Our children have been carving artificial pumpkins each year, and we proudly display their creations each Halloween. This year, they added a shiny teal pumpkin to the patch!
When I was a kid, food allergies were a rare occurrence, and the only thing we had to worry about after Trick-Or-Treating was how we were going to trick our younger siblings into trading their tasty Chocolate Bar for our yucky Molasses Toffee.
With the many food allergies today, many kids have much more to worry about. I have two children; a thirteen year old that can eat anything, and an 18 year old who grew up with sensitivities to milk, wheat, eggs, chocolate, coffee, peanuts… you know the drill. Like many parents, I had the difficult job of trying to keep her safe while still having her enjoy collecting treats.
This is why I was so excited to see the Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE) launch a national campaign last year called the Teal Pumpkin Project to raise awareness of food sensitivities by encouraging people to offer alternatives to food treats for little ones with food allergies.
Some ideas for safe treats are crayons, stickers or bracelets. They even sell packages of non-food Halloween treats in local dollar stores.
If offering an alternative treat on Halloween is something you are interested in, go to the FARE website and download a poster, or paint your own teal pumpkin. Then display your pumpkin or poster Halloween night. This will let Trick-Or-Treaters know you are offering non-food treats.
http://www.foodallergy.org/teal-pumpkin-project/downloads
