Planning Your Kid's Birthday? 5 Easy Steps To Safer Sugary Treats

Kids love the sweet stuff. Unfortunately, it isn't good for them. When it comes to planning your child's birthday, you need to take careful consideration when deciding how to proceed with the sweet, sugary treats for the event. Although you likely know sugar isn't the greatest thing for your child, there may be a few things that you haven't thought about. So, here are a few steps to take for safer birthday sweets:

Opt for Organic Ingredients

Organic is always going to be better, so when it comes to choosing the ingredients for your birthday treats, go organic. With organic ingredients, you will be able to avoid the antibiotics, pesticide residue, hormones and genetically modified ingredients. You can even consider replacing the sugar with alternative options, such as maple syrup or apple sauce.

Go a Different Route with Decorations

While that bright pink or lime green icing may look great, it really isn't necessary. If it is needed, then opt for a natural food dye, which can be purchased at a health food store. These natural dyes come from plants and aren't known to cause behavioral issues like its artificial counterpart.

If you can't get your hands on a natural dye, make your own. Use blueberries, strawberries or any other fruit or vegetable to make your own icing that is not only beautiful but tasty too. You can also opt to decorate cookies, cupcakes and other sweets with fruit instead of candy.

Consider Do-It-Yourself Baking

You may not be Betty Crocker herself, but you can likely whip up something that will taste heavenly. When you bake the sweets yourself, you are in full control of what goes in the food. This means you can easily avoid any artificial dyes and preservatives that are found in most cakes, cookies and pastries that you purchase from the store.

Take Care with Bakeware

Many people pay special attention to the ingredients that they use when baking, but they fail to consider something just as important: the bakeware. Toxic chemicals that can cause respiratory issues, increased risk of cancer and even Alzheimer's disease have been found in non-stick pans. Safer alternatives would be bakeware made out of ceramic, clay, glass and cast iron.

Be Careful with Silicone

Silicone bakeware has become very popular in recent years. While you may not know it, there are some concerns with silicone. If it's true silicone, then it's fine. However, there is artificial silicone that may have questionable chemicals and can put your health in danger. In order to determine if the bakeware you're considering purchasing is pure silicone, pinch and twist an edge of it. If it doesn't change color, then you're good. If it turns white, then there are fillers that will contaminate your food and you shouldn't go through with the purchase.

Now that you know how to bake safely for your kids and the rest of your family, you can start planning your child's birthday party. Happy baking! To learn more, contact a company like Rainbow Pediatrics with any questions or concerns you have.