Food Allergy Living Blog Tagged Results

We shared our top 4 Tips for Celebrating Halloween Without a Food Allergy Scare. But with Halloween coming up this weekend we wanted to share a round-up of all the great “Halloween with Food Allergies” tips we’ve seen recently. Here is some more great advice from our favorite blogs and advocacy groups!

Tips for a Food Allergy Safe Trick or Treating

• Kids With Food Allergies recommends pre-positioning safe candy at friends houses along with other advice for safe trick-or-treating and school parties.

• Gina Clowes of Allergy Moms has 15 Halloween Safety Tips in her latest newsletter. She recommends pulling a “switcheroo” and buying two of the same treat collectors, letting your little one trick-or-treat, but then swapping their loot out with the safe version once you get home.

• Over on Go Dairy Free, Alisa Fleming answers a question about dairy-free candy options.

• The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network has ten tried and true tips for keeping your child safe on Halloween. We love their idea of having children leave any unsafe candies for the “Good Witch”, who collects them and leaves safe treats instead!

Have you read any great ideas for having a safe, but fun, Halloween? Be sure to share the links!

- Sarah

With Halloween right around the corner, we wanted to share some allergy-friendly Halloween candy that you can make and buy for your little ones. A few years ago there were limited options for children with food allergies. Now there are hundreds of different companies that make sweets that are both safe and delicious.

Candies and Chocolates

• Amanda’s Own Confections. Great chocolates that are all natural and completely dairy-free, tree nut-free, peanut-free, egg-free and gluten-free!
• Divvies. Cookies, popcorn, cupcakes, candies and more that are dairy-free, egg-free, peanut-free and tree nut-free. Check out these cute ghost-shaped chocolates!
• Vermont Nut-Free Chocolates. These delicious chocolates are nut-free. The company was founded by the mother of a child with a severe peanut allergy.
• Whey Out Chocolates. These diary-free, soy-free and peanut-free chocolates are made by another mother of a child with severe milk and nut allergies.

Recipes to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth Safely

• Cashew (Coconut) Joy Bars. These candy bars are dairy-free, egg-free and gluten-free. If you leave off the cashews, they are nut-free as well! The Go Dairy Free website has many more recipes for tasty treats.
• Pumpkin Cut-Out Cookies. This recipe from FAAN is free from the top 8 allergens and would be a fun Halloween activity to do with your children.
• Dairy-Free Fudge from the Neocate Food Allergy Cookbook. This treat is so sinful, you won’t miss the dairy at all!

What sweet treats does your family love?

- Sarah

With Halloween just a few weeks away, your little ones are probably getting excited about their costumes, class parties and trick-or-treating. And while these can be fun experiences for children, they can be potentially dangerous for those with food allergies.

Fortunately, with a little advance planning, you and your little ones can have a safe and spooky Halloween without the risk of an allergic reaction. Here are some tips and safe treats to help you prepare:

Halloween Parties

For Halloween parties (especially at school), it always helps to be involved in the planning process and to attend. You can also volunteer to bring your child’s favorite sweet treat for everyone to try. Some safe options include this recipe for Dairy Free Caramel Apples or these delicious dairy and gluten-free Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Trick-or-Treating

Most important when trick-or-treating is to examine your children’s candy before they eat any of it. Depending on the severity of their allergy, you may want to have them avoid putting their hands into candy bowls (since candy wrappers could be contaminated with allergens like nuts or dairy). Have neighbors drop the candies into their bags directly, or incorporate gloves into their costume design.

Consider creating a “swap-out” bag of allergy-safe treats, DVDs or books that they can enjoy at home. Divvies Chocolate Ghosts are delicious dairy, nut and egg-free treats. If there are other children in your neighborhood with food allergies, you can set an example by handing out non-food goodies like stickers.

For even more tips and ideas for an allergy-safe Halloween, check out the Kids with Food Allergies Halloween Guide. What tips do you follow for a safe Halloween?

-Mallory

Halloween is a little over a month away, and we know that all those treats can be tricky when you have little ones with food allergies. To help you plan for a fun and safe celebration, Ruth Smith of www.bestallergysites.com and Jennifer Buteau of www.foodallergybuzz.com are hosting a Halloween Food Allergy Twitter Party! If you participated in their past Twitter Parties about Back to School and Food Allergy Awareness Week you know this is a great way to connect with other parents in the food allergy community to share tips and ideas.

The party will take place on Friday, October 2nd from 9:30 PM to 10:20 PM (EST) at summize.com or tweetgrid.com. The hashtag for the party is #foodallergy.

The discussion will cover safe Halloween treats, parties, trick-or-treating and more. There will also be a chance to win some great door prizes. For more information, and to RSVP, be sure to check out the event invitation here.

Hope to see you all there!

-Christine

Costume? Check. Pumpkins? Check. Chocolate bar? Oh no! If your little one has food allergies, unfortunately, this is probably what you are thinking.

Holidays like this – with so much candy and goodies – can be tough for kids with food allergies (and tough for parents who want to make sure their child enjoys the day). Many of the candies and foods during Halloween contain milk, milk products, and other food allergens. But it is possible to make sure Halloween is both safe and fun for your food allergy kids.

Of course, safety always comes first. But our goal is for you and your family to have a healthy and happy Halloween! Check out the following tips.

First, let’s talk about safety:

- Be prepared in case an emergency happens. Have a set plan in place that all participating people know about before the activities begin.

- Be sure to talk with teachers/other parents about what needs to be done to ensure your child’s safety at any Halloween parties or school activities.

- Remember, even a little bit of a food allergen can cause a reaction. Talk with your child so that he/she understands the dangers of taking just a small taste of a food he/she might be allergic to.

- Always have Epinephrine on hand in case your child has a severe reaction to one of the food allergens.     

Now to the fun stuff:     

- Have non-food items on hand for your kid to have fun with. Think dollar store toys, stickers and coloring books.

- Plan an alternative activity from trick-or-treating. You can have a Halloween slumber party or a scavenger hunt in your allergy-free home.

- Prepare a container full of safe treats to give your child after he/she has gone trick-or-treating. That way, they can have something to look forward to while out with their friends.

- Consider having a “swap-party” where your child can swap candies he cannot have for “allowed” candies. This way everyone gets what they want!

- Some kid’s food allergies are so severe they rely on an elemental formula like Neocate®—which means they either can’t have any food at all or limited food amounts and types. In these special cases, you can put their formula in a festive cup or mix it with ice for a fun slushy, but you really want to focus on the activities.

To prepare further for Halloween and the upcoming holiday season, check out more tips/resources from Kids with Food Allergy and Allergy Moms.

And for more information about all things food allergies, visit http://www.testforallergy.com/.

Any spooky questions? I’d love to answer them!

Be well,
Dr. Y

 Halloween is right around the corner and your little ones are probably getting excited about their costumes, class parties and trick-or-treating.  And while these  can be fun experiences for children, we know that for parents of children with food allergies these events can be more frightening than ghosts and ghouls.

 Fortunately, with a little advance planning, you and your little ones can have a safe and spooky Halloween, without the risk of an allergic reaction.  Check out some of these blog posts for tips to help you prepare:

1. Celebrating Halloween without a Food Allergy Scare
2. Halloween with Food Allergies
3. Food Allergy Friendly Sweet Treats
4. Safe and Spooky Halloween Tips
5. Halloween: Focus on the Fun, Not the Food

What are you planning for Halloween?  Be sure to share your tips for having a fun and safe Halloween in the comments!