Let Your Children with Food Allergies Enjoy a ‘No Fear of Food’ Halloween

Believe it or not — it really is possible to have a fun, happy Halloween without the worry of food allergies and fear of food. In fact, you can have an amazing, memorable Halloween with no food at all.

And it may surprise parents to see what a big hit a Halloween party with no food can be.

If the idea of a food-free, less scary Halloween party sounds good, here are some tips:

If you have a large enough home to accommodate the party, that’s one less logistic to think about. If not, community centers or churches are sometimes available for these kinds of events.

Even though you’re not serving food, the party-goers will still need a thirst quencher. Water is the best refresher of all and large containers of water are less expensive and more environmentally friendly than smaller containers. Be sure to have markers on hand to label everyone’s cup.

For small children, cover a table with craft paper and lay out an assortment of craft items such as stickers, foam shapes, pom-poms, markers, crayons and glue sticks. This gives the little ones something to do while they check out each other’s costumes and EpiPen belts and holders.

Older kids and teens might like to watch a scary movie, dance or play games. Here are some game ideas that are favorites with this age group:

• Zombie Tag: One person is the zombie and as s/he claims more victims, they too become zombies. This continues until there is only one human left.
• Eyeball and Spoon Race: In the weeks leading up to Halloween, it’s easy to find small balls that look like eyeballs. Or, you can color ping pong balls to look like eyes.
• Mummy Wrap: Participants in groups wrap willing adults in toilet paper. The ‘mummies’ then race to the finish line and depending on how difficult you want to make it, they can be challenged at the finish line to construct a paper skeleton or complete a quiz.

If Trick or Treating Cannot Be Avoided

If tradition wins out and your child insists on trick or treating, consider a few of these allergy-friendly tips:

• Collect all candy and then place the bag outside for the Switch Witch to come and trade a toy for the bag of candy. She needs fuel to fly home after such a busy night.
• Have an identical bag to the one your child is using, except it is filled with allergy-safe treats. Of course this requires parents to be especially secretive.
• Super Lucky Trick or Treater game: collect candy and then return home to give the entire bag to the next person who rings your doorbell. In exchange, provide your child with a special toy or favorite activity.
• Cash for Candy. Teens especially enjoy a candy buy-out.

Check out Kids with Food Allergies and see many more unique Halloween ideas. There are so many fun ways to keep the Halloween spirit alive and still be allergy-safe. Use your imagination along with responsible choices and you and your child will have lots of fun.