Because I plan safe BiRtHdAy PaRtiEs!

A dear friend of mine wrote to me today to ask what safe alternatives I found for sugar, bouncy houses, and face paint.

WHAT?!@! Bouncy houses and face paint?! Why do I need alternatives for those?! (I kind of already talked about sugar in a previous post, but didn't really touch on alternatives, so I'll talk about that in a bit)

It is birthday season for me and my mama friends whose kids are all about the same age, and clearly birthday parties are on our minds. My friend is no doubt responding to the evite I recently sent out for my toddler's upcoming special day, advertising, of course, cake, a bouncy house, and face painting. So much fun! But wait, what? I'm going to inadvertently poison my kid and all his friends?

Maybe! So says these articles from a year or so ago:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfmoms/detail?entry_id=69872
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/12/us/12bounce.html

If you don't want to read the articles, they are basically saying that bouncy houses contain stupid amounts of lead. And lead does bad things to developing children. So the question, then, is just how safe are bouncy houses? Will my kid get sick from lead poisoning by using the bouncy house for 4 hours on his birthday?

I called the bouncy house rental company where I reserved our bouncy house, and asked about lead. The girl on the phone, with a tone of "I can't believe you are really worried about this", said that as long as the kids don't eat the bouncy houses, there is nothing to worry about. And that they did test the bouncy houses, but like she said, even the ones that tested high are not a problem because the kids will not eat them. That the lead doesn't just rub off onto the kids.

Now my mind is racing with questions. If there is no risk unless the kids eat the bouncy house, then why is anyone talking about this in the first place? Isn't it possible that a piece of the bouncy house could come off and a kid could eat it? Kids do put anything in their mouths, you know. Is it possible for tiny lead laden dust particles to come off the vinyl that would get on the kids' hands and faces and then get eaten by them when they use their hands to eat lunch after bouncing?

I don't know where to go to find answers to these questions. I also don't know what came of the lawsuits that the articles above were talking about. I'm guessing they didn't get anywhere, since bouncy house companies are still in business and parents don't seem to be too concerned.

So what am I going to do about it? Well, for this year, I'm going to mostly feign ignorance about the risk, and provide wet wipes so the kids can wipe off their hands and faces when they are done bouncing. Next year, I think we'll stick to the back yard BBQ.

Ok, now what about face paint. I had heard some chatter about safe and unsafe face paints a few years ago, and totally didn't think twice about it then because my kid was too young for me to care. Now he's old enough, and I have to re-research the issue.

Apparently face paint can contain lead, arsenic, cobalt, chromium, and nickle. These are not things we want on young, permeable, developing skin. I am not a face painter, so rather than hunt around for a list of face paint brands and their ingredients (which, according to the article sited above, may not actually list out these toxins), I emailed the woman I hired to do the face painting to ask her what kind of face paint she uses, and if she is aware of the potential health risks of some face paints. I am waiting for her reply, but I expect she'll be on top of this and confirm that she is aware of the risks and only uses the highest quality, lowest toxicity paints available! (fingers crossed) I mean, what else could she say - yes, I use paints with a lot of lead, but don't worry, it is just once a year that your kid will be exposed and he probably won't eat it so it'll be fine? Yeah, that probably isn't an answer I'd accept, or expect. Next year, I think I'll go with some food-based paints. It might actually be a fun party game to *make* the food-based paints together, then let the kids finger paint themselves.

Luckily, cake has not been reported to contain lead. However, excessive amounts of sugar in the American diet are a problem. So what does that mean for the most traditional and tastiest part of a birthday celebration? For my kid, nothing! He will eat cake!

But I do have one rule about birthday cake. *I* make it. And I try to use organic, unprocessed ingredients. This doesn't always work out, since cake generally looks, tastes, and feels (I mean the eating texture) better with super refined sugars and flours. But if you change your expectations, you'll still get a great dessert out of some raw sugar and wheat flour. I haven't started researching recipes for this year's cake yet, but I suppose I could post it when I find it. Last year I even made a vegan cake because my kid was on a no dairy diet (oddly, he is again this year, so maybe we'll have a repeat). People said they could not tell it was vegan because it was so soft and moist! Thanks guys! I wasn't quite so strict about the ingredients for his first birthday cake, but I do remember it being decorated all over with blueberries. So we had some natural sweetness to offset the sugary whipped cream frosting. What was inside, banana cake? I don't remember.

Oh look, I'm rambling. Must be sleep deprived. I'll write about "natural sugar alternatives" like stevia, trulia, and xylitol (which I think are all the same thing, if I remember correctly, which I probably don't, because like I just said, I'm really tired. why am I not napping now?) sometime soon.

And let me just quickly say that I am no fancy baker. My cooking skills have been called "novice". The point in making my kid's cake is not to show off. It is an act of love, a tradition for him to look forward to. It is the gesture and effort of making the cake that are important, not how it turns out. But if it looks and tastes good, that's an added bonus. I remember homemade cakes being the highlight of my birthdays when I was growing up, and I want to recreate that for my kids. This year, my toddler requested a "yellow" cake, "with brown maybe".

Happy Birthdays!
-NinaMama