Reena Patel
Some of my earliest childhood memories are of the wonderfully creative parties my mum used to hold for my brother and I; nothing was too much, we celebrated with all of our favourite foods, amazing cakes my mum made from scratch and magical decorations. It went without saying therefore that as a grown up, I became an Event Manager. I’ve been fortunate enough to work at some wonderful hotels internationally and some truly magical London institutions. I’ve had the privilege of organising events for everyone from royalty, heads of state, fashion houses and everyone in between however children’s parties remain my favourite! Things changed when I had my eldest son 10 years ago and I opened a children’s vegetarian meal delivery company based in London. I had been vegetarian for most of my life and was planning to raise my children as such however the lack of healthy, nutritious vegetarian children’s food really took me by surprise. My youngest son was born 2 years later, when he was a few months old we learnt that he was allergic to dairy and my journey into veganism began! It amazes me to see how much veganism has changed in the past 7 years, we as a society are now so much more aware of the environment around us and our impact upon it. However, there is so much more we can still do and for me, this begins with our children. As my mother did for me, I try to throw my children the most wonderful parties however the difference now is that all the food we offer my children’s friends is vegan, party decorations are recyclable and the gifts the children take home with them are vegan and made from sustainable, recyclable materials. I am currently setting up an ethical, vegan children’s events company to share my party love!