PUMPKINS ARE TURNING TEAL

My teal!

Whether you are new to the food allergy world and still learning the ropes, or a veteran allergy parent in need of a refresher, we're here to share with you information about that late October trend sweeping across the country called the Teal Pumpkin Project®. This initiative was first started by an allergy mom and then fully embraced by allergy nonprofits like FARE (Food Allergy Research & Education) and KFA, Kids with Food Allergies.  Teal, the color that symbolizes food allergies, encourages all households, even those without family members with food allergies, to have non-food treat options on Halloween for little trick-or-treaters.  Over the past few years, the media has deemed this a feel-good, TV-worthy story and has given it a tremendous amount of exposure propelling it into the stratosphere. Personally, I love this idea on so many levels for the obvious reasons, that I'm tired of looking at rows and rows of dairy, nut and peanut filled candy bars when shopping for Halloween treats but also that SUGAR, in general, has been proclaimed to be the evil little villain that it is, responsible for just about every other ailment and disease out there (except maybe food allergies ;).

All in all... 

If you want to be involved, it’s super easy! All you gotta do is put a teal pumpkin on your porch or print off a Teal Pumpkin Project sign to put on your door. This lets families know that your house is the place to be for safe Halloween fun!  Where do you get a teal pumpkin? Well up until now you've had to paint an orange one yourself.  Actually, I have a little confession to make...I've never actually painted a pumpkin teal before.  I've talked about it. I've written about it. I've promoted it, but I've never actually found the time to do it!  You know those kinds of moms that only remember to do their holiday decorating like the day before a holiday.  Yeah - well I'm one of those kinds!  Three kids. A business. Blah. Blah. Blah. I'm not making excuses just being honest here. However, this year inspired by the big giveaway we are promoting in honor of teal pumpkin food allergy awareness (more on that later) plus the fact that I discovered that ready-made Teal Pumpkin products are now available at retail locations really got me going.  If there is an easier, faster solution,  I'm all for it!

So here's what I found doing some teal pumpkin awareness shopping. 

A. Teal paint. B. Faux teal pumpkins. C. Teal buckets & D. Non-food giveaways.

As a matter of fact, I got so carried away that I painted a pumpkin with my teenage daughter and bought a fake one too.  (Can you tell below which one is which?)  

Truly not too terrible a question.  (I mean how often in life have you had to mix colors to create TEAL?)  The answer is:  teal is just BLUE mixed with GREEN. That being said I was happy to use the small vial of teal paint found at Target for only $1.99.   I also picked up an artificial plastic-ish teal pumpkin because I knew it would last a lifetime or close to it (about $12.99) so if you don’t want to paint a pumpkin, grab one of the fake ones while they're still around.  The fact that large retailers are now carrying food allergy awareness merchandise is truly an indication of how large this initiative has become! 

Available at stores. Teal Pumpkin awareness goes mainstream! 

Some great ideas for non-food treats are pencils, stickers, vampire teeth, bracelets, and temporary tattoos. Some stores have started selling non-food trick or treat packs already full of a variety of food free fun specially designed for the holiday.   OrientalTrading.com is always a good bet as well.  I already have a bunch of glow in the dark tattoos just waiting for me in my shopping cart!  Show us your teal pumpkins and Halloween décor by tagging #Allermates on social media!

To really keep up with the spirit of this wonderful initiative, we are giving away $50 in store credit to 3 lucky winners who enter our giveaway HERE.  This is the biggest giveaway we've had so far!

 As always, don't forget to have your little ones wear their AllerMates allergy bracelets.  It's a time of the year where they are exposed to so much.  Also, make sure to have their emergency meds with them at all times as well.  Our medicine cases for EpiPens & other auto injectors are perfect for this. Have a safe Halloween and enjoy celebrating safely with your family and friends!  

Live Safely :) 

                                           & Team AllerMates

Iris Shamus is a mother to three awesome kids & the founder/CEO of AllerMates. AllerMates was born in 2008 as a result of her food allergic and asthmatic son, Ben. Iris and/or AllerMates have been featured in many places including Fox News, the Doctors, Veria Living, MSNBC, The Today Show & the Huffington Post with helpful advice on keeping kids safe.