Every year on Halloween, I ask my family and friends what they are doing for Halloween night.

I love to pass out candy. Because I don’t have kids, I don’t like feeling awkward trick-or-treating as an adult (laughing). I love going to certain places in uptown Whittier. There is this one house who passes out popcorn freshly made and then not too far down the street, the family who lives there always has a show for the treaters. It's so cute and fun.

There is another house in Pico Rivera that has a haunted house and it really is scary. I also love to go to Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios; I have a ball there, but this year will be the first year in 15 years that I will be missing it. I hear it's amazing (crying on the inside) but wedding trumps everything this year.

Anyway, I was talking to one of my co-workers the other day about trick-or-treaters and how the treaters have gone down in numbers over the past few years.

We started talking about the allergies kids these days have. It ranges from the outdoors to indoors; tree pollen, plant pollen, insect bites or stings, pets, animal hair, animal fur, dust mites, mold, cigarette smoke, perfume, car exhaust, peanuts, eggs, milk, and milk products. Oh, how I know this all too well. For the love of God, I am allergic to everything!

Anyway, my co-worker was telling me she is going to pass out non-allergy food for the kids who suffer from allergies. I asked her how the heck will the families know that the home is a safe place to trick or treat. She says that she is going to buy a pumpkin and paint it teal or buy a teal pumpkin. I was like okay what does that do? She tells me that there is this project it’s called “The Teal Pumpkin Project.” Oh okay, I get it now.

Directly from the website:

"The Teal Pumpkin Project was inspired by a local awareness activity run by the Food Allergy Community of East Tennessee (FACET) and launched as a national campaign by FARE in 2014. FARE thanks FACET for their ongoing partnership as we work to reach families across the country and around the world with the Teal Pumpkin Project’s messages of awareness, inclusion, and community."

I was so fascinated by this I joined the cause. It is very important for children to be able to partake in a fun trick-or-treat night without having to worry about having an allergy attack and being rushed to the nearest hospital. That’s not fun for a child, so to help children enjoy themselves on Halloween, the project was created.

The website offers a list of non-food treats. Things that I didn’t even really consider because Halloween has always been about candy and scary things. Well, there are coloring books, stencils, crayons, pencils, bubbles, slinkies, whistles, markers, stickers and so many more options.

So if you want to participate in the non-food treats, get a teal pumpkin and put it in front of your home. Parents and children will see it and know that your house is safe from any allergen foods and can happily trick-or-treat on your porch.

Happy Tealloween!