Please read, before reading

I am saddened by the comments on this blog that often take a judgmental turn. The information is intended to be just that -- information. You need to make your own decisions for your life and be accountable for your actions. I debated closing the blog, but feel there are many valuable items listed for families struggling with food allergies, especially early on.

If you need further information please contact a doctor. If you need to verify a product's ingredients, please look at current labels and contact the company yourself. Note many posts are several years old. Use your best judgment and do not make up comments to scare people.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Halloween and Food Allergies

Here are some of my tips to dealing with holidays and food allergies.

1.  No big deal.  Yep, that's right.  I take the approach of it's no big deal.  Yes food allergies are a big, big deal.  But how you approach the situation is what makes everything easier.  For example, we plan on going trick-or-treating with our 3-year-old.  However, I'm not going to stress that all the candy she gets she can't eat. I'm not going to feel bad that she can't eat all this candy because of food allergies.  I'm just going to switch out the candy out of her bucket to candy and fruit snacks that she can eat when we get home.  It's really no big deal.

2. Nobody really cares understands, so I'll take charge.  I know that really sounds kinda harsh.  But I've found that nobody really cares or understands that our daughter can't eat certain foods at holiday functions.  I always come equip with foods she can eat and treats that she normally doesn't get very often.  It's much easier to handle the situation myself than worry if someone else truly made something allergy-free.  I'll normally make enough to share with the rest of the guests.  And I can talk until I'm blue in the face about how our child can't have milk and someone will still offer her a chocolate chip cookie or cream cheese frosted cake.

3. It just is what it is.  I've dealt with food allergies since I was young.  I just eat what I can.  It just is what it is.  Nothing more or nothing less.

4. Just make if fun in your own way.   We've been making treats and candy at home for a couple weeks now. Her Halloween experience has been expanded to more than trick-or-treating alone.  We also read a ton of books about Halloween and fall.  Trick-or-treat is just a small part for us (although a very exciting part).

Be sure to check out my cheap Halloween treat suggestions!

2 comments:

  1. Like you, we just switch out our son’s Halloween candy for allergy free candy and some Lego when we get home. He still has the joy of the activity and dressing-up like all the other kids but we just do it in a way that is safe for him.
    Allergy Mum - http://allergymum.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  2. We take a similar approach. We bring food, including some special treats we make at home, for my son to have at a Halloween party, and we pass out dairy-free chips to the neighborhood kids. At two, he doesn't mind not trick-or-treating and is content to pass out chips and run around the yard, but if he gets the hankering to go door to door himself next year, I plan on switching out his candy for goodies he can eat.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts with Thumbnails