Food is an integral part of social activities; children with food allergy (FA) are at risk of exclusion or over supervision at these events, due to fear of accidental reaction. The extent of adaptive exclusion behaviours is poorly defined. Families attending our service are encouraged to socialise and taught to minimise risk and avoid accidental reactions.

The aim of this study is to establish the social practices and eating out habits of food allergic children and adolescents already attending an allergy clinic.

Food allergic, Irish children, aged 2-16 years, with confirmed FA, were recruited as part of a parallel prospective observational study, “Recording Accidental Allergic Reactions in Children and Teenagers” (ReAACT). Information on social activities and eating out habits was prospectively collected. For detailed methods, please see the Methods section in this article's Online Repository at www.jacionline.org.

Five hundred and thirty one children were enrolled. The majority attended age-appropriate social activities; 97% of 5-12yr olds went to birthday parties and 85% visited friend’s houses. More non-participators had previous anaphylaxis (RR 1.44, 95% CI 0.97 to 2.14; p=0.06) and peanut allergy

(RR 1.19, 95%CI 0.99-1.42; p=0.06) . Among adolescents, 94% visited friends’ homes but only 12% had been away from home alone. Overall, 523 (98.5 %) visited food establishments; 4.6% did not eat out in any food establishment; these participants were significantly more likely to be adolescents (RR 3.27, 95% CI 1.65-7.48, p=0.0001).

Overall, Irish food allergic children are “living with allergy”. There was a trend towards decreased participation among adolescents. Future interventions should specifically target this group.