The Teal Pumpkin Project Is a Great Way to Make Sure Kids with Allergies Still Have Fun at Halloween

It must be very difficult to be a kid with food allergies. It can’t feel great to have to suck on some black licorice while watching one’s friends and classmates rave about how epic cupcakes and pizza are, or to be excluded from birthday parties and other celebrations. Halloween must be a particularly fraught time for kids with allergies and their families, because one would want to go trick-or-treating, but what do you do when every house is offering Snickers bars and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups? Now the Teal Pumpkin Project is a cool way to signal to kids that your house has allergy-free treats to hand out.

According to Yahoo Parenting, some houses are painting a pumpkin teal and sticking it out on the porch or in the window or in front of the door. That teal pumpkin signifies that there’s a non-food treat available to kids who, for whatever reason, might not be able to partake in Halloween candy.

In order to help kids with food allergies feel less left out, a lot of kind people have taken to stocking a second treat bowl with small toys like glow sticks, novelty rings, stickers, crayons, or any random little fun things like that. Keeping two bowls around means a person can give out Snickers bars if he or she wants to, while also having something around for the kids who might otherwise spend the evening combing through their candy haul and having to throw most of it away.

The Teal Pumpkin Project was started in 2014 by Food Allergy Research & Education. It’s still a new thing, but with any luck it will continue to catch on.

Kids with allergies are probably extremely appreciative whenever someone remembers them and takes a little extra effort to include them, so this is a really nice thing to do. The teal pumpkin part isn’t strictly necessary, but it’s a good way to alert any passers-by that there are other treats in the house that they can ask for.

Also, from a purely aesthetic perspective, I really like the look of the teal pumpkin on the porch with all the orange ones. It’s very Apartment Therapy.

(Photo:  Moncherie/iStockPhoto/Getty Images)