EASY! 5 STEPS TO AN ALLERGY SAFE HALLOWEEN

With Halloween right around the corner, it’s normal to feel a little apprehensive. There’s parties, food, and candy everywhere and that’s usually not a good sign when you are allergic to nuts, dairy, or anything else. But… is it possible to have an allergy safe Halloween?

The sample sized candies and chocolates that are passed out during trick or treating typically don’t have ingredient labels and don’t forget they’ve been sitting in a bag of many other sweets. Who know when any cross contamination could happen?

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Here’s 5 Steps to Enjoying an Allergy Safe Halloween

1. Paint a pumpkin the color teal.
As part of the Teal Pumpkin Project, displaying your teal pumpkin will help raise awareness for food allergies and help all kids feel included on this occasion. A teal pumpkin means that non-food treats are available at your home. You can also get a sign to display from FARE to explain why the pumpkin is teal to any passerby’s. If you prefer a craft pumpkin over a real one, you can snag a carvable pumpkin that’s already teal. Just make sure you take it inside if it starts to rain.

2. Bake safe treats before trick/treating and eat them when you return.
Half of the fun is going house to house yelling trick or treat with your friends, but the other half is indulging in your new found loot! But it’s hard to trust whether each piece of candy is safe or not. And you just don’t know if you’ll happen to get those 1 or 2 safe candies that you know you can have. With a safe home-made treat waiting at home, your kids will be running in the house, dropping their bag, and heading straight for all that baked goodness!

3. Go trick or treating early in the evening.
When you return home, sort, then re-pass out the candies that you don’t want. In addition to saving some money on purchasing treats, you’ll also get to see the fun costumes of your neighborhood kids. You could also donate the candy to your school’s Halloween Candy Buyback program which collects candy to send to our Troops for Operation Gratitude.

4. Instead of candies, pass out small toys that are safe for everyone.
Party favors such as glow sticks, finger lights, stickers, pencils, etc. are all fun items to receive. The finger lights were our most popular treat last year among the allergic and even the non-allergic kids! Each light costed about 10 cents and each glow stick costed about 8 cents. So affordable! There’s also LOTS more options for non-food Halloween favors on Amazon. If you’d like to see what I found at Target and some other stores near me and online, check out Food-Free Halloween Treats for lots of photos and ideas!

5. Play the “Switch Witch” where all the treats collected can be exchanged for a toy.
Here’s a way to get rid of all the candies. When you’ve gone to sleep at night, the Switch Witch comes and leaves you a cool toy in exchange for the candy you collected. The idea comes from the book, Switchcrafted. If you’re not keen on having a mysterious Witch visiting your home at night, you can just take inspiration from the idea and offer: We can go shopping for a new toy in exchange for all your candy. Who wouldn’t go for that one?

Bonus! >> 6. Use allergen free face paint.
If your kid’s Halloween costume requires some face paint for that finishing touch, make sure you use one that is free of their allergens. Kiss Freely’s All Natural Allergen Free Face Paint is free of the top 8 common allergens and is vegan and gluten free. So if you’re child has a nut allergy or dairy allergy, this was made for you!

Remember to check out Food-Free Halloween Treats for lots of photos and ideas!

Have any tips for an allergy safe Halloween? Please share them in the comments!

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