Halloween – in thriver words

Teal Pumpkins

If your child has a food allergy or sensitivity, be on the lookout for teal pumpkins this Halloween. The Teal Pumpkin Project began with one mother who wanted allergic children to have a great Halloween experience. https://www.foodallergy.org/our-initiatives/awareness-campaigns/teal-pumpkin-project It was later adopted by Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE) and made a national initiative.

Halloween illustration. Black square with round teal and blue circle containing flying bats, a bare tree, and jack-o-lanterns.

The idea is to provide non-food Halloween treats in teal pumpkins that are easily identified. This means an allergic child can go directly to treats that are safe for them. There’s no standing around feeling like the odd man out.

In general, filling a teal pumpkin with non-food treats is simplest for everyone because no labeling or label reading is required. One of the things that makes Halloween hard for the allergic is individually wrapped candy often has no ingredient list other than on the outside packaging. Once candy goes in a host’s bowl, there’s no label available for trick-or-treaters to check.

If your child is especially prone to feeling different, you may want to solicit help from friends and neighbors. Encourage them to participate in the teal pumpkin project. In addition, provide each one with a small bag filled with safe edible treats marked with your child’s initials. Text when you’re about to arrive and have them place the bag on the top of the teal pumpkin.

If you have a trick-or-treat route filled with teal pumpkin providers who choose non-food treats, you can also have a special pumpkin at home that has plenty of safe, edible treats for the end of the evening.

Your family might also choose to make some treats together like cake-ball spiders, lava cake dino-destroying mountains, popcorn balls, or caramel apples. The specifics will have to work within your child’s particular restrictions, but the memory-building family time can make everyone feel included.

Adapt your child’s favorites into scary appearance and ramp up the atmosphere by using Halloween themed serve ware. Don’t worry about perfection or trying to do too much. Going overboard can make a kid feel just as different as leaving them out.

The idea is just to let the child see that they are seen, considered, accepted, accommodated, and welcome as part of the family, crew, troupe, or friend group. I know that probably sounds like a duh statement, but othering from adults is an everyday occurrence. And children follow their example.

In spite of its national presence, your community, neighborhood may not yet participate in the Teal Pumpkin Project. In my city of 207,000, there’s currently one household on listed on the Teal Pumpkin Project map. Households may be rare in your area as well.

You can change that by becoming a Community Captain https://www.foodallergy.org/take-action/teal-pumpkin-project/teal-pumpkin-project-community-captain You’ll find many resources for getting started on the website.

Even if you don’t have time to be a Community Captain, you can add yourself to Teal Pumpkin Project map, print out one of the free participant signs or flyers, or mix a few non-food treats into your regular candy bucket.

My Halloween focus again this year is offering Breakfast Bags of nutritious food in addition to candy for anyone who wants one. Last year, I ran out in 30 minutes and had to throw together a few more from items in my pantry.

This state has the highest percentage of food insecure children in the nation. Allergies and sensitivities are a big deal. They can be life-threatening. Starvation is life-threatening as well.

No matter how you may view adults in your community, hunger and allergies are never a child’s fault. Providing for them is the least we can do. Please consider a teal pumpkin.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Make This Week Less Spooky

skeleton mask made of tile pieces in green, brown, and turquoise on black background

Let’s make this week less spooky for children! No matter how you feel about their parents’ work ethic, choices, or government subsidy programs, there are children who are hungry and about to be hungrier. This is not their fault.

Instead of leaving our most vulnerable in the frightening position of wondering whether there will be food to eat, we can choose to make their lives less scary. When a child comes to your door this week (if you have the funds available) consider one small action to make their next week better. Provide nutritious food along with treats.

You don’t have to break the bank or do anything heroic. Do whatever feels comfortable. Think of it as a community potluck. If we each add a nutritious offering to our candy bowl, we cumulatively provide a meal.

If your budget is tight, you may still have options: check the laundry change jar (or swear jar if that’s more lucrative); skip a meal out; or take the opportunity to clean out the pantry. This is also a great time to utilize discounts for purchasing in bulk.

Here are a few ideas for items to consider including: (Peanuts are a common allergen.)

Beef jerky or other meat sticks
Tuna pouches
Vienna sausages
Sardines
Snack size packages of nuts
Individual peanut, almond, or cashew butter
Peanut butter crackers
Cheese crackers
Instant oatmeal
Instant grits
Individual cartons of shelf stable milk
Individual mac & cheese
Ramen noodles
Individual cereal
Protein bars
Freeze dried vegetable snacks
Boxes of raisins or craisins
Applesauce pouches
Veggie and fruit pouches
Baby food jars or pouches
Microwave popcorn (the bulk helps fill a hungry belly)
Individual microwave rice

If you have survival food that needs to be rotated, you may want to consider a brown bag station that offers family meals containing items like beef, beans, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, instant eggs, and powdered milk. Include those ketchup, mustard, mayo, soy sauce, and cheese packets you’ve saved from takeout meals.

You can make meal/supply bags using canned options as well – soup, chili, vegetables, chicken, and tuna. A real treat for families could include high quality instant coffee and flavored creamers plus packages of hot chocolate and pudding cups.

Funds don’t just go to pay for food, so providing other necessities can help increase household budgets. If you’re like me, you may have extra toothbrushes, travel toothpaste, travel shampoo, travel lotion, travel detergent, and fancy soaps in the cabinets you’ll never use. Why not have a toiletries treat bucket or make toiletries grab bags?

