Anyone who has or has a loved one with a food allergy knows what a PITA it can be. I’m allergic to chocolate so Halloween has never been particularly fun for me.
One way you can help children with food allergies is by participating in the Teal Pumpkin Project. The Teal Pumpkin Project encourages people to put a teal-painted pumpkin on their porch (or wherever) if they have candy alternatives.
We did something similar last year where we had an array of what we hoped were sensory-friendly alternatives for children with autism.
I’ve seen this promoted the last few Halloweens - great idea. I have always had candy and NON candy options - if you go to Costco just take a look around, you can usually find non-typical Halloween goodies as alternatives to candy - I’ve given microwave popcorn, mini Playdoh containers, packs of crayons, goldfish (the edible kind!), fruit snacks, etc.
This is so fantastic! As the mom of a nut allergic kid, this would have been a huge blessing for my kid, back in the day. Glad it’s gaining some traction.
Glad to see the teal pumpkins get more press…we have handed out non-food for a while now. I will offer that it’s better to have fewer choices unless you want the kids on your porch for 15 minutes, arguing over glow in the dark yoyos vs temporary tatoos. Not that it ever happened to us.
The dollar stores have multi packs of glow sticks, bracelets, necklaces, all kinds of things. Kids go bonkers over these things-boys, girls, little, big-doesn’t matter. You can find all kinds of things in multi packs in the party stores or the dollar store party section. My mom always had non-candy treats as well as candy. She loved Halloween. We don’t get many kids on our street at all as it’s a dead end. The last couple years we didn’t even bother getting anything to hand out.
I always have a non candy option for little ones or kids with allergies, but have never heard of the Teal Pumpkin Project. I will definitely display a teal painted pumpkin this year. Thanks for the tip!
I have always kept a few non candy treats as one of our neighbors is T1 diabetic and she always liked that we considered her condition and enjoyed a treat just for her.
I like candy, but thinking back to those days, i would have loved some variety. This list is not a joke – I would have loved these things to change the pace:
French fries, maybe in a small paper sack. A kid can put the bag in their treat container (standing up...), open it, and munch on them as they walk. Nice warm french fries on a cool, or cold, autumn evening -- nice.
Warm mini-sandwiches or bagels. Again -- something warm and delicious that can be eaten easily while the kids walk.
I always have bookmarks in addition to the edible treats. Nothing fancy; just a cute Halloween scene printed on glossy card stock. Surprisingly, they are always popular!
prezbucky, in these times unwrapped food would be considered very suspicious!
We get less than 20 trick or treaters a year, and half of them are teenagers. I give out full size candy bars, but do have some bags of chips on hand for those who can’t have chocolate. When I have been aware of a child in the area with special circumstances, I have tried to accommodate them.
Ah yes, raisins. We gave them our for many, many years. I always only give edibles that are well sealed, since folks are nervous about food tampering. We often weren’t home for Halloween after our kids went off to college. Our neighborhood doesn’t have many kids–some folks drive from other neighborhoods to ours because it is level and the folks are friendly.
I’m not a fan of older kids who come late at night, so we turn out our lights by 9:30 and go to sleep. Folks really seem to appreciate beverages–a bottle of water or Capri sun juice pack trudging around trick or treating. The parents seem quite surprised and pleased, since I offer it to them as well.
