On a recent Saturday, my tree nut-allergic daughter was invited to two birthday parties, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Since time with her kindergarten-age friends is so important to her, we decided to make it a marathon birthday day and attend both parties.

I’m a little ashamed to admit that for past birthday parties, my approach was typically to grab whatever tree-nut-free sweet snack we had in the house and toss it in my purse as a backup in case the cake wasn’t safe. Then, upon arriving at the party, I’d hunt down the cake box and read the label to check for tree nut ingredients.

This began to feel way to haphazard of an approach to me, so before the recent birthday marathon, I decided it was time we make a cake at home and take it, so there would be no risk. (Much like my Eva’s “special snacks” at school, she would now have a “special cake”). We made the experience a fun one and the chocolate cake was scrumptious, so Eva was happy.

Eva’s aunt had given her an adorable little cake carrier for Christmas with the idea that we could use it to carry her foods on special occasions just like this. It is a pink and white Tupperware Toys item, designed just like a standard size cake carrier, only much smaller. Of course, a slice of cake could be transported in most any convenient dish, but this really helps to make it more special. I’ve discovered that it also serves as an excellent conversation starter because others are curious about it, so I have the opportunity to talk to them about Eva’s allergy and raise awareness about the serious nature of the issue.

It turns out that it was a very wise decision to take extra precautions that day. At the first party, the birthday cake was from a local boutique bakery, definitely light years beyond the typical grocery store sheet cake in terms of flavor. I remembered this because the mom had ordered a cake from the same bakery the previous year. Eva had eaten some then and everything was fine. So, this year, Eva had her special chocolate cake and I was free to enjoy the birthday cake without any worries. At the end of the party, I mentioned to the host that the cake had a delicious hint of almond in it. She crinkled her nose and said she didn’t like it and that they had put it in by mistake. So, this really brought it home to me. Even if a cake was safe the last time, there’s absolutely no guarantee that it will be safe the next time, due to a change in the recipe, inadvertent cross-contamination, or even, as in this case, an error in the order.

So, it was quite a day for the family filled with the kinetic energy of dozens of five- and six-year-olds! I’m just so thankful I realized it was time to take a much more proactive approach to birthday parties, because doing so could have averted an emergency.