Disney Roadtrip 101 | DIY Lunchables

Here in the cottage we are at the stage in our lives that when the kids sleep, we let them go as long as possible. Sleep seems like the magic elixir! And on the road, it's even more true. You can make very good time while the kids are sleeping. But sometimes, when we are road tripping, that means the kids fall asleep and we end up driving right through lunch. That does not work well for this mama.

So on our last road trip, I decided to pack sandwiches for the cooler. The littles, however, don't really do sandwiches; they sort of shred them. And in an attempt to make things less of a mess in the car (always worth the struggle), I made up my own Lunchables. My friend Flora always says, toddlers will eat anything if you cut it up for them. And that holds true for our toddlers.

This was really simple and easy to prepare, and when I pulled them out of the cooler for the littles, they were delighted! I started with a disposable, square, plastic container. You can find them in the paper goods and food storage aisle at any grocery store. I wanted it to be disposable so we could toss it at the next rest stop. I then put cupcake papers in the bottom of each container to hold each food item seperately. (I also discovered that cutting off and using the bottom of a Solo cup worked for this as well!) This technique is specially helpful if you have a kid who hates for his food to touch! After that it was as easy as finding what they would eat, cutting it up and putting it in their boxes. Done and done!

If you have food allergies in your house, you know how hard it can be to find healthy foods on the road that are also safe for the whole family. This will definitely be one of our solutions to that problem. Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

Disney with Allergies - Some DIYs To Enhance Your Trip

We have been going to Walt Disney World for a very long time. I used to be amazed at all the attention Disney paid to allergies and making "the World" safe for those with allergies. It seemed like a really nice, and exceptional, thing to do. And then we had Little Chef; and I realize how truly magical it is to vacation in a place where allergies are taken seriously.

Little Chef is allergic to all tree nuts and peanuts, as well as having very sensitive skin - just about everything that touches his skin can cause him to break out in a rash or hives. And on a couple occasions, we had to seek out a prescription to stop the reaction from cascading. Being in a foreign environment can be stressful. Sand can cause a rash; pool chemicals can cause a rash; perfumes can cause a rash; different foods can cause a rash. You get the idea. Being in a new and different place has it's challenges. Suffice it to say, we go through a lot of Benadryl in the cottage!

This is our plan for staying at Walt Disney World:

Coping with Food Allergies

Disney has made it so easy for people like us to stay at their resorts. For the food allergies, the chef is always on hand at table-service restaurants to let you know what is safe for you. And if you are at a buffet, they will bring you anything you wish from the kitchen so there is no cross-contamination fro the buffet area. Be aware that the chef can take a few minutes to get to you, so if you have a cranky toddler, it's a good idea to get there early, have safe snacks to take the edge off, or make an earlier than usual ADR to avoid peak dining times. If you are at a counter service restaurant or snack cart, simply ask for the ingredient list for anything you may have questions about. They are very knowledgable and happy to help guest with allergies.

I also made this sign for our stroller to help remind others who may not be too cognizant of their own food. I know it's hard to be considerate of everyone's needs in a place like Disney, but it's important that our kid not be in contact with nuts of any sort. (Please try to remember that at the pools! Nuts may be fine for your family, but it's not cool for them to find their way to our towels.) To that end, we put this sign on our stroller while at WDW. It's free to download if you also could use it.

And we always have the EpiPen close at hand. I like to keep it in a seperate bag within the diaper bag so it's easy to see and grab should the need arise. If you don't already have an EpiPen case, I made this easy drawstring bag from an old toddler t-shirt. It's easy to slip on my wrist if we are just headed to breakfast at our resort, and it can hold my phone and the EpiPen easily. You can find all the details in this post for how to make your own.

Coping with Skin Allergies

One of our other tricks is to stay in a villa. It's more expensive, but it's well worth it to us to have the use of a full kitchen and washer/dryer. Even though Disney provides laundry detergent, we always take our own. Little Chef breaks out from anything other than Tide Free. I finally got wise and started using an old bath wash bottle to carry our laundry soap back and forth. I marked the "capfuls" on the side of the bottle with a sharpie, so you can just pour in what you need for each load. Since we use cloth diapers, I make sure to take enough detergent for everyday we are there plus two extra loads. I often come home with just one load left in the bottle! I also make sure to wash anything new before we wear it. Having enough soap to do a load a day allows for new t-shirts to be washed and worn the next day at the parks.

