Halloween is a magical time of year for kids. All the decorations, lights, and, most importantly, the treats. Going out on Halloween and running to as many houses as you could before your parents said you had to go back home was one of my favorite days of the year.

But what if you never got to do this?

Halloween is a really stressful time of year when you’re a kid — or the parent of a kid — with severe or life-threatening food allergies. All that free “fun”-sized candy isn’t so fun when you have to nitpick what you can and cannot eat. It makes the whole experience of going out on Halloween something of a nightmare for these families. Not to mention the social exclusion a child might feel when they can’t dive into their pumpkin bag and chow down on all the goodies they collected throughout the night.

Halloween should be a fun and safe night for every kid to enjoy, and so that’s why this year, my family and I are putting out a teal pumpkin on our porch.

Why, you may ask?

The Teal Pumpkin Project is a movement to bring awareness to the prominence of food allergies and to encourage people to provide safe, non-food, allergen-free treats for kids on Halloween. Many kids go out on Halloween and do not get to enjoy the same experience as all their friends, but the mission of the Teal Pumpkin Project is to keep Halloween as fun and inclusive as possible.

Providing a safe non-food option can be beneficial to every child, whether they have a food allergy or not (I mean, what kid wouldn’t love a glow stick or temporary tattoo with a little ghost or mummy on it?). I say safe non-food because believe it or not, there are still allergens in things like moldable clay which can contain wheat and latex, ingredients that are found in quite a few toys.

However, there are many safe options to hand out to children that do not contain any harmful ingredients. These treats are especially helpful to kids that fit into categories such as these, listed on the Teal Pumpkin Project website:

• Food allergies
• Food Intolerances
• Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE)
• Celiac disease
• Food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES)
• Children with feeding tubes
• Any child on a special diet

Halloween is a really fun time and it should be that way for every kid, regardless of the foods they can or cannot eat. Many families are beginning to take this into account, and you may be surprised by how many teal pumpkins you see this Halloween (maybe add one more to that, if you want to participate yourself.)

For more information about how you can help all kids have a better Halloween this year, here is the Teal Pumpkin Project website.

Happy Halloween!