Other things you can include in a family supply bag are paper plates, napkins, paper towels, toilet paper, tissues, hand wipes, baby wipes, band-aids, hand soap, bubble bath, sandwich bags, and trash bags.

And don’t forget fun items like crayons, markers, colored pencils, notebooks, sketch books, glue, and glitter are treats that may not be purchased when money is tight. Having tools to express creativity can improve a child’s day when the rest of life feels uncertain.

This week may be ghoulish, but it can be less spooky. Support families in your neighborhood with treats that show you care!

Budgetween?

Hoping to make this year’s Halloween a Budgetween? I normally buy Halloween candy early because the specially bagged versions have always seemed expensive. I also mix less costly favorites in with pricier ones so that every child can grab a handful. In spite of this, and other penny-pinching measures, Halloween does not come cheap.

torso of child holding pumpkin with black tape creating a jackolantern face

The typical US household spends between $100 and $500 on Halloween. This year, many of us will need those dollars to cover the increased cost of necessities. This leaves us needing alternatives that keep the holiday fun for the kids and affordable for the adults.

Here are a few options to explore:

Shrink it down. Instead of buying pumpkins you won’t eat, make smaller jack-o-lanterns out of food you can use. Hollow out butternut squash, acorn squash, eggplant, or potatoes and use the internal meat in recipes.

Draw it on. Make cabbage pirates, aliens, or skulls using a nontoxic marker. Place on a clean, food-safe surface for Halloween night. At the end of the evening, peel off the outer two layers. Later you can cook the cabbage or use it for coleslaw.

Put creepy removeable makeup on your kids’ dolls. Add witches hats made from construction paper. Drape the dolls in ghostly gowns and hang them from the porch ceiling.

Draw a bat pattern onto black paper. Cut it out. Use fishing line to hang groups from the ceiling using removeable hanging strips.

Change it up. Instead of purchasing decorations, Line the sidewalk with Halloween luminaries made by the kids using paper bags. Hang a couple of ghosts made from balloons draped with white trash bags or use milk jugs, markers, and battery-operated tea lights to create porch ghosts.

Stretch it out. Buy party favors or fidget toys in bulk. Some assortments include 1000 pieces for around $24. The inexpensive toys will make the candy go further while still giving the kids a treat.

Party on. Consolidate the efforts on your street with a porch party. Everyone brings their own drink, a dish for potluck dinner, half the candy they’d buy for their house, and any decorations they have on hand. Party with three or four neighbors while greeting trick-or-treaters.

Halloween may not be the only holiday that’s different this year. When things are uncertain, we sometimes have to batten down the hatches and do what it takes to get by. There’s no shame in having a simpler, less flashy, more connected way of life.

In fact, if this sort of life were more common, we’d probably be healthier both physically and emotionally. The largest decorations, flashiest house, and most expensive candy don’t automatically signal you are a wonderful person who has a wonderful life.

Trappings are often deceptive and easily avoided. Perhaps foregoing the trappings is the fastest way to a successful Budgetween.

Ghostly Simple

This Halloween, I’m keeping it ghostly simple as well as gluten-free.

I sometimes think back to the Halloweens of my childhood. They were filled with homemade candied or caramel apples and popcorn balls. My parents worked on carnivals for weeks making sure we had dry ice to create creepy fog as we bobbed for apples from a galvanized tub or stuck our hands in spaghetti brains in a haunted house. The doings were quite elaborate. Some years, life delivers too much for Halloween to be a priority.

Nonetheless, I don’t want to disappoint any trick-or-treat regulars. That means keeping the décor, activities, and treats simple. A few pumpkins with drawn faces or trash bag draped balloon ghosts will suffice for decorations. Answering the door in costume (or not) is sufficient activity. All that’s left is to choose and purchase some candy.

Some years, I spend hours researching a range of gluten-free candy or fun trinkets. That can mean searching far and wide to buy the most interesting things I find. This year, I’m skipping all of that in favor of the largest, cheapest bag of candy available from my regular grocer.

As it turns out, a 5 lb. bag of Child’s Play Tootsie® Roll Favorites looks like a good option. Not only is it gluten-free, it’s peanut-free too. Plus, this bag offers me FUN right there on the bag. And I love fun!

I also love Tootsie Roll POPS® and my grandson loves DOTS®. Seems like the way to go. On further examination, I discover even more variety than I expected. The bag contains Tootsie Roll Midgees, Juniors, and Snack Bars. Those are the technical names. You may recognize them as small, medium, and large Tootsie Rolls. I love this because there’s something for every size trick-or-treater.

With all those sizes, the fun has just begun. The bag includes an assortment of Fruit Chews in lemon, lime, orange, vanilla, and cherry flavor. I think vanilla is a little weird for a “fruit” chew, but some people may not.

Gummies are not neglected in this collection. DOTS are packaged in a box that looks like it was shrunk from a movie theater. The boxes feature gummies flavors of cherry, lemon-lime, strawberry, and orange.

If you like to work for your rewards, choose the Tootsie Pops. My bag seems to have mostly cherry, chocolate, and grape, but there may be some other flavors buried in there.

And although this collection is gluten-free and peanut-free, there are some common allergens buried in there – milk, soy, and possibly eggs may be present. The good news is, Tootsie makes it easy to view that information on their website.

If 5lbs is more than you need, the Child’s Play assortment is available at my local store in a 21.98 oz bag as well as 2.5 and 3.5 lb bags. Some sizes will also be offered through your favorite online retailer.

Instead of buying multiple bags or more expensive chocolates, this bag fits the bill for this year’s theme of keeping life ghostly simple.

Happy Halloween!

Boo on a Budget