This time of year is so stressful for moms of kids with food "issues." Everywhere you turn, someone is trying to give your kids something yummy to eat. Our society is so FOOD centered, that when someone is trying to make a child happy the first thing they think to do is give them cookies or candy. So sad. Not only does this make my kids
crazy, but they usually can't have the food that other people give them anyway, because they can't have gluten or casein (dairy). We are VERY strict with Jackson and Jordan -- there is a zero tolerance level for their dietary restrictions. Tanner is on is way to being free of food allergies (he can now eat eggs and dairy when they are an ingredient in baked foods - and he has no problem with gluten), and Sydney is proud to be able to eat anything she wants (as long as her grumpy mom lets her!) Usually at Halloween time I scour the isles at the store to see what I could buy for my kids, then don't buy much at all because even if they CAN eat it, that doesn't mean they SHOULD. I buy enough so that they can have substitutes for the treats kids are eating at their school parties. Then for trick-or-treating, I buy something non-edible. For the last couple of years we passed out glow bracelets. Way fun. Then when the kids went trick-or-treating, they brought home all their goodies, I sorted it with them and told them what they were allowed to eat based on their dietary restrictions. They got to eat a bunch before going to bed, and save a little in a baggie to put in lunch boxes for a week or so. Then Halloween candy was done! I saved all the good stuff (candy bars!!) and ate it myself over the next few weeks.
THIS year, I gave in and bought real candy. But all of it is GFCF (gluten-free, casein-free). And I'm pretty disappointed that I won't be able to confiscate the chocolate for myself this year. As a nursing mommy, I am on a no dairy diet myself!!
So here is my list of GFCF candy that everyone in our family can eat. Except Eli, of course. But he gets his later. . .
Starburst Fruit Chews - The original fruit chews, others may or may not be GFCF.
Skittles - same as above. both Starburst and Skittles have cream varieties that are not CF.
Lollipops - DumDums and Charms are GFCF, as are most lollip
ops that do not have a cream component in them. Tootsie Pops are a definite no no here!!!
Sweet Tarts
Spree
Smarties - Note that the Smarties necklaces reportedly contain gluten.
NECCO Wafers
Jolly Rancher Hard Candy
Gobstoppers
Bottle Caps
Pixy Sticks
Nerds
Runts
Gum - Double-Bubble, Wrigleys, Trident (NOTE: read labels and watch out for Recaldent, a casein derivative, in some gums) 
Mike and Ike
Haribo Gummy Bears
Jelly Beans - Starburst, SOME Jelly Belly, Jolly Rancher, Mars
ACT II Popcorn Balls 
Mary Jane's
Candy Corn and Candy Pumpkin - most of these are GFCF, but we have seen some that are not.
Now, take a look at this list. It's all sugar! My kids will be crazy for a while.
Hey here's an opportunity for one of you: come hang out with us on halloween, and you could win the grand prize of leftover chocolate!
Thanks to THOMAS (
http://gfcfexperience.blogspot.com/) for listing GFCF halloween candy. See his blog for other GFCF entries and some yummy recipes!
ops that do not have a cream component in them. Tootsie Pops are a definite no no here!!!
11 comments:
You are SUPER mom!!! I don't like Halloween. I read somewhere that kids will get around 18,000 calories in the candy they get. Ugggg...Keep up the great work on the gfcf.
That's sooo hard! No fair, you can eat the candy bars but they can't. Did you sneak it when they weren't looking! Good luck and hope the kids have fun trick or treating anyway! Mine only get the candy for a few days and then it's gone to Jeff's work! Absolutely no pixie sticks for them!! They are horrible for my kids!
dude. i feel your pain. we do pretty much the same thing - we give out mostly GF stuff out of principle, sort the kids candy when they get in, and then they donate most of it to the 'great pumpkin' who leaves them a toy the next morning. a small toy, i'm not crazy. but it's good enough for them and i still get the chocolate.
ps - i've been meaning to tell you about this bread recipe: http://www.gfutah.org/gfcfrecipes/breads.htm#Brown%20Bread
it is AWESOME. by FAR the best gf bread we've tried. the texture is perfect. and we use bob's red mill gf flour - which is about $4-5/lb (2 loaves worth) so it's cheaper than stupid tapioca loaf. and THEN we found out that the flour is cheaper directly through bob's, so it came out to about $1/lb including shipping since we bought a 20 or 25lb bag! rock on!
you should try it!
ooh ooh! I'll take leftover chocolate. It's taking all of my self control to not attack the bags of Halloween candy that I have waiting in the cupboard. You are one amazing Momma to be so on top of what your kids need...the efforts that you go through are mind-blowing and awesome. If people only understood what a difference diet can make, we would all do things much differently. Good job!!
I'm there!!
I'm keeping that list!!
See...I'm a little crazy about the food dye. For that reason, I let Austin have chocolate. I don't know what to do. I haven't been as strict lately, and Halloween presents a real problem for us! I like the idea of the glow sticks. I bet the kids would LOVE that!
Thanks for being such an inspiration!
Hi Valerie, how are you? It was great (and eye opening) to see your blog! I'd love to see some pictures of your kids! I just started my blog yesterday and still need to work on it but stop by and have a look! Thanks
We have candy restrictions here too but for different reasons. Our kids can't have any thing that's too 'sticky' or chewy...like tootsie rolls, laffy taffy, starburst, etc. However, this is because they have orthodontic spacers and not due to any diatary restrictions. We're lucky enough to not have too many of those. Boyd and Heather can't drink milk but that's about it. You do such a great job and then to resist the chocolate. Good for you!
Valerie, thanks for the link back to my blog. Looking forward to following you and reading yours!!
Thomas
I agree with Kim, you're a super mom. It would be hard to manage so many diets, and to do it well. I'm glad there is such an ample choice of candy they can eat. (if you choose to give it to them)
I feel for you with the chocolate, I don't know how I'd survive.
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