Gluten-free birthday party lunchbox

Time flies when you’re having fun.

I’ve just realised that my second blogoversary has just passed. Goodness, it’s come around quickly! But I’m not whipping up a new fancy cake recipe to celebrate this year, mainly because I’ve got a few projects on the go at the moment, so I’ve not done much recipe development lately.

Rather, I’m going to tick this post off my “to do” list. My blog is about lunchbox food after all, and the birthday party lunchbox is in some ways just as important as the school lunchbox. Although it’s full of indulgent food, it’s important for our gluten-free little ones to feel included in the celebrations and to be able to go to a party and enjoy themselves just like any other kid.

Yep, I’ve packed rather many party lunchboxes and so I’ve been meaning to do a party lunchbox post for – er – nearly two years now. So now you know that my to-do list is a mile long!

When my daughter was younger, we had a special Disney Princess Lunchbox that we bought especially for parties. Here she is four years ago on the day we bought it:

If your child is younger, I recommend a lunchbox just for parties – it helps to make the whole occasion all the more special.

But anyway, let’s move on to the food. I send a combination of sweet and savoury, a bit of cake and a little bag of confectionary for the goody/lolly bag/party favours, or whatever you customarily call it.

When my daughter recently went to a party, this is what I packed:

• Pizza. I always keep home-made gluten-free pizza in my freezer. It’s just so handy. In my recent post on gluten-free birthday parties, I detailed my tips for making pizza. It’s a quick and easy option for a meal and always passes as bona fide party food.
• Plain potato chips (or crisps).
• Wicked Chocolate Balls – I keep these on hand in the freezer. You can make them from off-cuts from any previous birthday cakes. Waste not, want not!
• Chocolate biscuits. I used Leda Choculence biscuits. No complaints, no leftovers!
• A cupcake to eat when the birthday cake is served. I always have a cupcake supply in the freezer. I like Coles Simply Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcakes.
• A selection of confectionary for the lolly bag, including chocolate freckles, Fantales (they’re not labelled gluten-free but there doesn’t appear to be any gluten in the list of ingredients), lollipop and Cadbury Caramello Koalas.

Note that about a year ago, Cadbury changed its labelling to say that its chocolate products may contain traces of gluten. Coeliac Australia does not recommend that its members consume any products that carry such labelling. I decided to take the risk with the Caramello Koalas, because my daughter hardly ever has them and honestly, the chocolate options would become rather limited if I took Cadbury out of the picture.

If you have any special tips or tricks for your own party lunchboxes, please share!