Pictured above: My boys and my husband celebrating Halloween at home last yearLast year I was thrilled that the preschool program was not having a party. For me, it was one less battle to fight. Tyler was 3 and did not realize he was missing anything.
He's 4 now. He is a smart kid. I'm pretty sure my "avoiding the hype" days are over. In fact, my husband wants Tyler trick or treat this year so he is "just one of the kids." I understand that. Really, I do.
My husband does not have quite the comfort zone I do (some days I envy that!), yet, I knew we had to change how we did things this year. I tend to be a worrier. (Does the fact that I write a daily blog on my son's peanut allergy give that fact away?)
When you compound the fact much of the "safe" candy out there has high fructose corn syrup in it, which greatly aggravates Tyler's eczema, I'm left with little candy he can eat. Plus, all that candy (minus PA and eczema) is just not healthy.
So, we have come to a great compromise in our home. Its nothing new and many of you probably do it. But, a few moms I have mentioned it to had not thought of it and loved the idea! In truth, I think it will be our standard Halloween practice until Tyler outgrows the whole trick or treating gig.
Here is a time line of what we will do:
- On Halloween night, my boys will get dressed up just like all the other kids do. (Being "like the other kids" is so important when at all possible when you live with PA.)
- I will stay at home and hand out "safe" candy. In past years I have bought a couple of big bags of Willy Wonka candy at Sam's. This allows our home to stay safe and Tyler to have a little bit of candy to snack on (albeit with HFCS!)
- My husband will take the boys out. I will provide them with some sort of "bag" that does not keep the candy right at their fingertips (possibly a pillowcase, if my husband will not be mortified with the look of that!).
- I will take an anxiety pill when they leave (Oh, no, I am kidding...I don't have anxiety pills...but I might need them that night!!)
- My husband will watch the candy the boys are receiving and try to make sure they are not getting things that actually contain peanuts (Snickers, Butterfingers, etc). We will probably just teach the boys to say "No peanuts, please!" when they see those things.
- Oh gosh, I didn't mention this but it goes without saying, the Epi Pen and Benadryl will be with my husband at all times. He has a nut allergy, too, so there is a lot of it to go around in our home!
- When the boys arrive home, we will take their candy bags. I will provide plenty of safe candy and other treats (not too much, though!).
- More anxiety pills for me (...kidding again!...)
- The day after Halloween (that would be November 1, right?!?!), I will take the boys to Toys R Us and let them pick out one "Thomas the Tank Engine train" (their favorite toy). The price for their "free" train?? The bag of loot ("unsafe junk") from the night before.
Anyone else do something similar to this in their home??
11 comments:
Sounds like you have a great plan for halloween. For the pillowcase, maybe you can have the boys decorate some old ones, paint or color orange pumpkins or put stickers on them, so they're festive. One thing my sister in law does (and my niece does not have any food allergies), she goes through the candy bag and she lets her keep the favorites, but then her mom takes the rest and it's exchanged for something she wants (like a new toy). Non allergy reasons, she just doesn't want her eating so much candy.
My daughter is 6 now, but knows there's a lot she can't have and doesn't complain, because she doesn't want to get sick.
As far as being the worrier, I am more of a worrier than my husband also. It's a mom thing :)
Enjoy and have a safe halloween..
Linda
My girls (5 and 2) have very serious food allergies, but we've always let them go trick-or-treating. We just don't let them touch the candy, and we switch everything out when we get home. Of course we take our epi-pens and a cell phone with us. They are learning that you can have fun and be mindful of allergies at the same time.
sounds exactly like our Halloween. I used to swap out their entire candy bag for a non-edible bag from me ( containing movies, halloween pj's, trinkets from oriental trading, webkinz). But this has gotten too expensive and this year i plan on just swapping their bags for safe candy bags from me. What candy do you give your boys that is available at convenient places ie. stop & shop?
Halloween has been a constant source of worry for me since Alex was diagnosed. Last year we let him go TOT'ing but he only picked candy he could have. This however left very few houses he could take candy from and it got old saying "sorry, he can't have any of that, thanks anyway".
This year we are getting home from Disney the day of TOT night. I'm hoping to just get my son to dress up and give candy out here at home while enjoying safe candy that I have bought. Then the following night we will TOT at our parents homes.
I hope this is a compromise my son can be happy with.
Good luck with Halloween!
I like the idea of swapping it out for a special toy. My son is getting very aware of stuff he can't have. He's only 4. Last year we let him accept everything, but me and hubby kept the other stuff seperate up high, in the kitchen where our son wasn't able to reach at. This year, I think we'll just swap out the stuff that's not safe, and donate it, and get him a special toy. I don't care for our son eating alot of sweets either. I have been happy he's not been much of a sweet eater, and thus with his allergy, really limits him.
We got an idea from the FAAN newsletter: The good witch, who visits houses of kids with food allergies, will visit Halloween night. The kids will leave their bags of unsafe candies outside their bedroom doors and in the morning she will have switched them out for safe candies and small toys.
I'll have to check out the Willy Wonka candy that you mention. I looked briefly at some candy in the grocery store and nearly everything was unsafe, even the candy corn bag mentioned it was processed with peanut-containing candy!
My son is 6. We'll let him have his fun - getting dressed up, taking him trick or treating, etc. He understands I will be taking his bag of loot and going through it. Most likely I will be swapping out everything he got with everything I have for him that's safe. We'll be handing out Dum Dums - the Spangler company is great re. nut allergies - just check out the allergen information on their website. I have special Kit Kats (my son's favorite) from the Nestle plant in Canada, that are peanut-free, and labelled as such (thank you www.peanutfreeplanet.com!). You can have fun, have your candy, and still be safe!
K from LI
We trick or treat as usual and take away unsafe candy. I try to hand out non-candy items. The mini playdoh cans were a big hit in my neighborhood even with the older kids! Peanut free planet is a good source for candy such as candy corns.
Patsy
Check this out...organic, HFCS and nut free lollipops! And, on super-sale at Amazon:
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Our daughter is about to turn five, last year was the first year she seemed to care about what she got from trick or treating. We let her trade her candy piece for piece for safe candy or let her trade in many pieces for a bigger non-food item. It was actually a good lesson about how to "spend" wisely.
I was also recently made aware of a local dentist who does a candy buy back and sends all the candy to troops overseas. We'll probably swap for her candy again and then donate the unsafe stuff. Someone should enjoy it!
The Pumpkin fairy trades "unsafe" candy for small toys, for some.
I always buy safe candy hidden away for that special night of the big candy eat, then slow candy eating after.
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