Easter baskets for kids with food allergies

As the mom of a kid with food allergies and intolerances, it's hard enough to figure out daily meals for him -- and then holidays come along, and my job gets harder. Holidays like Easter, Valentine's Day and Halloween are especially difficult because candy is a big part of the celebrations, but candy that my son can eat isn't easy to find.

For both of my sons' Easter baskets this year, I found a few fun things to add that won't be a problem, allergy-wise. (Even though, as I posted yesterday, most of the Easter baskets are non-food items.)

First, I love Annie's Bunny Fruit Snacks. My family eats these all year, but hey -- they're rabbits and it's Easter, so these are perfect!



Bunny Fruit Snacks are organic, have no artificial ingredients and provide 100% of your daily Vitamin C. And they're addicting. One time, my son ate the whole box! I have found them at my local supermarket as well as Target and Whole Foods.

Also at Whole Foods, I recently discovered Sweet & Sara vegan marshmallows.



My preschooler loooooves marshmallows, and I had been buying him a bag of organic marshmallows from the baking aisle. (Regular marshmallows are made with artificial food dye.) But those marshmallows tasted nasty. The Sweet & Sara marshmallows taste like heaven! And I'm not even a marshmallow person.

The kids are also getting some Yummy Earth organic lollipops ("pop!" as my baby calls them) and gummy bears. These are available in lots of places too.

Other places to get Easter basket goodies are no-nuts/no-eggs/no-dairy Divvies (which we've had at Disney World and SeaWorld -- the caramel corn is great!), Vermont Nut Free Chocolates and Peanut Free Planet.

If I have time -- and I probably won't -- I might even make some chocolate candies myself by melting dairy-free chocolate chips and using candy molds. DIY is another great way to go with allergy-free treats!