Allergy Friendly Trick or Treating

This post contains affiliate links.

Trick or treating with food allergies is tough. There is a delicate balance that has to be struck between making sure that your child enjoys the holiday like any other kid and ensuring that they won’t go into anaphylaxis. Sounds fun, right?

Before I had a child with food allergies, I didn’t quite understand. Luckily, my son’s nut allergies are ingestion based. Some people have allergies so severe that particles in the air are enough to send them to the hospital. Like most things these days, please treat others with empathy this Halloween. A great way to do that is through the Teal Pumpkin Project created by FARE, Food Allergy Research & Education.

Teal Pumpkin Project

The Teal Pumpkin Project strives to make Halloween safer for those living with food allergies by encouraging any home giving out candy to also offer non-candy Halloween favors. The goal is inclusivity. Children with food allergies are often separated from their peers (think separate tables in the cafeteria) for their safety. It is honestly more taxing on the parents than the child, but it still hurts.

What to do to

FARE has made supporting the Teal Pumpkin Project simple! You can either put a teal pumpkin or sign in front of your home. This is a Batman signal to all allergy parents that they can temporarily breathe a sigh of relief at your house.

FARE offers lots of resources for allergy free trick or treating to make this easy and fun for the whole family! They have stencils with which to paint your teal pumpkin, stickers, yard signs, printable activities and a complete guide on how to speak to children about food allergies and offering allergy free treats on Halloween.

Allergy free trick or treat ideas

There are plenty of allergy friendly trick or treat ideas! Your best option is to offer non candy Halloween favors in addition to the traditional candies. Just like every family isn’t expecting king size Snickers at your house, allergy parents are not expecting complete LEGO sets. We are hoping for any little toy that might excite the kids as much as a candy bar.

You might also already be unknowingly offering allergen friendly candy at Halloween. It is on each allergy parent to confirm ingredients, manufacturing guidelines, etc. for their child, but typically speaking the candies below are considered “safe”.

one | two | three | four | five | six | seven | eight | nine | ten | eleven | twelve

As the parent of an allergic child, THANK YOU. Thank you for taking the time to educate yourself on how to include my child. Thank you for making the effort. Thank you for leading with empathy.

If you’re ready to print out your sign in support of the Teal Pumpkin Project, click here!