What do you do with vegan kids for Halloween??
Posted by JessaCita on Sep 09, 2007 · Member since Nov 2006 · 1808 posts
This question is kind of random, as I do not personally have kids... But I walked into Target last night & saw their huge displays of Halloween candy for sale now (I love this time of year! :D). And I wondered for the first time... "What do vegan parents do with their kids for Halloween?" I'm just kind of curious. I'm not sure how many of you VegWebbers have kids, and of those, how many are raising their kids vegan, but I wanted to ask! I would think there would be a lot of fun veg activities to partake in leading up to Halloween (picking out a costume, carving pumpkins, etc.), but when it comes to the actual Trick-or-Treating... What do you do?
As a serious Halloween person who now has a tiny herbavore, I think about this a lot.
Ultimately, I think it has to tie in with how you treat other non-vegan situations. We're going to be honest about why we eat the way we eat with her (we don't want to hurt animals that we don't have to hurt) and that most people don't agree with us. But that doesn't mean we can't get along.
Last year, Grandpa shouldered the burden of "disposing" of the candy her little pre-1-year-old self collected. This year, she may get a treat and explainations that may register or no. I think pre-two, she won't care much anyways. She'll just be about the action of Trick-or-Treating!
But after this year, in all things, we're just going to have to be honest and consisitent about letter her know what we eat, why we eat and why "treats" are "treats".
good, good plan!
MDVEGAN---are gummi bears vegan tehn? like all gummi bears or just certain ones?
Halloween is my favorite holiday! I love carving pumpkins, decorating, and going to haunted houses. Trick or treating was decent but it was depressing when it was all over since it meant the end of the halloween season, much like unwrapping christmas gifts on christmas day. As a child, I'd get so much candy that it would last me until christmas. So my mom had me freeze some my candy and donate the rest to charity. Bit by bit, the candy vanished. We made shakes and blizzards with them! Although I was a non-vegan trick or treater, i definitely reccomend donating any non vegan treats
^ haha. give them celery. lol. when i was little, some lady gave me an apple. and this one old guy at the end of the street hands out dollar bills!
this reminds me of a house that gave out pennies! haha.
In our neck of the woods, the pennies (or other change) go into little boxes the kids carry for unicef.
My SIL dresses as a witch each year and after her kids collect the candy (which isn't a lot because they live in a really small isolated community) she does a "magic trick" which turns the candy into a toy. She does this because they are strict vegetarian but more importantly because my nephew has type 1 diabetes.
K^2
Well, I don't have kids myself. And in fact as a kid I never went trick or treating, just to school carnival/parties a few times.
But now that I live in a neighborhood with trick-or-treating youngsters I just give out vegan treats. I have a fun time picking something out from the bulk section at the HFS--so not just brand name candy that happens to be vegan. Last year I gave out individually wrapped sesame crunch candies. One year I gave out those little boxes of raisins, but my husband said that was lame.
I feel good about doing this because a) no way am I going to support non-veganism by giving out dairy-laden candies, b)if anyone asks about my "unusual" treats I can tell them about veganism in a nice way (but only if THEY bring it up first) and c) it's just fun to participate in this cultural tradition.
I allowed her to have a few of the 'safe' candies like suckers, certain jelly beans, and sweet tarts. Luckily, she is really bright for her age and understands that she cannot have dairy, eggs, or peanuts. When given candy, she brings it to me and says "Mama, can I have this? Am I 'anergic'? Does it have dairy?". (In fact, she questions all food that isn't prepared by me!) I took all of the non-vegan candy to my grad class -- they all enjoyed the chocolates with their morning coffee. Then about a week later, I took the rest of the leftovers to class too. What does a toddler need a bucket of sugar for? I knew if I'd kept it around that I would end up eating most of it, anyway.
Oh my gosh..your little one sounds amazing!!! I was wondering the other day how quickly I'd be able to teach my kids to do that sort of thing!!!
Yeah, she is pretty amazing. In fact, I think she may be a genius -- I'd love to test her IQ to see if she's 'mensa' material.....nah, I think we'll tackle ballet class first, ;) .
