GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — For the parents of kids with food allergies or food intolerance, Halloween can be truly terrifying. Many popular candies (and foods in general) contains wheat, peanuts, dairy, and many ingredients that could trigger a potentially deadly allergy attack.
A good place to start your allergy-friendly Halloween planning is with the Teal Pumpkin Project. This national movement encourages families to display a teal pumpkin outside their home to show others that they provide allergy-free or allergy-friendly treats. Some stores also sell a teal trick-or-treat container and other teal Halloween gear so kids out and about can indicate a food allergy.
Kids will say this part is the most important: What candy and treats are allergy safe?
This list, published by Kids with Food Allergies, lists candy brands and many treats that are safe for most kids because they are free of peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, egg, soy, wheat, fish and shellfish.
Some highlights:
- Sour Patch Kids
- Swedish Fish
- Starburst
- Skittles
- Dum Dum Lollipops
When choosing a candy to hand out, make sure to read the packaging! Different sizes of candies can contain different ingredients, or can be processed at different facilities that might not be free of allergens. Also, if you're buying a large bag of variety candy, make sure to double-check that each variety does not contain any potentially harmful ingredients.
If screening all of your candy sounds like too much work (and too much risk, it's easy to overlook an ingredient in all that tiny print), consider handing out a non-candy treat. This list from Food Allergy Research and Education has some good ideas, like:
- Bubbles
- Vampire fangs
- Stickers
- Crayons
The site does note that some kids may have latex allergies, and it would be best to be mindful of that and pass on rubbery toys and bracelets.
So once you have your home ready to treat the costumed masses, how can you figure out where to take your kids to minimize the chances of them encountering allergens? Another resource provided by FARE is an allergy safe house finder. Instead of driving around trying to spot a teal pumpkin on a doorstep, houses can be registered as 'Teal Pumpkin Project homes'.
And if you're looking for a local one-stop trunk-or-treat event, there's are several in the area. This event is being held on Saturday afternoon in Woodbury, and another trick-or-treat sponsored by the Family Achievement Center in Woodbury is scheduled for Sunday, October 29th.
