Not all candy is created equal. Also people can have allergies to almost anything, so there’s no truly fool-proof candy option. But there is some candy that is usually safe…
This is also a great resource for treats with more information about the specific allergens.
After a few houses, my son quickly learned that anything in an orange wrapper (i.e. Reese’s) was a big no for him (he has a peanut allergy). But we just let him trick or treat as normal and figure out what is safe at the end. More on what we do about this in Part 3. I was originally concerned with safe candy touching the non-safe candy when he was younger but so far that hasn’t been an issue. Sometimes he also gets out ahead of me during trick or treating so he knows not to eat any candy unless he’s checked with me. And like always, make sure you bring your medicine bag.
There are some tricky ones to be aware of that I’ve learned throughout the year.
Mini Laffy Taffy are egg-free while full-size Laffy Taffy contain egg.
Nerds “may contain egg”
Twizzlers contain wheat
Candy Corn has egg white and usually other “may contain” warnings
Sometimes the “holiday” version of something safe has different ingredients so check every label, every time. For example, some fruit snacks have coconut oil in the holiday specific shapes.
Gelatin is tricky for people with pork or beef allergies and it’s found in most gummy and marshmallow based candies
I haven’t seen a main-stream chocolate that doesn’t have a contains/may contains warning about peanuts and/or tree nuts so we stay away from all chocolate. Unless it’s in something we know is safe like the Made Good granola balls.
