I’ve always loved Halloween and everything about it, especially the candy, but as I found myself on the mom-side of the Halloween candy bag with a child allergic to peanuts I was frightened. A brief stroll down the candy aisle reveals a good 90 percent of all Halloween candy contains peanuts or was manufactured on equipment with peanuts.
What’s that mean for parents with children allergic to peanuts? Not just checking their kids Halloween candy bag for the razors and opened packages of the common parents’ fears, but for peanuts of any kind. It also means taking away a great deal of your child’s candy to avoid him or her having a possibly deadly allergic reaction. To me, it seems the fairest way to deal with this peanut situation on Halloween would be to replace the candies with peanuts with peanut free candy. Go ahead, let the kid trick-or-treat, raid their candy bag for peanut containing candies and replace them with allergy-safe peanut free candy alternatives.
So, for the parents of children with peanut allergies this Halloween I offer up this convenient list of peanut free candy for both checking and re-filling your child’s Halloween candy bag:
Anything made by Haribo including Gummi Candies
Skittles of all flavors and varieties
Mike and Ikes of all flavors
Trader Joe’s milk chocolate and semisweet chocolate chips
Altoids Mints, of all varieties minus chocolate
Hershey (plain milk chocolate) chocolate bars and Krackle bars, personal size only
Hershey (plain milk chocolate) chocolate Kisses of regular size only
Hershey Milk Duds, Kissables, Rolos (not mini) and classic Caramels
Wonka’s Nerds, Nerds Rope, Bottle Caps, Runts, Gob stoppers, Shock tarts, Pixy Stix, Tart n Tiny, Fun Dip, and Flavor Flippers (not all Wonka is peanut free candy but a lot is!)
Laffy Taffy of pretty much all brands
Cell’s milk or dark chocolate covered cherries
Super Bubble bubble gum by Farley’s and Sathers
Dubble Bubble Gum
Anything made by Tootsie including Tooties Pops & Tootsie Rolls
Junior Mints
Andes Mints
Lifesaver Gummies
Smarties
Sour Patch Kids of all varieties
Whoppers (excluding the new peanut butter flavor)
Sweet Tarts
Dum Dum lollipops
SunMaid chocolate-covered raisins
Ring Pops candy rings by The Topps Co.
Push Pops by The Topps Co.
Bottle Caps
Pop Rocks
Now and Laters
Caramel Apple pops
Zours
Hot Tamales
Red Vines
Trolli gummi worms sour and regular, and racecars
Jolly Rancher hard candy, lollipops and gummi candy
York Peppermint Patties
Twizzlers
Starburst fruit chew, lollipops and jelly beans
All variety of Dots
Sugar Daddy pops and Babies
Sixlets
Starburst fruit chews and lollipops of all varieties
Blow pops
Charleston Chews
Betty Crocker fruit roll-ups, fruit chews, fruit by the foot and gushers
Marsh Mellows of any brand (unless they are peanut flavored of course.)
Rice Crispy original
Candy Corns
The majority of non-peanut flavored hard candies
This is not an all inclusive list of peanut free candy, I just tried to list what is readily available at most grocery stores in most areas, when in doubt flip it over and check those ingredients. Many mini-candies or “fun sized” candies we see at Halloween don’t have ingredients listed because the size of the packages. You can always do a Google search and the candy company’s website will usually have an ingredient list, or if nothing else check next time you are the grocery store.
Remember that even peanut free candy that is manufactured on equipment with peanuts shouldn’t be given to a child with peanut allergies such as plain m&m’s.
I hope this has helped you and your child with a peanut allergy to have a happy and emergency room trip free Halloween.