The Teal Pumpkin Project

Halloween is just a week away and my kids are super excited to go trick-or-treating with their friends.  We've got our costumes picked out and our treat bags ready.  And we got our pumpkins!  But this year, we've done something special to them.  We've painted them teal :-)  

For most kids, Halloween is a fun and exciting holiday but for children with food allergies, it can be very scary one.  Many of the candies being given out contain peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, soy, wheat and dairy; any of which could potentially trigger an allergic reaction, sometimes a life-threatening one.  So this year, the folks at the Food Allergy and Research Education (also known as FARE) are encouraging everyone to help make trick-or-treating less scary by joining the Teal Pumpkin Project.  To participate, just buy inexpensive non-food treats (see image below for ideas), paint a pumpkin teal and display it along with a sign in front of your house to let parents and kids know you have these non-food treats available.  It's that simple! And it will make a world of a difference to so many kids with food allergies. 

As a mom of two boys with multiple food allergies, this means a lot.  Hubby and I do our best to safeguard them on Halloween.  We've tried sorting out candies after we go trick-or-treating and discarding the ones they're allergic to.  We've tried trading their entire treat bag for toys or "safe" candies we bought for them. We've even tried to skip trick-or-treating all together and just stay in to make allergy-friendly treats at home and watch a scary movie.  But this new campaign means we can take the boys trick-or-treating and know that when they knock on someone's door, there's something safe for them there. 

So I hope you'll join us and paint your pumpkin teal too :-)