Since Little Chef is still little, I pack our toddler cot and his sleeping bag (which has been washed in our own detergent). This prevents breakouts from the bed linens (which has only happened once). He likes being low to the ground and I like how allergen-free it is for him. Win-win.

We also rent an additional stroller while at Walt Disney World, but we always have Minnie in the rental and  Little Chef stays in his own. We don't switch them around. This allows him to stay away from anything that may have been left on the other stroller.

As a side note, Disney does sell the Coppertone Water Babies sunscreen. This does not cause Little Chef to break out, and his skin definitely needs to be protected from the sun!

And that's it. Just a few ways we handle our allergies while in Disney. I'd love to hear about your tips and tricks too. Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

DIY Disney Princess Candies

I've been wanting to try my hand at making hard candy for a while now. Last Easter we were living in our nut-free, dye-free world and I decided to make all our Easter candy from scratch. I was really floored by how easy some candy making can be. And I remember long ago in my childhood making hard candies - it was either a women's circle project at church, or a 4-H project. I can't exactly remember; except I do remember feeling like the process was magical. There were only a few ingredients and at the end of the day, they transformed into something truly beautiful. The same thing happened this time too.

Our local JoAnn's recently started carrying LorAnn candy making supplies and I decided it was time to give it a try. We don't do artificial colors and try to steer clear of artificial flavors so I went with the Lemon Oil. The recipe on the back of the box makes a lot more candy than I was prepared for! I had one lollipop tray and one hard candy tray ready to go. As it turned out, I could have used twice that. So I quickly pulled out some additional candy making molds (stars and lego men) to use up what I could. Next time I'll be prepared with more candy trays than I think I'll need. I was also pleased to learn that my Wilton candy making trays worked just as well as the LorAnn trays even though they look like they are made from different material. I lightly oiled the Wilton trays and poured in the candy syrup with the same great results as the LorAnn trays.

If you try this I highly recommend a good candy thermometer. Ours has been used so much that the numbers have scrubbed off and is no longer good for showing temperatures. The old school way of dropping syrup in cold water worked for me, but I couldn't get a good hard crack in the syrup, hence my candy is a bit stickier than I would have liked.  I dusted them in confectioners sugar to keep them from growing too sticky. Nevertheless the candy is very tasty and looks very appropriate for a Disney princess, like glass. The roses reminded me of Belle and the hard candy are shaped like gems. Wouldn't these be adorable at a princess tea party? I'm delighted with how well the first batch came out!

If you are looking for a unique Tinkerbell Treasure, these would certainly fit the bill - and your friends will think you are simply amazing to create something so difficult as candy! No one else has to know how easy it really is. I won't tell them if you don't! Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!

DIY Nut Allergy Stroller Sign for Walt Disney World

If you have been following this blog at all, you will know that Happy, our 2-year-old, has severe nut allergies. This coming trip will be our first trip having to deal with this new development. I am usually very much in the Free-Range-Parenting camp, but on this particular aspect, I am quickly becoming a helicopter mom. (Hopefully over the next several years I can be less helicopter as he matures. We'll see.)

We are going to have two littles this trip and that means two strollers. We like having our City Mini with us and most likely will be renting another from Kingdom Strollers for the duration of our trip. Because of his allergies, I am making this sign for our strollers (both of them). If you see these in October, you'll know you found us! I like the tongue-and-cheek quality. In fact, I may put this on a shirt for Happy. I'll let you know if that happens!

And I have realized as we deal with this allergy, that many non-allergy families don't understand the anxiety that comes with having a child who deals with this condition. It's incredible to me how many times I see people tossing nuts on the ground (at the pool, or the park) without a second thought. I feel like shouting, "That's poison! You can't leave that there!" In reality, that was me not too long ago. When you have a kid with allergies (& and EpiPen), you are suddenly living in a very different world. Hopefully this sign will help other families remember that their favorite snacks (peanut butter crackers, granola bars, etc.) need to be confined to their own space; especially in those stroller parking areas. After all, knowledge is power.

If you would like a copy of this sign for your own stroller, leave me a message in the comments and I will gladly forward a pdf to you! Until next time, may all your days be filled with fairy dust!