It never ceases to amaze me how quickly children pick up on things. Even before they can walk or talk they are comprehending so much. At first I thought she was so in-tune with the whole dietary restriction thing just because I thoroughly explain it to everyone all the time. Seriously, during holidays, I tell my mother over and over "you cannot feed that to her!". After all, a chocolate bar or a scrambled egg could cause a serious reaction not to mention death from a peanut butter sandwich! I haven't been exposed to any other vegan families, but I'm sure they pick up on it just as quickly. Their minds are like sponges.
hate to let everyone know but, twizzlers aren't vegan. they have glycerin, like most candies do.
The only candy I've found that is vegan are Sour Patch Kids, Swedish Fish and its a cookie but Oreos, all oreos are vegan. :)
hate to let everyone know but, twizzlers aren't vegan. they have glycerin, like most candies do.
The only candy I've found that is vegan are Sour Patch Kids, Swedish Fish and its a cookie but Oreos, all oreos are vegan. :)
Hmmm... Twizzlers are on PETA's "I Can't Believe It's Vegan!" list. http://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan/VeganShoppingQS-Snacks.asp?Category=Snacks
I would think/hope they'd do their research... ???
I'm handing out little individual Halloween pretzel bags (prepackaged), baseball cards, and something else this year (granola bars?). We'll see how the baseball cards go, but I want to get away from candy period, vegan or not.
Where we live, there is a big Halloween party with all sorts of stuff to do. They literally throw handfuls of stale candy into the kids' bags. Then we go over to friends' for dinner and our kids all go trick or treating together and get even more candy. By the time we get home that night, each kid has collected something like five or ten pounds of candy in his/her little pumpkin basket. I keep custody of the baskets.
They get to visit with their baskets for a day or two and then soon after all the candy gets dumped into a big box and we keep that around for a while. The truth is, they very quickly get bored with the candy. Most of it they don't even like to eat (one of my kids hates chocolate). What they really like to do is sit and count it and play with it and trade it, etc. It quickly becomes more of a toy than food (if it ever qualified as food). Once I take it away and put it in a big box on top of the fridge, it gets taken down once a night for a couple of nights and they can all have a piece or two after dinner, but they quickly forget about it and usually want something else for dessert.
About six months later I remember all that candy in the box and throw it away. It is so wasteful--THAT is the part that bothers me most of all.
those who gave out pennies or coupons got egged! (or NRG-ed these days. ;D)
there is always fruit leathers, chips, animal crackers (like barbaras), MiDel has single serve cookies, though i dont know if they are vegan, Panda licorices, and even things like Gushers fruit snacks (def. not healthy, but vegan), dots.
we used to amass great quantities of candy, eat the good things (kitkats, reeses), negotiate trades, then the rest would be wasted. but it was really all about the: who's pillow case is heavier? contest.
my mother used to dress up like a witch, w/ our front porch draped in cheesecloth webs and fake spiders, bats, snakes....then she'd have a glass lamp fixture (large lightbulb thingy) and read someones fortune.
shed say "do you want to be read?"
the little suckers would say yes, sit down, and give them their hand.
then shed swipe their hand w/ red paint. ;D
I work at a HFS and they are selling bulk "healthy" halloween mixes that have "fun size" lara bars in them!!! I think that is soo cool...so much better than candy. I've also seen mini luna bars and clif bars too.
fun size lara bars!!! that's soooo freakin awesome.
i've always wanted one for a snack, but never finished the whole thing.
First of all, vegan or not what kind of parent lets their kid gorge themselves on pounds of candy??
Not mine!
I mean, sure we were allowed to have it on Halloween night and probably eat too much, but as jkl said, mostly we traded it and counted it. I have fond memories of my best friend and I cheating her little sister out of candy bars in trade for things like stale dots and raisins. After Halloween, it was put away and a piece or two was allowed a day, until Thanksgiving when pies and better fresh baked goodies were all around us. The candy was (and the thought of it) old by then.
As for Halloween with my son who will be 3 on the 27th and is vegan and allergic to eggs and dairy.
Trick-or-Treating is not big here in Germany, so I don't have the pillowcase full of candy problem right now.
