I'm considering getting PB&J, but I've read several posts about peanut butter allergies and they treat it like a communicable desease. Also, I wouldn't want to tramatize a child by the thought of an attack. I thought the allergy was triggered by eating peanuts, not by being in the same room as peanuts or peanutbutter.
Is the allergy triggered by simply being in the same room as an open jar of peanut butter? or as long as the kid doesn't eat the sandwich it's ok?

Recently a girl died from kissing her boyfriend who had just eaten a peanut based product. Peanut allergies are nothing to take lightly. I have a friend who suffers from this and she can smell peanuts and peanut oil from a great distance.
The easiest workaround is just to substitute almond butter for the peanut butter.

Be prepared to pay for almond butter. The last time I looked it was $10 a jar.
Al

I'm not minimizing the allergic reaction. Nor am I suggesting feeding to anybody. I just need to understand how people would (mentally) react to a jar of peanut butter, open or otherwise, in their midst. Maybe just changing the jar/label/routnine to almond butter would solve the problem?

Greetings...

Apparently some people who suffer from peanut allergies can get a reaction from just being in the presence of peanuts and peanut products (i.e. an open jar of peanut butter may do it)... many schools now have allergen policies not allowing anything with any peanuts into the school building.

JN

When I perform it, I leave out the sandwich. I still get good humorous reactions from the audience.

Actually the girl that died her boyfriend ate the sandwich 7 hours earlier!!!!!!!! I actually took this trick out of my routine with regret because it was such a powerfull trick the jaws just totally hit the floor!
The problem with using almond butter or even soy butter is that kids don't really know about it so in there mind it's not real and the trick just does not play as well!
Another thing it's not just contact with peanuts but also peanut dust and even other type of nuts etc.
If you do decide to use this make sure you let the teachers etc. know that you are not using peanut butter or they will rush the stage if they think it's peanut butter! I performed a program and the person hiring me made it very clear about peanuts, I gues another performer even though he had been told about peanut allergies did it anyway and a child had to be medvacd to a hospital!

As I start I mention it's an empty clean PB container.
Never bothered with the sandwich thing; it rocks without it anyway.
If in doubt, leave it out.

Here is my work around for PB&J. It works well at birthday parties and classroom magic.

I have kids help me put an empty Ziploc bag and two slices of bread into my (double load) changing bag after showing it empty. The “switch” is made to the bag and a helper (audience helper) holds the changing bag as I do the routine.

I do my routine ending with lifting the canisters to show the PB&J have disappeared entirely. I then ask the helper if she felt anything and ask her to reach into the bag and take out the Ziploc and bread slices. She (or he) discovers and removes a (deliberately sloppily made) sandwich safely sealed in the Ziploc bag.

No exposure of any kind to PB.

Bob

My routine centers around the jars themselves. I never open them and at the end my final load (as it were) is a jar of Fluff and a jar of Goober Grape.

I figure the final load suprise is better than a sandwich anyway.

Try it, you might like it.


S. Patrick

They would freak. Come up with a different idea.
Don't waste any time even wondering about it....

Go with almond butter or whatever else.
Hummus? Refried beans?

I should not be posting. I have no idea what the PBJ trick even is.

Hi,

I agree with what many posters said, If in doubt, leave it out.

I've previously talked about how in my capacity as a teacher and on a safety committee for the School District, Peanut Butter is very dangerous to children with an allergy to it. Sometimes just the smell alone can set off a reaction. Scariest of all, is even if a bit is left on another childs fingers or on a table and another child touches it they can go into full blown anaphylactic shock.They don't necessarily have to eat the stuff as even having it on their skin can cause this to occur. This gives them only mins to spare to get to the hospital or else it could prove fatal. CPR is inaffective as the airway becomes swollen and completely blocked, so scary stuff should it ever happen.

Most schools that have even one child with this allergy will ban peanut butter from the premise. I think it's always better to stay on the side of caution with something like this. Just a sidenote too for those who sometimes give treats to the kids, read the label very carefully and make sure it was not made in the same premise as any peanut products. The label will actually tell you this.

Chrystal

Almond butter? that's not funny.

How about banana butter? Make an Elvis sandwich with banana butter and jelly. Doesn't matter that Elvis liked peanut butter and bananas, they won't know who Elvis is anyway, and the adults will have a little joke.

Apple Butter. yummy. Whoever heard of Almond butter, Kids, I mean.

Older kids may like gross Slime butter, make a sandwich with that and ask a kid to eat it. BTW, it is easy to make candy, non-toxic, slime.

At the school my daughter goes to, almond butter is a common food among the children. Perhaps we're just wacky here in Kansas...

:)

OK, it must be more common today since they have recognized the peanut allergies.

I still think banana butter would be funnier.

PB&J has been a big favorite of mine for many years and has always gotten a terrific response from all audiences. Regretfully I have shared many of the same concerns posted above and have just recently pulled it from my show. I read an article that peanut butter allergies have increased dramatically over the years and that a simple passive exposure of being in a room with PB present could potentially trigger a reaction in a sensitive child. It truly is a wonderful trick and has been a staple in my show.

Dan.

Today's headline in the Edmonton Sun newspaper is about a 13-year old girl who was just taken off life-support after suffering a PB alergic reaction two days before Christmas. It is very, very serious.

Brian