Most holiday traditions begin and end with food. Imagine trick or treating in your cute little costume and having to give away or toss all the candy in your bag. That is the reality for most children with multiple food allergies. Most food allergy parents fall into two camps; those that trick or treat and switch out the candy or families ignore the whole tradition for safety purposes. But what if there was a way to create a more allergy-friendly Halloween tradition?
The Food Allergy Research and Education organization has come up with the solution! The Teal Pumpkin Project is a way to let parents know that you have allergy-friendly alternatives for trick-or-treating kiddos. You can add your address to the map so that food allergy parents know to bring their kids to your house for safe treats.
But what if you don’t feel comfortable doing that? How can you make life a little easier for kids with food allergies?
For some clarification, the Top Nine food allergies in the United States, according to FARE are
Milk
Eggs
Fish
Shellfish
Tree nuts
Peanuts
Wheat
Soybeans
Sesame
While there are kids that have allergies to other foods these are the most common. An easy way to provide a “safer” selection of treats is to buy some common candies that are free from the Top Nine. Being that my daughter is allergic to dairy, eggs, peanuts, and most tree nuts we are very limited in the candy that she can safely consume. Imagine my surprise when I saw how many popular candies were safe for my kid to eat. Be aware that everyone’s allergies are different and what works or is safe for my daughter may not be safe for everyone. That said, here is a list of our Top 10 favorites in no particular order.
- Smarties (American Version)
- Starburst
- DumDums
- Skittles
- Fruit Snacks (Welch’s)
- Twizzlers
- Jolly Ranchers
- Hubba Bubba Bubble Gum
- Life Saver Gummies (Individually wrapped)
- Sour Patch Kids
