Halloween is fast approaching and soon all the little ghosts and goblins will be bangin’ on your door, opening their little treat bags for some goodies. I love Halloween. Dressing up in character is totally my jam. I’m the crazy lady that had a murder mystery birthday party (80’s Greek wedding themed) and shows up in footie pajamas when the dress code for girlfriend get togethers is ‘comfy attire’.
I also love Halloween because I am always gifted my favorite candy bars – Almond Joys. What is it with kids hating coconut? Fine, I’ll take one for the team and eat the ones you don’t want…
My ultimate Halloween love is sharing the fun with my son, but for some families that have children with food allergies, Halloween can be a stressful and scary time. I am incredibly fortunate that my son doesn’t have a food allergy, but my heart bleeds for those that do. That’s why I am a big supporter of the Teal Pumpkin Project.
According to the Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE) website: “Teal Pumpkin Project™ raises awareness of food allergies and promotes inclusion of all trick-or-treaters throughout the Halloween season.”
Not only is the Teal Pumpkin Project an amazing way to help ALL children enjoy trick-or-treating, it’s also a great way to offer healthy alternatives. Because let’s face it, there is enough sugar to go around!
How can you get involved? It’s easy. Simply display a teal pumpkin in your yard or porch this Halloween to let those families know that you have allergy-friendly treats.
Ok let’s get real. I have HUNDREDS of trick or treaters come to my door. Yeah, HUNDREDS. We live in a very child-friendly neighborhood. Time for some straight up honesty – I cannot offer my healthy alternative ideas to every child or I’d be a very broke, ugly witch. So I simple leave a note on our teal pumpkin that says, “please ask” so I can whip out my alternative treat bucket when requested. The FARE website also has free downloadable posters to display on your door or window.
Looking for ideas for healthy alternatives or allergy-friendly treats? Here is some inspiration!
I’ll be handing out these Minion bananas and Jack O Lantern fruit cups. It took a matter of seconds to sketch these masterpieces. I’m not even an artist and these turned out pretty darn good (if I do say so myself).
More and more retailers are also offering candy alternative snack packs. Popcorn, healthy cookies, and gluten-free pretzels to name just a few.
Or check these out:
Easy Clementine Pumpkins from Real Mom Nutrition
Ghost String Cheese from Creative Ramblings
Mummy Drink Boxes from A Pretty Life in the Suburbs
Here are some toy ideas from How Does She.
Glow Stick are a great alternative to treats – kids love the ‘coolness’ factor and adults love the safety factor. Busy Bee Kate has these and other options.
You can check your local dollar store or Oriental Trading Company for bulk toys and trinkets to give as an alternative to food items.
The only thing scary during Halloween should be the costumes, NOT fear of food-allergies. These healthy alternatives to sugar-loaded candy will please parents and kids alike (without getting your house toilet papered or egged).
Happy Halloween!
OMG your an Almond Joy lover? I knew our friendship was destined. Growing up my friends always showed up to school with a bag of their Almond Joys and gave them to me. All I had to give up was my Nerds. Winning!
And Im giving out pretzels this year, but I love all of these cute ideas! Fun fact: Im actually doing the cheese ghosts for my baby sisters Halloween party tomorrow. Those little clementines and fruit cups are cute too! And of course a Minion banana is always a winner! 🙂
Girlfriend, it’s destiny! 😉 Nerds = bleh. Nice trade my friend. Nice work on the pretzel giveaways. I’m sure parents will SO appreciate that! Have an amazing time at your sister’s Halloween party!
Fun ideas.
Thanks Candy!
There are some really cute ideas here! I especially like the minion bananas!
Thank you Trish. Aren’t these ‘lil Minions cute?!
“I’m the crazy lady that had a murder mystery birthday party (80’s Greek wedding themed) and shows up in footie pajamas when the dress code for girlfriend get togethers is ‘comfy attire’.”
Chrissa I love you! 😀 In a girl-friend-non-creepy-stalker-fangirl-way 😉 lol You made me chuckle out at this.
These healthy Halloween treats are so cute and really easy to make, for even those who aren’t artsy or creative. Have a great weekend! 🙂
Awe Stella all my love back at ya! Are you with me on the dressing up thing?! It’s kind of essential for my friendship. Ok jk, I’ll love you anyway. Have a fab weekend as well!
These are really great ideas!
Glad you think so Emily!
Really awesome ideas. I love the teal pumpkin project. I think it makes people think outside of the sugar box for Halloween. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks Emily. It’s such a great program and so easy to do in every household!
OMG! How cute!! I love those bananas — totally serving them to my boys for breakfast on Halloween. Thanks for the creative (and easy) idea! 🙂
And you’re not alone…I was a crazy kid who had a murder mystery bday party back in the day, too. Hah!
Good idea Blair. You will earn super cool mom status FOR SURE with the Minion bananas. Ahhh love those fun murder mystery parties!
These are SO creative! Love the clementines 🙂 and that would be easy to do, since they’re sold in bulk at the grocery store.
SO true! Easy and cheap. What I love (in food, that is) 😉 Thanks Jess!
I LOVE these ideas! Totally doing those draw-ons for when I have kids in the future!
Hey Summer – you could totally draw on your fruit sans kids. I mean, just sayin’ 😉
Thanks for joining in! I have food allergies, thankfully mine are pretty easy to avoid as far as candy goes. However, I can’t imagine how hard it would be for kids to not be able to keep anything they got trick-or-treating. This is such a great project.
I totally agree Lisa. Every chid should have the same, fun experience on Halloween! Hopefully more people become aware of the Teal Pumpkin Project and join the cause!
Amazing post! You have a great blog:)
What about following each other on Instagram, Bloglovin, Twitter?
http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/3880191
Thank you so much Irene 🙂
Awesome! I love the idea of fresh fruits as a treat!
We starting joining this a few years ago. I stock up on little toys and candy now, but have put them in the same basket. I’m always surprised at how many kids opt for a toy. I guess it’s probably the novelty of the idea. Thanks for continuing to share this project, like you my kid is allergy free, but I couldn’t imagine how hard Halloween would be if she wasn’t.
xoxo
Katie
http://beyondtheclothing.com
What a great idea Katie! I have a ‘gift closet’ for holidays and birthday but I like the idea of keeping small toys for Halloween. Glad you are a supporter of the Teal Pumpkin Project too!