Talking Allergies

My peanut allergic son is going to be close to three by the time Hallowe'en arrives and I was hoping to get suggestions from others on how to handle the festivities. I'm struggling with the fact that I want him to be a part of the festivities with the other kids but I also know that we would have to confiscate most of the treats at the end of the night due to his allergy. It seems too unfair a thing to expose him to -- any suggestions would be appreciated!

My son is now 7 and has been allergic to nuts/peanuts since he was 2. Halloween is always a stressful time for me but it gets easier as your child grows older and can begin to understand his allergy. My son is so used to not being able to eat all his treats at Halloween, he doesn't seem to mind. He is grateful for the treats he can eat, like Doritos, etc. He loves chips and fortunately, almost all the manufacturers make chips he can eat. So that's his treat. Fortunately for me, he hates chocolate so giving it away is not a big deal for him. But having said that, Nestle does make the "safe to share" chocolates so your son can have those if he wants.

The greatest challenge for me is not the trick or treating itself... because I am there with him and inspect his bag afterwards. It's all the parties and treats at the school. Well-meaning parents who give little loot bags to the kids, filled with different candies. Or snacks and treats brought into the school for Halloween parties. While the school does have a nut/peanut policy, most parents do not understand how products can get cross contaminated, etc... So basically, my sons knows not to eat anything he gets at school unless I look at it first. And I always communicate with his teachers so they are aware. They never give him anything they are not sure of and sometimes even call me to ask... they tell me the name of the products or read the ingredients out to me. The main thing is... keep the lines of communication open with your child and his teachers. As he gets older, he will have a better understanding. I am surprised sometimes how much my son knows about his allergies and how responsible he is!

OUr daughter has egg and milk allergies. The first Halloween I bought a present and told her that I had something great and that I would trade it for all of her candy. (I was so paranoid I didn't want her to eat anything! )
Last year I found some candies that she could eat and brught it with me to trade with her and I also brought a little gift too.
With her being in school this year I think I'll invest in some safe candies and some Halloween items from the dolar store. I'll prepare a treat bag to send to school so that the teacher will have something to give her if they have festivities. Oh, I just thought of something! How about Wacky Cake done like cupcakes and frosted to look like Jack-o-Lanterns?

Thanks for the replies -- you're right Storm, I think we often underestimate a child's ability to adjust and handle what they need to. Your response has given me some perspective.

This hasn't been a problem for me personally, because my kids don't have food allergies. But, I did once read an idea that I thought was pretty good.

After trick-or-treating the parents (with the child) separated the safe from the unsafe stuff. The unsafe stuff was left out - and taken away overnight by the Halloween Witch - who traded it for a bunch of safe treats. Kind of like the tooth fairy. Of course, unsafe treats wouldn't be left in the room of the child.

, Anna Marie, I love your idea.

I am with youngvader in this and Anna Marie that is a really cool idea for a child with allergies; a Witch. to take the bad candies away, cool
Kelly

Hi
My 14 year old daughter is very severe to peanuts I have always wanted her to be able to participate with her friends so she wears gloves and has always known that she can't touch anything during the trick or treating.
When we get home after she is in bed I go through the bag. I put all unsafe things and things with no ingred. in a bag. They leave the house right away. Then all safe items are wiped with a bleach wipe , because I don't know what they have touched. The next day she has a small amount of safe items. It has worked for us, I always buy her safe items too. Like Dare or Nestle bars becuase she usually does not end up with very much.
Good Luck.
Cindy

School parties are tough - this is the one time my husband and I try to be at school - to help the teacher at these events - we use our vacation time. As well, we have also had one teacher ask us to buy all the food - she gave us a list and reimbursed us and we got the items or reasonable substitutes.
Other parents will also put candy in their cubbies at school but I could trust my daughter as early as age 4 not to touch if she didn't know it was safe. As well, all the teacher's were on high alert to watch out for any stuff like this.

My first Halloween I was very nervous but it truly worked out just fine. We also keep a big box of Nestle treats as extras to swap - as well we keep them around the house for any other times we need to substitute.
Kim

In the latest addition of the magazine their was an article about the great pumpkin. We've decided to go with it too. My daughter can go trick or treating, and leave the "bad" treats for the great pumpkin who will trade for a present. I got her the halloween hefalump dvd ( winnie the pooh ). She is really excited that the great pumpkin is a special guy just for allergic kids, and non allergic kids get left out ( obviously being left out bothers her ).

I'm also looking for the "Great pumpkin charlie brown " movie where linus sits in the pumpkin patch all night waiting for the great pumpkin. Obviously the charlie brown kids and linus get left out of great pumpkin fun because they don't have allergies.

She wasn't really excited about halloween before the great pumpkin thing, she didn't really want to go trick or treating because she couldn't eat the candy. Now the "bad" candy is for the great pumpkin in exchange for the gift. Thats really exciting to her!!!

I'm also putting up a sign that says "allergy aware! If you have allergies I will try to give you treats that you can have ( always double check with your parents)" on my door. I have treats to hand out free of milk, eggs, nuts, peanuts they might be free of wheat but I'm not possitive. If any other kids say they have allergies, I will give them their treats in a sandwhich bag. I also am going to buy special halloween stickers, pencils and print off halloween activities for kids with allergies ( hopefully they speak up because of my sign ), so they feel extra special, and incase any kid is allergic to any other ingredient in the treats I am giving out. I'm also trying to increase some awareness, and hope that next year others in my neighbourhood will try to have treats safe for everyone too!

How thoughtful!!!! I would LOVE to see something like that on our route!! I


would just as soon skip the door to door thing, and have an at home party with some other families, roast pumpkin seeds and have homemade goodies, but hubby is a big door to door fan. I'm working on him though. My daughter knows she can only have certain things in her bag, and of course we always have a crate of the Nestle treats here. She will be having her first halloween party at preschool this year and I'll be staying, especially since the last year my oldest daughter was there, even though the preschool was nut free, somebody brought pb sandwiches, and they served them!!!!!!!!!!!

I figured I would get my four year old to help put the special bags together for allergic kids. I'm going to let her pick out some coloring pages on the internet and print off a few for each kid. Then we will add a halloween pencil, stickers and treats that the trick-or-treater picks out. I have "fuzzy peaches" and other gummy type candies which are all individually labeled as well as regular chips and hicory sticks. We will then put all their "goodies" in a large freezer bag with a label on it that says "Happy Halloween from ________________________________." (childs name )

We have good friends with 2 allergic kids, and another boy who is allergic to peanuts on our block. So we'll give away 3 for sure. I thought that my daughter would enjoy giving little gifts to other allergic kids (she'll probably hand out most treats anyways ). It also might help her to not feel so alone and so left out.

I'd also like to arrange a "food free" halloween party next year. My oldest daughter will be in kindergarten next year and I'm hoping the school will let us have it there. My kids would be old enough next year to really enjoy something like that.

We have used the Great Pumplkin idea for the past 5 years and it has been really successful. It's the one time when Aaron gets to be special in a positive way re:allergies. His friends all say "Aww...I wish the Great Pumpkin would visit me."

I think the allergic community should adopt him as a mascot for Halloween.

I think the special goodies and signs for other kids is a great idea and I will do that too!

Pam

Cuddo's to each and every one of you parents for your efforts. Your thinking ahead and most importantly, you are being proactive about the situation and working diligently to keep your child safe.

I found a lot of great non-food halloween treats at walmart. I bought flashlights, glow in the dark scorpions, pumpkin "bobble heads", stickers, and some loot bag type toys such as a cool halloween tic tac toe game.