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?
ok, this doesnt exactly answer your question, but i was lactose intollerant when i was younger, so i couldnt eat that much chocolate. so i would play poker and bet all of my chocolate and try to win vegan candy, although i just saw it as not hurting my tummy. twizzlers were my favorite. mmm.
Haha. That's really cute! :) And a good idea...
I was thinking that the kids would probably just go for the experience & only eat the vegan candy (Twizzlers, some lollipops, etc.), but then what to do with the non-vegan candy? Give to friends or to a shelter or something?? (Not that candy would be a top priority of things that a shelter/food shelf would want, but... I'd hate to think that it would go to waste!) I like the poker idea! :) I also didn't know if letting the kid collect the candy on their trick-or-treating adventure would end up being traumatic when the parent would then take some of it away because it wasn't vegan... Probably not. I just had no idea how the whole thing works!
You take away their candy and give them celery sticks and watch them cry? Just kidding! I don't know what you could do. Maybe collect all their candy and "trade" what they picked up for vegan treats and donate the omni treats to a food bank. :)
^ 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!
Halloween is such an unhealthy holiday. My family didn't celebrate for religious reasons. But there are plenty of other reasons just to avoid it entirely. Teaching kids to binge and eat that junk is not cool if you ask me.
Yeah, I agree. I actually barely even remember the candy part from my Halloween days. I remember eating maybe 5 or 6 pieces on the actual night, and then slowly eating the rest over the next couple of months! Haha. My little plastic pumpkin that I used for collecting candy was usually out until Thanksgiving-ish & at that point, my mom would dump it into a candy dish for anyone to pick at...
But I think that my parents tended to focus on the fun autumn season rather than on the candy, and I appreciate that... I always loved thinking about & choosing the costume I wanted (my mom sewed my costume every year--how cute/nice is that?! :)) and that created such great memories for me. I also loved picking out my pumpkin & carving it & toasting the pumpkin seeds! And on the actual Halloween night, we would make apple cider & watch scary movies by candlelight. (And by "scary," I mean things like Hocus Pocus & Disney Halloween cartoons... ;)) So, that's why I said that I understand there are tons of veg-friendly things to do surrounding Halloween! I just was curious as to how parents handled the candy aspect, as it does play a role...
^ 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!
Not to be a dork & post twice in a row ::), but we had a dentist on my block that handed out toothbrushes & toothpaste! A very good habit to emphasize, I admit... But I remember feeling totally screwed whenever he handed those out instead of candy! Haha. ;D
^ 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.
:o pennies.
who's lame?!
this reminds me of a house that gave out pennies! haha.
I wonder how many of those pennies got throw right on the floor after the door was shut. ;D
I found this article online about vegan kids and Halloween:
http://www.vegfamily.com/holidays/vegan-halloween.htm
I never would have even thought of this issue! I suppose you could always have a big Halloween party at home with lots of vegan goodies instead of going trick or treating. I did that a few times as a non-vegan kid and I thought it was even more fun than the trick or treating.
Halloween is such an unhealthy holiday. My family didn't celebrate for religious reasons. But there are plenty of other reasons just to avoid it entirely. Teaching kids to binge and eat that junk is not cool if you ask me.
Yeah, I agree. I actually barely even remember the candy part from my Halloween days. I remember eating maybe 5 or 6 pieces on the actual night, and then slowly eating the rest over the next couple of months! Haha. My little plastic pumpkin that I used for collecting candy was usually out until Thanksgiving-ish & at that point, my mom would dump it into a candy dish for anyone to pick at...
But I think that my parents tended to focus on the fun autumn season rather than on the candy, and I appreciate that... I always loved thinking about & choosing the costume I wanted (my mom sewed my costume every year--how cute/nice is that?! :)) and that created such great memories for me. I also loved picking out my pumpkin & carving it & toasting the pumpkin seeds! And on the actual Halloween night, we would make apple cider & watch scary movies by candlelight. (And by "scary," I mean things like Hocus Pocus & Disney Halloween cartoons... ;)) So, that's why I said that I understand there are tons of veg-friendly things to do surrounding Halloween! I just was curious as to how parents handled the candy aspect, as it does play a role...
haha... I did that too... We would get candy from the churches harvest festival (we were not allowed to celebrate haloween either) and my candy would last for months...my siblings who all ate theirs in a day or two hated me for it...it went like this: at haloween Id get a ton of candy that lasted until my mom threw it out right before Christmas...at Christmas Id get enough candy to last me until my mom threw it away before valentines day and for valentines day Id get enough candy to last me until about mayish...then Id fast from candy until haloween....
