Allergy Free Treats

This is a re-post from last year. Please consider participating if you can!

 My daughter and husband have pretty serious food allergies to milk and chocolate.  For this reason, I've always given out allergy free treats for Halloween.  (Non-Food treats)

source: http://preview.tinyurl.com/p4t8gcs

Our house has always been the "interesting" house.  While I never went so far as to hand out toothbrushes and toothpaste, (I left that to the dentist who lived next door), or free passes to the gym (The personal trainer down the street), I have always handed out something a little bit different.

I would hit up the Back to School sales and put together a bundle of stuff for kids. Anything I had left over at the end of the night was always donated to our local homeless shelter the following weekend.

You must understand - I begin searching for these goodies the day after Halloween.  I have my storage boxes of Halloween stuff in the basement.  As I find goodies on sale, I pick them up and add them to the box.  I usually hand out pencils.  Sometimes, if I find an amazing deal on crayons or funky pens or those little packs of play dough, I'll hand those out.  I've found cute little erasers that I've held onto for an entire year. They were big and chunky, and they had some fun shapes to them.  Another year, we had a stash of books from cereal boxes that I handed out.  (The older kids who roamed through got the pencils, pens, and erasers that year.)

Use your imagination.  Kids enjoy candy, I know.  BUT, other treats are also fun to find in the trick or treat bags.  A few years back, one of our neighbors gave out packets of pumpkin seeds!

In our community, we get candy overload.  Almost every church holds a Harvest Festival or Trunk or Treating.  The high school's homecoming game and parade are held on Halloween.  The kids on the floats throw candy to the little kids, and then the little kids go Trick or Treating.  So much candy!

In light of the number of food allergies that are out there, Food Allergy Research and Education, FARE for short, has been asking for a new tradition to begin.  An allergy free tradition.  http://www.foodallergy.org/teal-pumpkin-project#.VFDmbRYT1OI

If you are handing out allergy free treats, paint a pumpkin teal and place it out in front of your house, along with a free FARE printable sign so that parents and children know that you have allergy free treats to hand out.

What a great way to keep Halloween fun for everyone!


*The teal pumpkin picture above was taken from this post on the Michigan Radio website: http://michiganradio.org/post/kids-food-allergies-will-be-looking-teal-pumpkins-halloween.
The Tiny URL above will take you directly to their website, but I wanted to make certain that I gave them full credit! 

Allergies and Halloween

Yesterday, I mentioned that my daughter and husband both have some pretty severe food allergies.  My husband grew up in an age when food allergies were largely ignored, or considered to be a "choice" or that he was a "picky eater".  My daughter has had issues throughout school, and has had to be vigilant and her own advocate since she started school, as many of her teachers and the cafeteria staff thought she was just being "picky".

Yep, the joys of having a milk allergy.  It doesn't get the press that peanut allergies do, but it is every bit as dangerous to her and her well being. 

Anyway, how do you safely celebrate Halloween when your child has food allergies without sucking the joy out of the occasion for every parent, child, and teacher around you?

It's all a matter of how vigilant you are willing to be.

Most schools no longer have Halloween Parties.  When my kids were in elementary school, they still did.  I made arrangements with my daughter's teachers to be in charge of snacks for all of the parties.  I got together with another mom who's child had peanut allergies.  Between us, we decided the most stress free way for us to handle this was to ask for a cash donation - at that time, it was $1/child, and we went out and bought the allergy free goodies ourselves.  We happily bought fresh pressed cider, apples, and brought in popcorn and other safe treats for our kids.   We had a blast shopping and cooking together over the years!  Oh, the year we got a donation of apple cider and pumpkin donuts (dairy and nut free) from one of the local bakeries was amazing!

Anyway, I found a list on the Food Allergy Research and Education Blog about how to have a safe Halloween when your child has food allergies.
http://blog.foodallergy.org/?s=how+to+have+a+safe+halloween.

Here is their list:

• Stock up on safe treats or inexpensive trinkets/toys to trade for any unsafe candies your child might receive while trick-or-treating. You can also use sorting through your child’s candy as an opportunity to teach him or her about hidden allergens and reading labels.
• Enforce a “no eating while trick-or-treating” rule, so that you have time to review all food labels.
• Avoid candy and treats that do not have an ingredient label.
• Always have an epinephrine auto-injector available, if prescribed.
• Keep in mind that the mini-size, fun-size, or bite-size version of candy may contain different ingredients than their full-size counterparts. Make no assumptions, and read all labels carefully.
• Keep the emphasis on the fun, rather than the candy.
• Consider starting a tradition by allowing their kids to leave their unsafe candies out for the “Good Witch” to collect and leave behind small gifts and safe treats.
• Consider making small and safe “goody bags” for neighbors to give to your child. Deliver the bags in advance and describe your child’s costume to your neighbors. Encourage your child to trick-or-treat at the houses in which you’ve delivered the bags.
• Consider skipping trick-or-treating, and have a Halloween party instead, featuring safe and delicious treats. Or, skip the treats altogether by replacing them with other fun Halloween toys, games, or party favors.
• Remember that a candy that has been safe for your child in the past may now have different ingredients. Read the label, every time.

Have a fun and safe Halloween!

Allergy Free Treats

My daughter and husband have pretty serious food allergies to milk and chocolate.  For this reason, I've always given out allergy free treats for Halloween.  (Non-Food treats)

source: http://preview.tinyurl.com/p4t8gcs

Our house has always been the "interesting" house.  While I never went so far as to hand out toothbrushes and toothpaste, (I left that to the dentist who lives next door), or free passes to the gym (The personal trainer down the street), I have always handed out something a little bit different.

I would hit up the Back to School sales and put together a bundle of stuff for kids. Anything I had left over at the end of the night was always donated to our local homeless shelter the following weekend.

You must understand - I begin searching for these goodies the day after Halloween.  I have my storage boxes of Halloween stuff in the basement.  As I find goodies on sale, I pick them up and add them to the box.  I usually hand out pencils.  Sometimes, if I find an amazing deal on crayons or funky pens or those little packs of play dough, I'll hand those out.  I've found cute little erasers that I've held onto for an entire year. They were big and chunky, and they had some fun shapes to them.  Another year, we had a stash of books from cereal boxes that I handed out.  (The older kids who roamed through got the pencils, pens, and erasers that year.)

Use your imagination.  Kids enjoy candy, I know.  BUT, other treats are also fun to find in the trick or treat bags.  A few years back, one of our neighbors gave out packets of pumpkin seeds!

In our community, we get candy overload.  Almost every church holds a Harvest Festival or Trunk or Treating.  The high school's homecoming game and parade are held on Halloween.  The kids on the floats throw candy to the little kids, and then the little kids go Trick or Treating.  So much candy!

In light of the number of food allergies that are out there, Food Allergy Research and Education, FARE for short, has been asking for a new tradition to begin.  An allergy free tradition.  http://www.foodallergy.org/teal-pumpkin-project#.VFDmbRYT1OI

If you are handing out allergy free treats, paint a pumpkin teal and place it out in front of your house, along with a free FARE printable sign so that parents and children know that you have allergy free treats to hand out.

What a great way to keep Halloween fun for everyone!


*The teal pumpkin picture above was taken from this post on the Michigan Radio website: http://michiganradio.org/post/kids-food-allergies-will-be-looking-teal-pumpkins-halloween.
The Tiny URL above will take you directly to their website, but I wanted to make certain that I gave them full credit!