Friday, January 25, 2008

Pizza Friday or What to do

What to do. What to do.

Yesterday Max received an invitation to a birthday party at Chuckie Cheese. What to do. What to do. Now I would never in a million years send this kid to a peanut factory or even one of those restaurants that scatter peanut shells all over the floor as he is allergic to peanuts and I don't know how much peanut residue could cause a reaction in him. So do I send my milk allergic son to a place covered with cheese residue?

It has been a long time since Max has had a contact reaction to milk. And though we (meaning I, for my own personal consumption) keep milk products in the house, it is limited and we are careful with cross contamination. Would just being at Chuckie Cheese cause any problems for him? I don't think I have ever knowingly subjected him to being around that much milk residue. Correct me if I am wrong here but I imagine Chuckie Cheese to be a place where children go from handling cheesy pizza to playing games to handling cheesy pizza to jumping in the ball pit. Greasy cheesy hands must touch every inch of that place.

The birthday boy is a classmate of Max's. The popular one (and you thought such a thing didn't exist in Kindergarten). The boy Max most wants to have playdates with. His mother knows Max is allergic to milk and the boy's father is an ENT doc (actually the last ENT I saw who tested me for food allergies!)

Max is also so sensitive lately about people eating things he can't have. Would Chuckie Cheese let me bring in food for him?

What to do. What to do. Any opinions on this?

2 comments:

wenat said...

I live in fear of the Chuckie Cheese invitation, and your exact dilemma.

Can you call the restaurant and see if they have any experience with other kids with dairy allergies?

I'd lean towards going, but bringing the epipen and benadryl, and lots of wipes to clean his hands regularly.

(Or maybe some gloves for his hands, when he goes off to play? Though that does put us in the weirdo-mommy category, doesn't it?)

bingo 288 said...

Chuck E Cheese allowed us to bring our own pizza from home made to my son's allergy specifications. It was no problem. And, if there was an issue I'd ask to talk to the manager.

Take Benadryl, Epi-Pen, wipes, etc. Make sure your child washes his hands very thoroughly before eating ANYTHING and maybe consider taking your own plate, cup, utensils, etc too. Make sure you wipe off the table thoroughly as well.

Consider putting him in long sleeves and long pants with long tube socks under the pants.

My son has numerous food allergies as well and we have found this to be the best solution otherwise we'd stay home and have no social life. I *do* call parents who send out invites ahead of time to let them know what our issues are and also to let them know that *I* will take care of alternative foods, etc so they do not have to worry about it.

The other alternative is to consider an outing with just your son and this other child in lieu of going to the party. We have taken my son's friends out bowling, to mini-golf, etc instead of going to the party.