I'm part of a playgroup of about 8 moms who all have kids between the ages of 2 and 3. We meet once a week, and I really enjoy this time. For a few months, we had been meeting in each other's homes, and I thought this setup worked well. But recently, we have started meeting at a local coffee shop, which doesn't offer much entertainment for the kids. There is a small corner with a few toys, but when you get 8 toddlers together, it gets chaotic fast. I always assumed we stopped meeting in our homes, because people were worried their house wasn't clean enough. I saw one of the moms outside of the playgroup and asked her about it, and she said she thinks we stopped meeting in homes because it got too stressful providing snacks, since a couple of the kids have food allergies. One kid is allergic to nuts and the other is allergic to dairy, eggs and nuts.

Here's my question: if you were hosting a playdate for a group of toddlers, and you knew a couple had food allergies, would you feel like every snack you provided would have to be something they could eat? It's easy to provide things with no nuts, but what about the dairy and eggs? That would eliminate most baked goods. When I hosted, I would have some muffins out (mostly for the moms), and then a bowl of fruit and some goldfish or animal crackers for the kids. I realize the kid with the allergies might not be able to eat some of the items, but I made sure they could eat at least one or two things. Maybe I was in the wrong? What would you do?