How to Host An Allergy Friendly Halloween

We begin planning Fall holidays early at our house. Since we and a group of friends have a long-standing Halloween get-together, and we have so many food allergies, meal choices can be a pain. But this year we have a new problem. “This Halloween is going to stink,” Brittany told me, “The baby can go Trick-or-Treating but she can’t eat any of the candy.” “No problem,” I said, “We will just swap out her candy for treats she can eat.” Then I had a revelation. “How many other kids out there can’t have a fun Halloween due to allergies?” This year we’re participating in the Teal Pumpkin Project to “help make sure all children will come home on Halloween night with something they can enjoy.” Want to know how you can participate? Here is how to Host An Allergy Friendly Halloween.

How to Host An Allergy Friendly Halloween
This is a partnered post with Oriental Trading, but all opinions are my own.

How to Host An Allergy Friendly Halloween

1. Set the Stage. You’ll need a teal pumpkin to let everyone know your home is allergy-friendly.  I received mine from Oriental Trading. I wanted to give it a fun appealing look so I added Frog Pumpkin Poke-Ins. Then I made a sign using a straw and a white treat bag to write “We are Allergy Friendly.” I placed the sign between the frog’s leg and the pumpkin so it would be easily visible.
The teal pumpkin project

2.  Make A Treat Station.  Because we host a party on Halloween evening, this is a fun way for the kids who attend to make their own treat bags. I started with an orange blanket to hang on the wall. I covered it with several layers of Spider Webs and strategically placed spiders and added a  large plastic spider web on the blanket.
wall

On the buffet table, I added a folded white tablecloth and covered with more spider webs.  Around the edges, I added Halloween lights for a festive touch.  I added our teal pumpkin, various allergy-friendly candy in spider web bowls, and a small sign proclaiming the candy “Gluten Free, Dairy Free and Nut Free.”  Treat Bags added to one side of the table make it easy for the kids to create their own custom bag of candy.  *If you prefer not to use candy for your allergy friendly Halloween, small toys are always a good choice. A kid favorite in our neighborhood is the small bottles of slime. Bubbles are always fun too.

3. Make Treat Bags.  Don’t want the hassle of making a buffet station? Just want to have bags ready to hand out at the door? This is the easy way! I used a small orange wire container with a fall ribbon wrapped around the sides for an easy treat bag holder.
Gluten Free Treat Bags

4. Make Your Own Spider Jar.  This added a “spooky” touch to our buffet table and took only minutes to make! All you need is an apothecary jar, stretchable spider webs, and plastic spiders.  Depending on the size of your jar, you will need one to two packages of stretchable spider webs. I added two to completely fill my jar.  Arrange three spiders (or as many spiders as you want!) in a diagonal row along the front of the jar. Spread extra stretchable spider webs along the outside of the jar for added effect.
Spider Web Jar

Allergy Friendly Candies:

I picked a selection of candies which are all of the following; Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, and Nut Free.
*Skittles & Starburst Big Time Fun Packs
Dubble Bubble Favorites Assorted Gum including grape, apple, watermelon and original flavor bubble gum
*Charms Carnival Candy which includes Blow Pops®, Sugar Babies®, Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Da Pops®, Sugar Daddy®, Charms® Sweet Pops®, Sugar Mama Caramels, Tear Jerkers® Sour Bubble Gum and Blow Pop® Bubble Gum.
You can also use these candies:
*Smarties (US Only. The Canadian version has wheat for some reason.)
*Dum Dum Lollipops
*LifeSavers
*Tootsie Pops
*Twizzlers
*Jolly Ranchers
*As always, carefully read the back of the package or call the company if you have any questions. Ingredients in products can change unexpectedly. There are, of course, other candies available that meet all these criteria. If you know of others, let us know in the comment section!
allergy friendly candies

I’m excited that the baby will be able to experience Halloween just like the other kids and wish I had thought of participating in this years ago! Do you or your children have food allergies? What do you do to allow them to participate in Halloween festivities?

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29 Comments

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  4. I never thought about gluten free candy. Thankfully lots of my favorites are on the list!

  5. Great idea! It is so nice that you took into consideration kids with food allergy. We will have to do this on Halloween. I hope parents sending their kids out for treats would have their baskets properly labeled to inform us of their kids’ food allergy.

  6. Thank you for the list of candy! We have a friend with a nut allergy and I’m always scared I’ll accidentally buy the wrong thing!

  7. This is so useful! My kid has some friends who have to be careful.

  8. Such a great suggestion for those of us who struggle with so many different dietary needs. Love this and the suggestions of candies!

  9. You are so thoughtful to make this list for all the parents that need these diets for their kids. It will really make a difference and enable their kids to enjoy Halloween safely.

  10. These are really awesome ideas! I could use these tips for our Halloween party!

  11. Those are wonderful ideas, I’m lucky that the boys don’t have food allergies but their friends do. It’s really important for me to know what to avoid and what to do in case we have a party at home this season!

  12. Oh perfect! I never know which foods are ok to serve, but this takes the guesswork out of it. We are starting to prep for Halloween.

  13. Love the teal pumpkin! One of my kids’ friends is dairy and gluten-free so I was trying to figure out how to make the night sweet for her too.

  14. I don’t really host Halloween parties but I try to make sure that the candies that I give out are also good for the kids and won’t harm them in any way! These are great tips!

  15. Thank you for the list of gluten-free candies! It will definitely make handing out candy this year, easier.

  16. I had no idea about teal pumpkins symbolizing allergy free treats. I Think this is fantastic and a great way to help
    People with allergies have fun and enjoy some treats.

  17. I’m glad that we have a lot of allergy friendly sweet treats as options for a party like this. I love the setup! It’s really important that we take allergies into consideration when planning a party.

  18. These are all great suggestions! With so many different dietary needs, it’s great to know that there are options like these so everyone can have a great time.

  19. These are great ideas. There’s more & more kids with allergies today, so it’s important to consider other options.

  20. I can’t believe it’s almost Halloween, where did the summer go! My youngest is gluten-free, his two favorite candies are as well so we’ve never had a problem.

  21. Such fun Halloween party ideas. With so many kids allergic to something now a days, this is a great way to accommodate everyone so they all can have a good time.

  22. These are great ideas! I can’t believe Halloween is coming so soon!

  23. I think the Teal Pumpkin Project is a great way to include all kids in the festivities. I like to have options available for kids with allergies when they come to the door.

  24. These are great tips for an allergy friendly Halloween. I am seeing more and more of that around here lately.

  25. This is such a great post. With so many allergies out there, we just go allergy friendly for everything!

  26. I definitely like your treat station ideas. I wouldn’t mind setting something up that way. Some of those allergy-friendly candies are faves of mine.

  27. We have a few friends that have to be peanut free so this would be a great party for them! Great tips and I will follow them when we have our party!

  28. I love these ideas! The snack separation is great, but I also love that you included decoration ideas. Decorations are TOTALLY allergen-free.

  29. These are all such great ideas. I love the idea of separating out treats into allergy-free stations.