Halloween is rolling around soon, and it’s time to think about ways to celebrate that may not involve sugary treats at all! Try these allergy friendly Halloween goodies and treats so that everyone can have a great, care-free time!
Yes, we’re all totally into the tradition of stuffing our little bags or baskets with handfuls of sugary candy. My kids could trick or treat for hours if they knew they’d have a 20 pound sack full of candy at the end!
However, gorging on chocolates and candies can be awful for your teeth, create a terrible sugar high and subsequent crash, and generally just cause kids to lose their minds. Of course, there are some families that are unable to partake in this tradition due to allergies or illnesses. Perhaps their child has diabetes. Maybe they have a serious nut or corn allergy. Maybe they have other dietary or personal reasons, but they can’t reach for the candy bowl.
Have no fear. There are awesome prizes and goodies that you can give out that these families can enjoy.
Allergy Friendly Halloween
First, be sure to designate your house as allergy friendly. Get or make a teal pumpkin. Oriental Trading was nice enough to sponsor this post and sent me some goodies in exchange, including the foam teal pumpkin below. When we have that out on our porch, neighbors will know that they can safely bring their kiddos to our home to receive allergy safe treats.
Oriental Trading even has a cute teal pumpkin yard sign that says “We Are Allergy Friendly!” on it. How cool is that?
NON CANDY TREATS
One thing that we’ve been doing all year is saving our kid’s meal prizes. Yes, we do hit up a drive thru more often than we should. Sometimes my kids just aren’t interested in the toys or get duplicates. We’ve been saving them so we’ll have toys and books to hand out to kids at Halloween. Everything we’ll hand out like this will still be brand new in the package, so the recipients will probably think they’ve won the lottery with these goodies.
Another idea is to have a toy treasure chest. Our dentist has one of these, and it makes a lot of sense! Give kids something they can actually use rather than something that could mess up their teeth or cause a serious allergic reaction. It’s a win! We have done this in the past, and it seems like vampire fangs, bouncy balls, and sticky hands are really popular. We got the one pictured from Oriental Trading, too. This set came with an assortment of toys, but they sell all kinds of toys and stickers and other things to fill it with if you want.
Coloring pages or printed games can be a lot of fun. Perhaps the most frugal option is to offer printed out coloring sheets or puzzles. Below, you’ll find my FREE printable for a Halloween word search, maze, and cryptogram poem. These can easy by rolled up like a little scroll and tied up with some black yarn or thin twine. Heck, dental floss will work in a pinch! If you want, provide a pencil or crayon to go with it. They’ll get to enjoy this a lot longer than they would have enjoyed a piece of candy.
Let the kids play games. The prize wheel that I posted about in my new spin on party favor bags post would be so much fun on Halloween! It would be especially great for families participating in a trunk or treat or with a table at a community or church event. Another fun option would be a disk drop game which is like Plinko for all of you The Price is Right fans!
FREE Printable Halloween Games
Simply click the image below to print out each of the 3 free Halloween games! You’ll find a word search, a maze, and a cryptogram puzzle.
These print well in color or black and white and make an inexpensive hand-out for the neighborhood kids.
More Frightful Fun
Are you looking for some more easy Halloween ideas? Be sure to check out these Halloween costumes on the cheap, and how to host a Halloween party on a budget, and even some Halloween treats for dogs and cats!
Brenda Brown says
I love this post!! I spent $50 at Oriental Trading a few weeks ago and got a bunch of small toys for the kids instead of candy =)
Rhonda Brown says
This is such a great post! Our local news even featured a story about a little one who has to have a feeding tube so the child can’t enjoy Halloween candy. The Mom was asking those passing out candy to consider toys like above so kids with allergies or medical conditions could enjoy Halloween candy free.