A Guide for Parents
Halloween is the most wonderful time of the year in our household. Growing up, it truly felt like magic. Long before I ever had kids of my own, sharing this holiday was something I looked forward to greatly. The smell of the air, the sound of leaves crunching underfoot, and the absolute thrill of the season in the long shadows cast across the decaying lawns filled me with awe. My brothers and I would plan out our costumes by July or August. We were fortunate enough to have our very own Aunt Trish who could help us create the most incredible, handmade getups each year. She and our mom met in college and became fast friends with a shared love of period pieces and horror movies. She'd give us spooky tours in her home town and describe in detail murders and urban legends of her neighborhood. Everyone needs an Aunt Trish.
When you have a child with food allergies, a lot of daily life and simple traditions can become full of uncertainty and fear. This was certainly the case when we found out that the Kit is allergic to not only peanuts but sesame as well. Over the last few years we’ve found a system that works for us, as long as her allergies don’t become even more severe. If your child has the sort of allergy where they can’t be in the same room as their allergen, I would weigh the risk and opt out of trick-or-treating altogether. You can try what we did for her first trick-or-treat, as Covid lockdowns were still ongoing, and have a family member or friend hide behind different doors in your home with safe candies and trick-or-treat inside your own home. It’s not ideal, but it could give them a feeling of inclusion, especially if they’re really young.
The last couple of years we’ve been taking the Kit to pick out back-up candies the week of Halloween. We make a goodie bag and stash it away in case the haul isn’t particularly good. Usually, I like to find one peanut allergy-safe chocolate type candy, and some sour candies, and smarties. It seems to be a well-rounded mix, so her options don’t feel super limited.
Once we have her candy basket for that year selected, we have been making a sign and attaching it front and center. Printing it on card stock has been helpful and using strong packing tape or super glue if you won’t be reusing the basket next year works. It’s gotten some laughs out of people (one year the peanut had an evil jack-o-lantern face) and most of the time we found our neighbors noticed and read it before giving her candy. In our neighborhood last year, I was pleasantly surprised by how many people already have allergy friendly candy trays ready or had allergies themselves and were very understanding! Hopefully one good thing that can come from the increase in food allergies is more understanding and accommodation... well a girl can dream right?
For the Kit in particular, communication can be difficult especially with strangers. This has been a huge source of anxiety for us as her parents. Having a child with severe allergies not be able to express this to others or fully understand their own condition and how to navigate it is downright terrifying at times. She’s come such a long way, we know she can do it! But for now, having a visual has been a game changer. Of course, we usually say something about it as soon as the ‘trick-or-treats' are out of the way.
Once the little one is exhausted or has exhausted us, we go back home and wash off the candy with water and some dish soap in case they were touching any unsafe products. Everyone has their own comfortability with these things, so far, we haven’t had any issues doing it this way. If any peanut products (or that may contain) find their way in the bag they get tossed immediately. Now that she also has a sesame allergy, we double check for that as well. It’s not as common but is in a lot of breads now and I even found candy corn with sesame oil in it!
We keep a close eye on her and have her Zyrtec and Auvi-Q (Epi-pen) on standby always. If you feel like Halloween isn’t worth the risk with the severity of your child’s allergies, please go with your instincts. There are plenty of ways to share the season without exposing them to something that could pose a threat to their life. For the Kit, she gets tested yearly and closely monitored, and we take a lot of steps we feel comfortable with the results of. For my fellow food allergy parents, especially if you also have a child on the spectrum, my heart goes out to you. It can be hard to keep the joy and navigate a world not built for your children. But that’s our job as their parents, to build a new world for them. In whatever small ways we can.
Happy Halloweenin’,
-Sara Fox
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Peanut Allergy
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