It wasn't that i didn't like candy...On the contrary...I really enjoyed it..so I savored it on rare occasions so it wouldn't lose its specialness! ;)
I found this article online about vegan kids and Halloween:
http://www.vegfamily.com/holidays/vegan-halloween.htm
I never would have even thought of this issue! I suppose you could always have a big Halloween party at home with lots of vegan goodies instead of going trick or treating. I did that a few times as a non-vegan kid and I thought it was even more fun than the trick or treating.
Hmmm....a Halloween party. Nice idea. Kids could drop in for a few and pick up some v*gan treats. Win-win. Your kids still get to have fun with the high rotation of people that will be stopping over. :)
I never did trick or treating. Everyone else did, just not me lol. My parents were big on zero junk food, and no processed sugar.
We had fun at home, instead - giving out cookies (healthy, of course, lol) we had made, carving pumpkins, dressing up, watching scary movies, etc.
I don't ever remember wanting to go trick or treating. I had too much fun at home with my parents.
I found this article online about vegan kids and Halloween:
http://www.vegfamily.com/holidays/vegan-halloween.htm
I never would have even thought of this issue! I suppose you could always have a big Halloween party at home with lots of vegan goodies instead of going trick or treating. I did that a few times as a non-vegan kid and I thought it was even more fun than the trick or treating.
What a terrific article! I loved that! Thank you! :)
I never did trick or treating. Everyone else did, just not me lol. My parents were big on zero junk food, and no processed sugar.
We had fun at home, instead - giving out cookies (healthy, of course, lol) we had made, carving pumpkins, dressing up, watching scary movies, etc.
I don't ever remember wanting to go trick or treating. I had too much fun at home with my parents.
I really like the party idea, too, or just hanging out at home with the family! It seems like there are actually a lot of ways to enjoy a fun vegan Halloween!
I think the party thing is such a cool idea! If I had kids, I'd try to keep them at home when they were little, around the house having fun and still enjoying the spirit of it all. Totally throw a party. Bobbing for apples, vegan marshmallow krispy treats, carving pumpkins.
The coolest thing I've seen when trick-or-treating is when people set up little "haunted houses" on their lawns filled with silly spooky things. I can see getting the kids in on something like that. Who needs candy when you can scare kids twice your size by popping out from behind a cardboard tombstone, right?
The coolest thing I've seen when trick-or-treating is when people set up little "haunted houses" on their lawns filled with silly spooky things. I can see getting the kids in on something like that. Who needs candy when you can scare kids twice your size by popping out from behind a cardboard tombstone, right?
Hahaha. ;D So true! One of my good friends growing up always had a party like this around Halloween! Her mom was one of those Martha Stewart-types who just "wow"ed everyone with her ability to do everything & do it well... Anyway, I remember walking through their house (the entire house was turned into a haunted house, including the garage), and having people jump out at us, and having fun little arts & crafts "stations" along the way... I also remember this gross station where we had to reach into a bucket & guess which "body part" it was, and everything was made of food. (How morbid, now that I think about it. Haha. It was so fun, though! ;)) There were spaghetti "brains" & "eyeballs" made of peeled grapes... At least it's veg-friendly!
I love Halloween...the costumes, the silliness, the autumn-ness. It's probably my favorite holiday as a single adult, since there is no commitment- no presents exchanged, no dates expected, no family drama. That said, I never even thought about the candy issue since I never did trick or treating as a kid.
Trick or treating isn't exactly the safest thing in the world...growing up as a city kid, we just had a party, usually sponsered by the school, with mazes, bobbing for apples, fun food (appetizer stuff and candy) and a costume contest. If you hosted a smaller version for your kids, you'll be the coolest parent around- AND will save other parents from having to worry about their kids going door to door at night.
I also knew a diabetic kid whose mom 'traded' her the candy she got trick or treating with friends for a toy. Kind of consumeristic, but this could be done another way as well- maybe doing something special the next weekend together or something.
Last year we carved pumpkins and roasted the seeds (YUM!) and I let her put up the clingy window decorations on every window she could reach (she was 2 at the time). On Halloween day, she helped me frost vegan chocolate cupcakes to send to her daycare (only we weren't vegan at the time -- just accommodating her allergies!). She took her care bear costume to school and I guess they all wore them at some point in the day. That evening, we went to a church celebration where they had games, prizes, music, and a boatload of candy. It was too cold to take her trick-or-treating but she wore her costume to the church function.
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.
This year will probably be about the same. I love the idea of sticking around at home and having fun together, though. So, I don't know, we'll see.
Although it doesn't pertain to the actual question, when I was a kid I filled a pillowcase with my loot every Halloween. Then my brother and sister would talk me into trading them the full size candy bars for things like candy corn and stale Dots. I don't remember having candy leftover, though, so either my siblings ripped me off when I wasn't looking or my mom threw it away when I was out of the house!
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!!!
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".
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