Holiday Tips from FAACT

by Caroline Moassessi, FAACT’s Vice President of Community Relations

The holidays are here! Whether you are celebrating with friends or enjoying time off from work and school, food allergies never take a break. A little food-allergy strategy and planning work goes a long way to help create a joyous winter break. FAACT has curated some of our best holiday, travel, and self-care resources just for you – a community committed to keeping their families safe with a heart full of love.

Let’s explore a few of FAACT’s easy-to-use, powerhouse resources.

On the Road

Traveling to see friends and family? FAACT has you covered. Visit FAACT’s Travel Section in the Education Resource Center for checklists, handouts, and tips for staying safe while adventuring away from home.

• FAACT’s Traveler’s Checklist: Designed to help with travel planning (hotels, restaurants, and emergency preparedness), including space to note medical, pharmacy, and insurance information, plus tips for grocery shopping and what to pack.
• FAACT’s Traveling with Food Allergies: A great resource to share with family. This one-pager highlights a few emergency preparedness must-knows, such as how to contact emergency services at your destination, carrying extra prescriptions, and insurance cards.
• Restaurant and Translation Cards: Even if you are traveling within the United States, these cards can help reduce confusion or information lost between the server and the chef. Our friends at Equal Eats offer a variety of emergency cards and translation cards in almost 50 languages. Note: A third party reviewed the cards to ensure clarity and accuracy.

Time To Celebrate

Making holiday memories can be fun and food allergy-safe when communication and planning are at the top of your to-do list. From tips and information about each holiday to themed crossword puzzles and word searches, there’s plenty to keep young and old busy during travel! Visit FAACT’s Holiday Section in the Education Resource Center to explore tips for each holiday.

• Hanukkah Resources and Games
• Allergy-Friendly Hanukkah Ideas (Pinterest Board)
• Christmas Resources and Games
• Allergy-Friendly Christmas Ideas (Pinterest Board)
• Kwanzaa Resources and Games
• Allergy-Friendly Breakfast Ideas (Pinterest Board): For when your house is full, or you want to dazzle family with fresh breakfast ideas.

Together at the Table

Bring everyone to the food allergy table through inclusive living. This year, FAACT announced the creation of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Resource Center, which offers hubs for information, activities, videos, podcasts, book selections, and more.

• Inclusion Matters Hub: Discover short articles with powerful tips and information on a more inclusive life.
• Family Activities Hub: Explore activities designed to support your family’s exploration of allyship, cultural competency, and how to create a culturally curious family learning legacy.
• Cultural Allergy-Friendly Recipes (Pinterest Board)

Dining Out and Eating on the Run

In addition to using restaurant and translation cards to communicate with the chefs, use the resources in the FAACT Education Resource Center’s Dining Out Hub to stay safe when celebrating and traveling.

• FAACT’s Dining Out Flyer: Features questions to ask and items not to assume are safe or are taking place when managing food allergies in the food-service setting.
• Reduce Your Risk: Living with food allergies means we become masters at mitigating the risk of cross-contact with allergens.

Holiday Stress and Anxiety

New environments, travel, and family dynamics can quickly turn celebrations into high-stress situations. Visit FAACT’s Behavioral Health Resource Center to explore Self-Care, Coping, Anxiety, and Depression Hubs packed with tips and ideas. Don’t miss FAACT’s Podcasts (see below) focused on managing challenging family situations and how to say no with respect and kindness!

• Self-Care: Find steps and tips for caring for yourself and your family.
• Coping Skills: Develop coping skills needed for tricky situations. Discover tips, ideas, and activities for all ages.
• Anxiety and Depression: Learn how to tackle anxiety or depression and find the right kind of support.
• Food Allergy Resilience Kit: Squeeze in a bit of resilience work with kids when they are home on winter break. This kit, designed for students K-12, includes activities to help build resilience for times when “bounce back” skills are needed.

Listen In

FAACT’s Roundtable Podcast focuses on topics important to families, adults, colleagues, and friends of people with food allergies. FAACT hosts a wide range of experts and professionals, parents, college students, and kids who share their knowledge in a warm, friendly setting. Tune in to a few of these holiday-related podcasts:

• Teaching Parents/Caregivers and Kids How to Say No During the Holidays (and all year)
• Taming Holiday Stress and Anxiety with Food Allergies
• Tackling Family Members Who “Don’t Get” Food Allergies – Solutions for Tough Situations
• Navigating Holiday Parties in the Workplace with Food Allergies
• Managing Holiday Stress with Food Allergies
• Celebrating Hanukkah with Food Allergies
• Holiday Cooking Like a Pro with Chef Keith

*Note: We will return with Ep. 146 on January 18, 2023, with FAACT’s President and CEO, Eleanor Garrow-Holding, where she will share highlights from 2022 and FAACT’s plans in 2023.

We hope you find these resources – created by professionals and reviewed by FAACT’s Medical Advisory Board – helpful and impactful.

FAACT wishes you and your family a safe, healthy, and
Happy Holiday season.