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6 Tricks to Make Halloween Treats a Non-Issue for your Allergic Kid By Pam Moore
My daughter has multiple food allergies. I’m not talking about food sensitivities. I’m talking about taking an Epi-Pen with us everywhere we go, knowing our bright, curious daughter could die, were she to accidentally eat a rogue cashew. At two she was old enough to enjoy trick or treating with her big sister but too young to understand that, with the exception of Skittles, Smarties, and Tootsie rolls, her Halloween candy would mysteriously disappear. Now she’s three and she “gets it.” I know she understands that she must ask me or her dad before she eats anything at a party. I know she’ll wait for me to give her a special, safe treat that I’ve packed just for her instead of accepting a slice of birthday cake. I’m still learning how to handle Halloween. If you’re also wondering how to enjoy trick or treating without being spooked by potential allergens, here are some tips for seasoned allergy parents.
2. Trade candy for a toy
1. Create your own traditions
3. Trade unsafe candy for safe candy
You don’t necessarily have to replicate the Halloween experience of your youth for your child to love the holiday as much as you did. As a parent, you have the freedom to invent your own family traditions. Jennifer Roblin takes her non-allergic son, age seven, trick or treating while her husband stays home with their daughter, who is four and has multiple food allergies. Her daughter loves dressing up and handing out plain potato chips (which are safe for her). Says Roblin, “I asked her if she wanted to go trick or treating this year and she cried, saying ‘No Mommy, I dress up and hand out tato chips.’” Leigh Goodwin Furline, who has one child with food allergies and who does not, gives her kids the option to trick or treat or not. Last year, they decided to skip trick or treating in favor staying home to watch a movie. They also received some safe candy and a toy of their choosing.
If a Halloween without candy sounds as depressing to you as a birthday without presents, trading your child’s Halloween candy out for safe treats is a sweet solution. If you’re concerned about the possibility of cross-contamination, you could do what Sarah Hodges does. Instead of sifting through all of her son’s candy and reading all of the labels to determine what’s safe, she replaces everything with Enjoy Life Halloween candies. Megan McDavitt has two children, ages four and two, who between them, are allergic to milk, peanuts, tree nuts, and sesame. She encourages them to take non-candy or safe items if any are available. Once they get home, she lets them keep any safe candy and replaces anything they can’t have with No Whey Halloween candies. Kim Schmid, who has one child with allergies and one without, does it a bit differently. She combines the contents of her two kids’ candy bags and
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Our Kids Magazine | October 2019
Trading candy for a toy means not only can parents bypass label-reading, candy-sorting, and the risk of crosscontamination, but they also avoid the hassle of candy rationing, candy-hiding, kids begging for candy, and all other candy-related problems. Sarah Jean Shambo lets her son choose whatever toy he wants in advance, but she waits until Halloween to purchase it. This way, she explains, “he’s excited about the trade and it doesn’t have to be a fight.” While the Shambo family takes a DIY approach to the switch concept, many parents call on the official Switch Witch, who needs candy to keep warm through the winter. Developed by a mom who struggled with the piles of candy her kids brought home from trick-or-treating, the toy is designed for parents who want to limit their kids’ sugar consumption and for those who need to keep their food-allergic kids safe.
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