from Divvies that contained nut free, dairy free, egg free and sesame seed free treats! Cookies, caramel corn and REAL chocolate bars. It was heaven for my kids who have never in their life received a gift basket. Every morsel was savored. As food allergies grow, thankfully more and more companies are emerging with beautiful gift baskets. Check out my list below and/or check out my Food Allergy Resource Page for other fun awareness gift ideas
Now, even though I am biased, I truly enjoy the concept of sending a food allergy gift basket to an office, friend or family even if there are no known allergies. I want to shout it out from the tops of the mountains that allergy friendly foods are quite tasty and our families are NOT suffering! Here are a few of my recent go to sources for food allergy gift giving. I also like to put together my own gift baskets with items that can be found at Live Free Foods (think No Nuttin bars, Divvies Cookies and my beloved Bingo Bars.
Gift basket ideas…
Divvies–Provides Dairy, egg, peanut and tree nut gourmet desserts and treats—they even see chocolate snowmen and their packaging is classy and beautiful.
Smiley Cookie–Provide decorated cookies (gift sets) for every occasion all made in a peanut and tree free facility in addition to Kosher items.
Fancy Pants Bakery–A peanut free and tree nut free bakery that sells fun shaped and decorated cookies for all occasions: weddings, baby shower, corporate, Holidays, you name it!
I Can Have That–Offers an interesting concept of gift baskets that are gluten free and specific allergen free. You can order baskets that are gluten free but with nuts or you can order a basket with no nuts, but dairy.
Planet Gift Baskets–These folks offer gluten free gifts baskets for every and any occasion you can think of!
Vermont Nut Free--These kind folks were one of the first on the scene with nut free items. Due to the dairy and cross contact challenge, my family can’t use them but they are rock stars to many of my friends
Do you have a favorite gift basket or food allergy gift idea you can share with the rest of us? Please add a comment!
One of the hardest things I find about managing both life threatening food allergies and asthma is talking to others. I hate to be the one that might be perceived as demanding, pushing or for asking too much. What I now know, fourteen years later, is that honest, clear information presented with kindness works!..
http://www.vermontnutfree.com
Hadn’t tried them until recently because most items are made on shared equipment with egg, but now that we can eat egg, Mmmm, these are sooo good!
Thanks Charlene, I just added them! I can’t believe I forgot about Vermont Nut Free!
Gorgeous, vibrant blog with awesome info, Caroline! Congrats! This is good news to all.