GFCF kids can enjoy Halloween too!

Dealing with Special Diets- Gluten & Casein Free & Food Allergies at Halloween

Being on a special diet around the holidays, especially food-centric holidays like Halloween, is possible albeit a bit of extra work. I want my son to be included as much as possible in school for parties and events but I also want to maintain the integrity of his diet which is gluten & casein free, no tree nuts, no red dyes and limited sugar. Most pre-packaged commercial candies are out for us.

So what do I do with all the candy and goods if he can’t eat it? We play "lets make a deal".

I make a trade with my son – he gives me the candy and I give him some pre-purchased gifts/prizes just for the occasion. Last year it was nothing extravagant - some fidget type toys, Webkinz Trading Cards and a Halloween Webkinz pet.

Then I take the candy and get rid of it.

No, I don't eat it all- though I do love Peanut Butter Cups (too much). By me there are a few dentist offices that will buy the Halloween candy back from the kids in the days after. What do they do with it? They send it overseas to our Armed Forces in care packages. All I know is that it is gone from my house so I don’t eat it all up myself.


How to deal with School festivities:

Send GFCF Snacks from Home
I find out when the party is and send in treats from home. Per my son’s IEP he is only to consume food that has been provided by home including snacks. I make my own special cupcakes or cookies so that he can have a treat at the same time as the rest of the kids. If you are looking for instructions and a recipe for making gluten & casein free sugar cookies for Halloween check out this video on YouTube.

A quick and easy way to make your own GFCF candy/treat that my kids (and I) love:
Melt down Enjoy Life Foods Gluten-Free Chocolate Chips in the microwave or on the stovetop. Dip or dunk marshmallows into the melted chocolate. Then roll the marshmallows in puffed rice cereal (rice krispies contains Barley malt and isn't GF but my natural foods section sells an organic gluten free rice cereal that is a worthy substitute. These are really yummy and you can also make rice crispy treats this way also by melting down the butter substitute of your choice and mixing that with the melted marshmallow, melted chips and puffed rice. If peanut butter is not on your list of foods to avoid I suggest putting in a teaspoon of peanut butter for some added protein and added yum.

Another yummy treat is to dip gluten free pretzels into the melted down chocolate chips.

All of the above snacks are good enough to share with friends who will have no idea what they are eating is gluten/casein free. They'll love it too & great for classroom parties.

GFCF Goodie Bags
A lot of the parents make up special goodie bags and send them in for each child in the class. The classroom teachers usually make sure these goody bags go right into the backpack and aren’t opened until they are at home so that gives me a chance to ‘sanitize’ them and pull out anything that my son cannot eat or play with. A lot of people know my son is on the gf/cf diet so they will provide things other than candy. Many send in those tiny play-doh canisters that are party favor size. Play-Doh is actually not gluten/casein free as it is wheat containing and it is transmitted through the skin. So a tip, if you are making up goodie bags for your child's class – if there are any children who are gf/cf you should also avoid sending in Play-Doh.

If you want to skip candy all together - go to Oriental Trading Company website and shop to your hearts content to all sorts of 'novelty' items. They have a better price than going to your local party store and a better selection than most of the Dollar Store chains.

Here is a cute "party" favor or goodie bag idea that is GFCF that I found online

"Creepy Hands"
§ 8 cups popped popcorn (important - air pop or pop the old fashioned way, most microwave popcorns are not GFCF)
§ Candy Corn
§ 6 clear industrial food handler's gloves
§ Orange or black ribbon
§ 6 plastic spider rings

Place one candy corn in end of each glove finger for fingernail (point down); pack glove tightly with popcorn. Close bag at wrist; tie with ribbon. Place a spider ring on 1 finger of each hand. Makes 6 "creepy hands".

But what about the candy??

Some “traditional” wrapped candies are gluten free & casein free – though not necessarily free of dyes, and clearly not free of sugar. If you are sorting your child’s candy to pull out what is free of gluten and casein some of the keepers are lolipops, hard candies, skittles, peeps, fluffy stuff cotton candy – obviously all are fully loaded with sugar and dyes both of which we try to avoid.

A place to start would be the GlutenFreeda site maintains a list of gluten free 'mainstream' candies. This list however is just for candies that are gluten free, it does not look at casein. So you will want to read labels carefully to sort out anything that also has dairy in it and eliminate that. I found this list at the Discussing Autism blog that started to tackle this 'mountain' already in creating a GFCF candy list. Of course, you'll want to double check any and all packaging and with manufacturers websites (or call them) to verify ingredients because the ingredients are always changing and what is GFCF "safe" one day may not be the next time you go and shop - ingredients are always changing.

BIG BIG BIG BIG NEWS!
Enjoy life just came out with a gluten and casein free candy bar called the Boom Choco Boom bar. They sell for almost $2 a bar but you can get a coupon at the Enjoy Life Foods website for 75 cents off that you can take and use wherever Enjoy Life Foods are sold.


Where to buy your GFCF treats for Halloween???

Amazon.com is a great place to start and carries Yummy Earth lollipops as well as Sugar Free Pops which are GFCF and available in bulk quantities.

Chocolate Emporium sells no less than 20 different items that are gluten free and also dairy free. They have some really adorable chocolate pops that are molded into kid-friendly shapes like dinosaurs, dogs, and also for holidays.

glutenfree.com - a smaller selection of gluten free candies is available many of which are only gluten free and not gfcf. They also carry the Yummy Earth lollipops.

Gluten-Free Mall - They carry the Enjoy Life brand chocolate bars as well as a host of other GFCF candy. The entire site is gluten free and each item is clearly marked on their website whether it is dairy free, egg free, nut free, soy free, etc.

College Farm Organic - They make hard candies and NATUREPOPS that are GFCF and also soy free, egg free, nut free, dye free as well as organic. My local health food store carries these.

Miss Roben’s Allergy Free Grocer carries candy for Halloween and the rest of the year as well as a host of other allergy free products. The site is not exclusive for GFCF so you will need to make good use of their easy to use allergen search engine . Simply check off gluten, dairy, and any other product you may be avoiding (like eggs, soy, nuts) and then the type of food you want (i.e. candy) and the site will only show you products that meet your restrictions.

I hope by now you'll feel relieved that there really are quite a few options for gfcf kids to enjoy Halloween and still be included in school events, trick or treat, parties and more.

Happy Halloween!

.. be sure to check out Part 1: Halloween doesn’t have to be a frightening: Autism, Gluten & Casein Free treats, Sensory Issues & other demons in the dark

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This blogpost in response to Autism Family Adventures Blog seeking info about Autism & Halloween!