By: Katrina Penaflor Managing Editor
Every year on Oct. 31, millions of children take to the streets dressed as their favorite super heroes, monsters, or fictional characters to celebrate Halloween and go door to door asking for candy.
But what seems like a regular and fun-filled occurrence for most kids can actually pose as a problem many people don’t realize.
The issue lies in the treats being handed out: the candy.
What many children consider to be the best day of the year – because, let’s face it, candy is delicious – can be troublesome as not all kids can enjoy the treats being handed out to trick-or-treaters.
Food allergies can prevent children from being able to ring on all their neighbors’ doorbells and replay Halloween’s famous phrase of “trick or treat.”
Whether it’s a peanut allergy, gluten intolerance, or an inability to incorporate candy into their diet, houses should consider the best way to keep their house trick-or-treat friendly for all kids.
The Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE) organization launched a national campaign in 2014 called the Teal Pumpkin Project, which “raises awareness of food allergies and promotes inclusion of all trick-or-treaters throughout the Halloween season,” according to their website.
The goal is to get households to start giving away non-food treats to trick-or-treaters in hopes of including more children into the holiday. Houses can identify as distributing friendly, non-food treats by placing a painted teal pumpkin outside their home.
The choice of the color teal is to represent food allergy awareness, and has been recognized as such for the last 20 years.
I think the teal pumpkins are a much needed addition to Halloween.
For most of us growing up, Halloween was such a carefree holiday where you ran around your neighborhood and grabbed handfuls of candy from every house. But think about the kids who can’t run door to door because they have a peanut allergy and every other house has a bowl full of Reese’s peanut butter cups or peanut M&M’s.
I was surprised when I brought up the purpose of the Teal Pumpkin Project to friends that the opinions weren’t all positive. Many of the responses were that they thought the project was trying to change Halloween and take away candy, or they thought kids wouldn’t make the choice of a non-food item over candy.
Those opinions are both missing the point of the Teal Pumpkin project.
The point of the project is not to eliminate the inclusion of candy in the holiday; the website actually encourages people to continue passing out the sweets.
FARE is just trying to get people to offer an alternative.
Some of their suggestions include bubbles, Halloween themed rings and jewelry, stickers, or toys. FARE does ask that people are careful with their non-food treats as some can still contain food products or allergens, like modeling clays made with wheat or anything involving latex.
These ideas are simply an alternative. Yes, a majority of the kids who are faced with the option will pick the candy over the toy, but for the kids who can’t pick the candy, they’ll be grateful for the non-food item.
For people purchasing multiple bags of candy for trick-or-treaters this year, I encourage them to switch one out for a non-food item. Even something like a packet of glow sticks for a dollar could make a difference by allowing more kids to be able to pick something from your house.
Join the Teal Pumpkin Project and offer trick-or-treaters the choice of the alternative. For more information about the project and FARE organization visit www.foodallergy.org or contact Anna Luke at aluke@foodallergy.org.
