Sunday, October 04, 2015

Halloween and Peanut Allergies

Did you know there are now over six million children with food allergies? Peanut allergies are one of the most common causes of death due to food allergies.
Peanut allergies (and other allergies) can be deadly! If your child has a peanut allergy, these T-shirts, buttons, and stickers  may help to protect him by letting everyone aware that he's allergic to peanuts.  As a grandparent of a child with a severe peanut allergy,  I have seen firsthand how having a severe allergy can affect a child and his family. Sending your child who has a peanut, nut, or other severe food allergy off to preschool, daycare, or school can be very frightening! They may be too young and not yet responsible enough to know or remember they have a severe food allergy, or may be tempted to eat something they shouldn't eat. These Peanut Allergy T-shirts, stickers, and other items will help to remind their daycare provider or teacher as well as parents or whoever else they come in contact with know that they have a severe allergy. 
Halloween is an especially hard time for kids with allergies. Please consider the Teal Pumpkin Project this Halloween to help make the holiday safer and more fun for kids with allergies. By having a printed teal pumpkin on your door or window, or a teal painted pumpkin, it lets parents of kids with allergies know that you are aware of allergies and are offering non food items for those kids trick or treating who have allergies!
Find out more about the Teal Pumpkin Project HERE. The site also has a free printable teal pumpkin to display at your home to let those kids with allergies know you are offering the non food items! 
Several years back I did a press release about Halloween and kids with  peanut allergies. You can read my press release HERE. Since the press release, the youtube video has been made private. It was a video showing how to us an EpiPen. If you want to know how to use an EpiPen here is a video that makes using one easy enough even for a child! This is a great resource with some good advice regarding EpiPen use.  EpiPens should ALWAYS be carried by someone with a severe allergy!
It is not easy to find nut free candies, especially chocolate. I am not going to give advice on which candy is peanut free and made on nut free facilities because I don't consider myself an expert in that department and things can change so quickly ie companies that are safe one day may change the way they produce the items and not be safe the next day. Here is a link however to Vermont Nut Free Chocolates website. I have ordered nut free candy from here for my grandchildren several times. 
If you have Facebook there are several pages such as THIS ONE that can be a great help to anyone with allergies. One thing I like about this one is that they send out recall alerts when an item that was thought of as "safe" for whatever reason is no longer safe to eat. There are plenty of other sites on Facebook pertaining to allergies and it's easy to find them by typing in "peanut" or "allergy" or such into the search bar.
It was because of my precious grandson's severe peanut and other nut allergies that I created some stickers, T-shirts, and buttons. He has used the stickers on his lunch boxes and desks in pre-school and young elementary, also worn the buttons and T-shirts. He also wears a medical bracelet to alert people to his severe life threatening allergy. Here is a site that has some awesome medical bracelets for kids of all ages!
And here are some of the peanut and nut allergy awareness stickers, buttons, and T-shirts from my store.
Also, please share this post to help spread awareness of peanut, nut, and other severe food allergies.
 
NO Peanuts I'm Allergic Square Sticker
NO Peanuts I'm Allergic Square Sticker by peanut_allergy
Check out Allergy Stickers online at zazzle
Peanut Allergy Elephant T-shirt
Peanut Allergy Elephant T-shirt by peanut_allergy
Find other Peanut allergy T-Shirts at zazzle.com
Allergic to Peanuts Shirt
Allergic to Peanuts Shirt by peanut_allergy
Design your own custom shirts online at Zazzle
NO Peanuts I'm Allergic Shirts
NO Peanuts I'm Allergic Shirts by peanut_allergy
Look at other Allergy T-Shirts at zazzle.com
Peanut NO Nuts I'm Allergic Tshirt
Peanut NO Nuts I'm Allergic Tshirt by peanut_allergy
Shop for No nuts T-Shirts online at Zazzle.com

2 comments:

Carolyn said...

Very informative and useful post....and great product ideas! My neice's school had to completely ban numerous food products a few years ago because of food allergies becoming so prevelant.

Unknown said...

The topic of allergies is so important especially with Halloween around the corner, there are some great resources here and some fantastic products for children with allergies to let people who don't know them, know what might be bad and even life threatening to place in their trick or treat bag. Thank you for raising awareness!