Talking Allergies

I just placed an order with vermont nut free, which ships their Canadian orders from Que to customers having to pay duty. They are guaranteed nut/peanut free, and they do have dark chocolate without dairy ingredients, but I believe there is a chance of cross contamination with the milk chocolate stuff. DS's dairy allergy is very mild, though, and he can tolerate some forms of dairy so we let him eat these.

I found some easter pencils and small toys at Michaels, so will have the chocolates from Vermont and non food items for my kids (and their fellow hunters, thankfully only two other kids this year).

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DD 2004 Allergy to peanuts, egg, sesame, and new: lentils and chick peas
DS 2006 Allergy to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, egg, kiwi fruit, eczema

I have been very impressed with the amount of peanut/tree nut safe chocolates available this year. At first when I'd see something, I'd buy it right away, now I have waaay too much, but it's great to have a selection of fun shapes, and not be restricted to mini smarties boxes.

I see that Cadbury Creame Eggs 34g (original style) and the green bags of Cadbury mini eggs-micro (32g) are safe from peanuts and tree nuts. On their webpage it lists all ingredients and may contains. ALL other products have may contain warnings with the exception of these two.
The eggs would worry me though as the foil wrapper isn't very tamper proof, they do come individually or in a box of 3, that might be safer as less chance of the foil peeling back.

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DD 12 yrs -no allergies
4 yr old DS - asthma/eczema Anaphylactic to Peanuts, all tree nuts, sesame , all pea/lentil legumes, gelatin.
Allergic to trees, grass,ragweed, feathers, dander, mold and dust.
Outgrew eggs, fish, shellfish

I was just at Walmart and their nut free selection was minimal. I went back to Zellers and they by far had the largest selection. Dozens of different Vadeboncoeur choclate and Jean Talon chocolate hollow figures.
They also had a brand I hadn't seen.
COMET (made by REGAL Canada). Bunny Buddies, a 12 packbox of those tiny foil wrapped chocolate bunnies. They also had by COMET 825gram bags (sealed plastic bags) of foil covered chocolate mini eggs.
I just called Regal and they are getting back to me go confirm the nuts/peanuts but I know Regal is very good about labelling so hopefully there is no issue.

As well they had made by Hersheys Whoppers, Malted Robin Eggs (sealed bag). There was no peanut/tree nut warning but I did call and they are safe.

I am amazed by how many 'safe' for peanut/tree nut products there are now. I might have to take up running again now that there is so much chocolate we can have in our home.

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DD 12 yrs -no allergies
4 yr old DS - asthma/eczema Anaphylactic to Peanuts, all tree nuts, sesame , all pea/lentil legumes, gelatin.
Allergic to trees, grass,ragweed, feathers, dander, mold and dust.
Outgrew eggs, fish, shellfish

Oh my gosh - so true. As an avid runner prior to becoming pregnant, and then being preggers or breasfeeding for about 5 years, I have been able to eat anything I want with no repercussions - and I eat A LOT for my size. However, I have just recently realized that certain body parts are getting bigger - yikes! I have been running every other day for a couple of months now, but need to limit my healthy-ish junk food consumption as well

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DD 2004 Allergy to peanuts, egg, sesame, and new: lentils and chick peas
DS 2006 Allergy to peanuts, tree nuts, milk, egg, kiwi fruit, eczema

RE:

REGAL got back to me and confirmed they take allergies seriously, if there is no may contain statement they are in fact peanut/tree nut safe. If there is any chance at all of cross contamination they will list a may contain on the package.

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DD 12 yrs -no allergies
4 yr old DS - asthma/eczema Anaphylactic to Peanuts, all tree nuts, sesame , all pea/lentil legumes, gelatin.
Allergic to trees, grass,ragweed, feathers, dander, mold and dust.
Outgrew eggs, fish, shellfish

The Easter Bunny brought safe Jean-talon chocolate for our kids (found them at SuperStore), and also these really really cute mini bubble gum "eggs" (they came in a mini plastic "egg" carton.) Okay, I can't tell you how many times I read that label, over and over again. Then I had my husband check it. No problem. So, the Easter Bunny brought these mini bubble gum eggs too. Well, hasn't my son put the gum in his mouth and is now chewing it, and my daughter says "SPIT THE GUM OUT! It says "May contain peanuts!" Thank goodness, nothing happened! So, my son spits out the gum and says "Thank you for saving my life" It's unnerving to know how carefully I thought I had read the label, and I still missed the "may contain" information.

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14 yr old daughter: no health issues
11 yr old son: allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, fish, sesame, sunflower, mustard, poppy seeds, green peas, some fruits, instructed to avoid all other legumes (except soy & green beans), pollen, cats, horses

Julie - whew.
At least he got the JT chocolate, and sister gets hero points.

I wish they'd put the "may contain" notice close to the Ingreds. list.
It can be anywhere on the package, which isn't great.

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Allergic to soy, peanut, shellfish, penicillin

I found a cake mold that will make 9 egg shaped cakes/ brownies at a time at Home Outfitters. I picked up some Wilton decorating tips and made up a batch of buttercream icing. We had a dozen teenagers over this afternoon. They decorated their brownines and enjoyed a hunt for plastic eggs in our yard. Yes they still found that fun at that age. My peanut allergic daughter filled the eggs herself with peanut/nut free candies we found at Superstore, Saveon Foods and Walmart. These included, jellybeans, Dare Real Fruit Gummies and Vandeboucourt chocolates.
Beatles Rockband, Just Dance and safe pizza helped round out a fun gathering.