Halloween is often thought of by costumes, and candy! Now imagine you have a child or children with a food allergy, or multiple food allergies! For parents of kids with food allergies Halloween can be a terrifying night! As a registered dietitian that works with families with food allergies the Teal Pumpkin Project is an important initiative!
Have you heard of the teal pumpkin project before? The teal pumpkin project is a movement that is now global! This helps raise awareness of food allergies by creating a safer, more inclusive halloween for ALL trick and treaters! You can put a teal pumpkin on your doorstep, or print one out and put it in your window. This allows parents and kids to know your house is food allergy-friendly. This is something I will be raising awareness for in my community! I would love if you did too! Let’s make halloween fun and inclusive for all the kids! You can still hand out your traditional candy and have a bucket of non-food items!
One way to help with this is to offer some non-food items along side the candy. Some examples could be:
- colourful erasers
- bubbles, chalk
- markers
- stickers
- crayons
- colouring books
- glow sticks
- bouncy balls
Edit*
If buying play dough make sure it is hypoallergenic. I had a lovely parent comment that their little one who gets anaphylaxis to play dough or temporary tattoos due to wheat and or soy in most of them.
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