The excitement is mounting at our house. Halloween is just a few nights away. Abigail is going to be a unicorn this year. Not just any unicorn, but her Webkinz unicorn, Melena, complete with iridescent horn, wings and tail.So, what's the best part of Halloween? For the kids, it's coming home and dumping their overflowing trick-or-treat bags out on the middle of the floor to get a good look at all of the candy. Even though it's late, Abigail always gets to pick a piece and eat it. But, do you know what we have to do first? We have to sort the candy to look for pieces that contain peanuts.
Abigail dumps out her bag, and then she and I go through it piece by piece checking to see what's safe. All the chocolate (ahh..the good stuff) and any of the candy that we're not sure about goes to one side. All of the safe, mostly hard candy goes in her pile. Can you guess which pile is larger? It's not Abigail's. She has always been a really good sport about this. I'm so proud at how she does this so matter of factly. It's all she knows. She's never had a Kit Kat, Twix, Snickers, Reese's Cup or bag of M & M's. For that matter, I haven't had any of those for a while either. At least since last Halloween when I ate one of her "unsafe" Twix bars after she went to bed.
So, what is safe? I've compiled a list of peanut safe candies. I'm sure there are others, but it's a good start. As always, it's extremely important to check the package. A candy that may be safe in my region of the country, might be manufactured in an unsafe plant in your region. The manufacturer may have moved production to a plant with a chance of cross-contamination and is now labeling it differently. Also, I've found that what might be safe as a bagged product might not be safe packaged individually for trick-or-treating. Send me a comment, if you've found another brand that's safe, and I'll add it to the list.
Peanut Allergy Safe Halloween Candy
Tootsie Rolls and Pops
Charm’s Suckers, Blow-Pops, Dum-Dums
Skittles, Starbursts, Smarties, Dots, Sweet Tarts
Wonka's Nerds Laffy Taffy, Runts
Junior Mints, Andes Mints, Peppermint Patties, Rolos
Lifesaver Gummies
Hershey’s (plain chocolate bars, Kisses - not King Size or Seasonal Bags, Kissables)
Altoid Mints
Haribo Gummi Candies, Mike and Ikes
Supper Bubble Gum
Jolly Rancher (hard candy, lollipops and gummi candy)
Twizzlers
Other safe treats include the individual trick-or-treat sized Teddy Grahams, Goldfish and Rice Krispy Treats.
Halloween can be really fun, but also really tough for many many kids. My family just has to look out for peanuts and nuts. What about children that are also allergic to milk, corn or soy? Their candy pile is even smaller. I've started giving out less candy and more non-food treats like pencils, stickers, tattoos and Halloween rings. There are lots of other options to keep Halloween safe and fun for everyone.
