Binkies and Briefcases

When we were growing up, my little brother was diagnosed with a severe peanut allergy. I will never forget that I was the person who had to call the ambulance for him when I was twelve and he was not quite two because a cracker with peanut butter on it made him turn red and splotchy and then start gasping for air. Once we had to leave a major league baseball game because he was starting to have a reaction to the peanut dust in the air. Can you imagine being a little boy and not being able to go to a baseball game without fearing for your life? Every year Halloween is especially hard for kids with food allergies or diabetes because they want to participate in the fun of dressing up and trick-or-treating with their friends, but they just can’t have the same foods that many of the rest of us can. Because I know first hand what it is like to grow up in a house with a child with severe food allergies, I always like to make sure to offer alternatives to Halloween candy and be a house that has nut-free candy options. 

Here are my Ten Favorite Alternatives to Halloween Candy: 

1. I liked to offer PlayDoh to the kids in my first grade classroom in orange and black colors and it was a big hit. Although, if a child has a wheat allergy, it is important to note that Play-doh does contain wheat. 

2. We attended a trunk or treat once where a friend from church was giving out glow sticks and I thought this was a great idea! All of the kids LOVED them, they are just as affordable as candy if you buy them in bulk (You can get 100 for about $9, so they are less than 10 cents each), and they have the added safety feature of making the kids much easier to see after dark.

3. Spider rings. These are always a huge hit with kids and they are very affordable. 

4. A little bit pricier than the spider rings or glow sticks, but still less than $1 each, these mini maze puzzle games are another option if you want to take the toy route. 

5. Fun pencils are always a hit with young school-aged kids, and these Halloween pencils with giant erasers are a fun idea. 

6. There are miniature card games for kids available that would be a fun thing to get in your bag and would last longer than candy. 

7. I can guarantee that if my 8-year-old son found a yo-yo in his trick-or-treat bag, whoever gave it to him would be his personal hero.

8. Small flashlights. In the same vein as glow sticks, kids are obsessed with flashlights. They make the kids easier to spot at night, and you get the added bonus of being a cool house. If my kids got these in their bags, I imagine Nick and Abby would be in our yard playing flashlight tag and Abby would sneak hers into her room so she could read with it under the covers. 

9. Secret message invisible ink pens. These pens each come with their own special light in the cap to reveal your secret message. That’s just cool. I kind of want one. 

10. I think it would be really fun to hand out chalk and have a large roll of black butcher paper or chalkboard paper (like this one that you can get on Etsy) displayed on your front lawn, where the kids could then take their chalk and go color. If you are artistic, you could sketch a big Halloween scene on the paper in advance. I would be sure to have an adult supervising, though, or else the older kids might get a little graphic with their art work or written language. (Says the 6th grade teacher in me.)

Do you have any alternatives to candy that you like to hand out to trick or treaters? 

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photo credit: Deposit photo