Updated October 2018
October is here, and that means Halloween is coming soon. The kids will be celebrating all month long from putting up decorations at home to decorating pumpkins to picking out their Halloween costumes…all in a lead up to the big event, Halloween. This is a really fun holiday for most kids, but it can be more difficult for children with celiac disease or food allergies in that most of the candy given out is unsafe for them to eat.
Today, I’m excited to tell you about a worldwide initiative called The Teal Pumpkin Project. It’s goal is to make Halloween fun and safe for all kids, including those with celiac disease and/or food allergies. It was started by the Food Allergy Community of East Tennessee and launched nationally by FARE in 2014, and today it’s a worldwide movement. What I love about The Teal Pumpkin Project is that it not only promotes inclusion of all children, but it also promotes food allergy awareness and respect of those living with celiac disease and food allergies.
How Do You Participate in The Teal Pumpkin Project?
- Paint a pumpkin teal (the color of food allergy awareness) and place it outside of your house to let people know that you have non-food treats available. You can get teal paint at any art store, or they are selling a Teal Pumpkin Project paint kit online at Party City and Target, and I’ve seen teal plastic pumpkins for sale at Michael’s recently.
- Provide a separate bowl of non-food treats for trick-or-treaters.
- Add your house to the list of Teal Pumpkin Project Participants so families know where they can take their children for food allergy friendly trick or treating.
- If you’re a school or organization, you can download a free printable sign or flyers on the FARE website.
All children deserve to experience the joys of Halloween and the Teal Pumpkin Project helps make this possible. Learn more about how you can help on FARE’s Teal Pumpkin Project Website.
That’s awesome! I’ll be on the lookout for these pumpkins!
YES! There are so many allergies on the rise now! We participated last year but ran out of the non-candy items faster than the candy! Gotta get more for next year!
This is such a great idea! So many members of my family are gluten & dairy-free, this would be so helpful!
I absolutely love this movement and thank you for spreading the word! Our family is vegan so a lot of the chocolates are off limits for us. So it’s good to still have my little one participate in Halloween festivities. 🙂
We participated last year and had so many people thank us! We’re doing it again this year! I bought my teal pumpkin at JoAnn’s last year on sale.
This is a good idea, and so easy to implement.