How to Trick-or-Treat when Your Child Has Food Allergies: Ways to navigate trick-or-treating from tot through elementary school age

Trick-or-treating is one of the most fun things a child gets to do – dressing up, going house to house with friends and getting candy. When your child has a food allergy, it’s more “tricky-when-treating” than “trick-or-treating”. But your child can have a great Halloween! My daughter, Elisabeth, who is allergic to eggs and peanuts, always had a safe and fun Halloween.

As a food allergy mom for over nineteen years, I know it feels like a scary time of year for you as a food allergy parent. But there are ways for your child to have a great and safe Halloween with a little extra work on your end. Here is how…

Focus on the fun

Before addressing trick-or-treating, I want to share that the best thing you can do this Halloween is try to focus on the fun with your child and not the candy. Start by talking about their costume and ask about their friends’ costumes. Make a plan for who they will spend Halloween with, as kids usually enjoy being with their friends. Just make sure you talk to the other children’s parents about not eating while trick-or-treating to help keep your child safe. My daughter’s friends were always great about helping to protect her. I have found that most kids’ friends are helpful when it comes to protecting their friends from their food allergies once they are educated on what they can and cannot do.

Have your kiddo’s friends over after trick-or-treating

I always tried to make it fun for my daughter by planning on having a few of her friends come over to our house after trick-or-treating. This worked out great all throughout Elisabeth’s childhood. She loved spending the time with her friends and the focus really was on the fun and not so much on the candy

Elisabeth’s friends knew about her food allergies and were really great about following our rules. As soon as the kids walked in the door from trick-or-treating, I would have her friends park their candy bags by the front door explaining why they couldn’t eat any of their candy in our house. Then, they would all wash their hands and go into the kitchen for safe pizza (or safe chicken nuggets and french fries). . They were hungry and tired from trick-or-treating so they were happy to eat food, not candy. But, I also had a couple of safe candy options at my house which they could eat after dinner and add to their candy bags before they went home. My daughter and her friends would have some play time after eating and knew they would get their Halloween candy bags back when their parents picked them up. 

Before you trick-or-treat, explain the ground rules to your child

Before trick-or-treating, we always explained to my daughter that it’s not safe to eat candy on the trail. I told her we needed to make sure all her candy is safe and does not contain any of her food allergens. In order for my daughter to feel that this was not unusual, I told her that I was never allowed to eat while trick-or-treating either as a kid because my mom checked all my candy when we got home to make sure everything was wrapped and sealed properly. I let her know we wanted to check this too. When Elisabeth was about six I would add, “I also have safe surprise treats for you after we get home so you will have lots of candy tonight just like everyone else!!!” 

Switch out unsafe candy for safe candy

Before Halloween, I would always buy my daughter’s favorite safe candies (the big versions!!). I would substitute unsafe candy she would get trick-or-treating with the safe treats I bought. Until she was around five, I simply took her Halloween bag and switched out all the unsafe candy for safe candy while she was distracted with her friends when we got home. Because of all the excitement, she didn’t remember what was in her bag. All she knew was that she had a stash of Halloween candy filled with things she loved!

Once Elisabeth was about six years old, before she went out trick-or-treating, I told her (in an excited voice) that I bought lots of safe treats to switch out for any unsafe ones she would get that day. I told her what I bought was a surprise which she could see after she went trick-or-treating (she loved that build up of excitement) This way she knew she would end up with a lot of candy by the end of the night no matter what she got while trick-or-treating.  When I’d show her the candy I bought after trick-or-treating, she was so excited to get some big versions of all the candy she loved. In her eyes, it was better than the mini candies given out anyway. Seemed like a better trade to her!! 🙂

If you want to minimize the amount of candy your child has, then you can substitute with toys.

I recently asked my young adult daughter if she ever felt disappointed about not being able to eat most of the candy she collected at Halloween when she was little. She said, “No. Not at all Mom. You always made it fun and I got candy that I liked!”

The Switch Witch / Good Witch

I’ve heard other food allergy parents do candy switching in a different way. They call it the Switch Witch or the Good Witch. Tell your child the Switch Witch will come Halloween night to bring them surprises in exchange for their Halloween candy. Then switch out their Halloween candy for safe candy or toys once they are asleep. (Similar to the Tooth Fairy)

This wasn’t a thing I thought of or knew about when my daughter was little so I never tried it. But I know my daughter liked  the instant gratification of getting the replacement candy after trick-or-treating. It felt like it avoided any disappointment. She was too busy having yummy candy so there was no time to miss out!

Be a trick-or-treat chaperone

Be there to chaperone trick-or-treating so you can make sure your child is safe. Even though Elisabeth’s friends’ parents would go trick-or-treating and offer to take her too, my husband or I was always there. In addition, I would stand a little closer towards the door to see what was being given – until Elisabeth was about nine years old and started to feel embarrassed by me ;). I would give my daughter suggestions on what she could pick to put in her bag. If someone was only giving peanut candy, we would say, “no thank you, she has a peanut allergy”. My daughter was OK with us, or her, sharing this and we hoped that it may educate them for the following year when thinking about their treat choice. But many times there was a safe choice. Even if Elisabeth could not eat the candy because of cross contact issues with the brand, it was fun for her to collect the candy just like her friends did and she knew she would end up with a big bag of safe candy by the end of the night. Fortunately, Elisabeth never had a cross contact reaction even if she mistakenly accepted a treat with her allergens. Today, more and more homes are providing a nonfood alternative on Halloween. It’s wonderful to see!

Nonfood treats and The Teal Pumpkin Project

The Teal Pumpkin Project was introduced in 2012 by food allergy mom Becky Basalone and has grown into a movement! Those who participate, put a teal pumpkin outside their home signifying they have a nonfood treat choice for those with food allergies. In 2014 FARE ran with the idea and helped to get the word out. Now FARE has the Teal Pumpkin Project Map on their site, allowing you to add your home on the map and search for participating homes in your area. FARE also has posters on their site so you can help advertise The Teal Pumpkin Project in your community. It is up to all of us to help spread the word!

Important things to remember for trick-or-treating with a child with food allergies on Halloween

• Always have 2 epinephrine auto-injectors with your child at all times.
• Your child and others trick-or-treating with them should refrain from eat candy.
• Always read food labels. Every time. Ingredients and manufacturing processes can change at any time and within the various sizes of the same candy. (so the mini sizes may be different)
• If a treat does not have an ingredient label or is homemade- Skip It!!
• Bring hand wipes while trick or treating.

I know it’s stressful but it will get easier, my friend. Have you downloaded Food Allergy Parenting’s free guide, How to Stay Sane as a Food Allergy Parent? Get it HERE! You’ll thank me later!

Wishing you a safe and fun Halloween. You got this!!

Debra Bloom has been a food allergy parent for over 19 years. She is the creator of The Safe Snack Guide, co-founder of Snack Safely and founder of Food Allergy Parenting. She is a food allergy parenting coach passionate about teaching how to keep children with food allergies safe and included from tot through teen while living a full life. Sign up for her free newsletter to get food allergy parenting guidance and support right in your inbox (no spam)!