Nothing’s finer than the week after Halloween for four fabulous reasons. Allergen Safe Halloween Candy. Halloween Candy on Sale. Non-food treats on Sale (I buy ahead for the upcoming year) and hopefully, no hospital visits to discuss. Even though the Teal Pumpkin Project is growing, Halloween still increases risk of allergic reactions simply based on how the evening functions: strangers handing over unknowns items under the cloak of night. Then, add in excited children and too many distractions and accidents can happen. I used to view Halloween as a night where the streets were marinating in allergens. Then I would analyze the best way to handle it. Thankfully, increased awareness has changed up that allergen marinate PLUS good old-fashioned problem solving. With never looking inside trick-or-treat bag, we traded it our for a cool toy. Then we expanded into wearing gloves and sorting out safe items and finally morphed back into the trade out. Halloween is truly a food allergy journey.
I read of trick or treating allergic reaction online yesterday. The photo of the mom broke my heart. The excited children grabbed the allergy containing candy and before the parents could stop him. They parents immediately administered epinephrine and the EMT said they saved the child’s life. BUT, in the photo, the mom had clearly been crying and feeling like a failure.
She is a hero, not failure.
Halloween is a true food allergy struggle. We have changed how we handle this day so many times, I can barely count. It truly is a journey and I enjoyed the afterglow of sales and safe stories. Even though this mom had a terrible story to share, she also had a success story to share. She saved her child’s life. She was prepared. That is the gift here. She was ready, able and did what she needed to!
Happy post Halloween! Today, I’m out shopping for those efficient after-Halloween sales of non-food treats and I’m raising up my glass of rice milk to that mom who saved the day!
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