In the future, if we are back in the USA, I will let him trick-or-treat and when he gets home I will go through his candy and let him use it to buy other candy from me or toys. The non-vegan candy will only be like currency. It'll be fun.
Because his allergy is not life threatening, at some point when he is old enough (maybe 11 or 12?) to learn to make his own decisions I will tell him "such-and-such candy has dairy and is not vegan, it may make your tummy hurt if you eat it" but I will let him choose. I don't want to take the choice from him but I am sure by that time he will have been educated in the reasons we are vegan and choose the right thing.
I'd like to point something out that most parents already know:
ALL CANDY SHOULD BE INSPECTED BEFORE CONSUMPTION WHETHER OR NOT THE CHILD IS VEGAN
So really if a vegan parent inpects and swaps out for vegan candy... it's not that big of a deal... Since all parents should be inspecting anyway.
We lived in the country. So trick or treating was simply not going to happen. When your closest neighbor is over 20 acres away you just cant walk door to door!
Instead my mother would 'hide' plastic pumpkins filled with treats for my sister and I. We got some candy, pencils, stickers, funny socks, ear rings and even hair baubles. The fun was that it was a hide & seek to find the tubs and then discovering the goodies inside! I personally love the idea. She repeated it for easter and even Christmas stockings got hidden.
Since my daughter lives in TN I suggested to her that she have a spooky party. Invite friends to a costume party, watch scary movies and enjoy snackies. I would totally throw that party! Complete with pumpkin painting (I wanna use them after the holiday for food! haha), cupcakes and frightening movies. Maybe we should do this as an adult thing, hhmmmm. *plots*
I love the thing with the gambling of candy! I didnt grow up in a vegan household but I still wish my parents did that with us, it sounds fun!
It seems inevitable that your kids will want to try the candy. I wonder when the best age is to let them try something with dairy in it? It seems inevitable.
First of all, vegan or not what kind of parent lets their kid gorge themselves on pounds of candy??
um, my parents. :-\
AND i have type 1 diabetes since i was 10!
(can you tell where my binging began???ha.)
i think a halloween party would be soooo much fun...for the kiddies AND adults!
i love making all kinds of (vegan) foods to fit the holiday. getting creative, dressing up yourselves and the house!!! better than xmas, imo.
and it takes the concentration off of strictly food items, it can be more about the activities and friends... a scary night time nature walk, etc.
i would be soo worried to let my kids out in these days, too. :(
First of all, vegan or not what kind of parent lets their kid gorge themselves on pounds of candy??
um, my parents. :-\
mine too... i remember gorging myself on halloween :o.
First of all, vegan or not what kind of parent lets their kid gorge themselves on pounds of candy??
um, my parents. :-\
mine too... i remember gorging myself on halloween :o.
me three! we'd eat a bunch that night after the counting/trading session and then take a few pieces to school each day with our lunches.. i don't remember EVER throwing any away.. it always got finished. :D
Back in the dark ages (when I was a kid) trick-or-treating and Halloween weren't as big a deal as they are now. We lived out in the country and had nowhere to trick-or-treat. A couple of times we went "into town" where one set of grandparents lived and walked their neighborhood gathering goodies. They never lasted long with me, the sweet-aholic. They were lucky to last a couple of days. I had friends whose candy would last until Christmas and it drove me crazy to see the candy just sitting there calling to me. There was also something just wrong about seeing Halloween candy in its orange and black wrappers sitting around at Christmas. :D ;D
When CeltKat was little, being health food nuts, we avoided trick-or-treating as long as we could (until she got out in the world, i.e. to school, and saw what she'd been missing) then the trick-or-treating began (what can I say, we were wimps). When we moved to our current town, the kids went with friends who lived in a well-heeled neighborhood and they raked in the candy. Fortunately for me, there were always a few treats they didn't like, and unfortunately, I ate them. ::) I also snuck a few pieces they DID like (sorry about that, CeltKat)--you know, just trying to keep them from eating so much stuff that was bad for them. ;) ;D
^ ha ha, bookmama. my dad would always take a 'chocolate tax' he said we had to pay 'taxes' to him bc he was out dad but we could pay in chocolate. :(. that made me sad... i loved chocolate.
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