Allergy-Free Halloween Candy Round-Up 2012, Part 1 (Online Sources)

by Kelley Lindberg


Halloween is creeping in on little black kitten paws…

And that means it’s time for my annual Allergy-Free Halloween Candy Round-Up!

Nothing stresses parents of food-allergic kids like holidays. And Halloween, with its focus on candy, is one of the scariest! But believe it or not, there are plenty of ways to satisfy almost every sweet tooth, no matter what allergies your little ones have.

I’ve been shopping locally for candy to see what types of allergen-free candy we can find in stores and online. But since most candies I’ve been finding locally contain corn syrup and food colorings, if those are your issues, your best bet may be to order your candy online. If that’s the case, you’ll want to order candy this week so that it arrives in plenty of time for Halloween parties and trick-or-treating. Online sources are also great for finding allergy-free chocolate, as well as unusual treats, like allergy-free brain-shaped lollipops! That’s why this week I’ll write about some online sources that offer great allergy-free Halloween candy.

• Indie Candy:  This site is the place to go for all-natural candy with no dyes or any of the Big 8 allergens at all! Most of their candy also appears to be corn-free, too. They have a large selection of confections including gorgeous crystal lollipops, chocolate, and gummis, and you can search by your specific allergy needs.
• Yummy Earth.  Yummy Earth candies (lollipops, drops, gummy bears, and gummy worms) are corn-free, as well as being free from the big 8, and they use natural colorings and flavorings. You can buy them online at www.YummyEarth.com and on Amazon.
• Peanut Free Planet: This allergy-friendly grocery site sells a ton of different candy from lots of different manufacturers, including Vermont Nut Free, Enjoy Life Foods, and Amanda’s Own. You’ll find chocolate, jelly beans, and all sorts of allergen-friendly groceries. They also sell KitKats, Mars bars, and Nestle Aero Milk chocolate bars that are made in a Canadian factory, and therefore nut-free (unlike their American factories). They also carry nut-free candy corn from A and J Bakery (but it contains egg whites and soy), as well as Surf Sweets jelly beans and gummies. Surf Sweets is a brand I’ve just learned about; they are organic, natural, gluten-free, and free from the Top 8 allergens. 
• Amanda’s Own Confections:  They offer chocolate in some fun Halloween shapes, as well as jelly beans and other candies, all dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and gluten-free!
• Divvies:  Nut-free, dairy-free, and egg-free chocolate ghosts, jelly beans, gummy stars, and chocolate chips! Oh my! (Chocolate contains soya lecithin.)
• Natural Candy Store:  Looking for those lollipops shaped like brains? Found it! This site focuses on natural ingredients, but they also let you search for candy that’s free from all Top 8 allergens. Even better, you can search for candy free from single allergens, like milk or soy. They carry hard candy, Glee gum, Enjoy Life chocolate, organic chocolate syrup, breath mints, and licorice, among others! Click here for their Allergen-Free Candy page.
• Vermont Nut Free:   Their chocolates are peanut-free and nut-free, but they do have milk and egg warnings on them. Their huge selection of nut-free chocolates includes caramel and chocolate pumpkins, chocolate-covered marshmallows on a stick, Halloween chocolate pretzels, and foil-wrapped chocolate shapes (like bats, witches, and ghosts). They also sell skippers, which are similar to M&Ms, but nut-free, of course.
• Chocolate Emporium:  Read the ingredients carefully on this website, but they do offer a lot of allergen-friendly goodies. All Halloween items are dairy-free, certified parve by the Star-K. Call before you order to ensure you get what you need.
• Mad Alex Products: I haven’t ordered from this store before, but they advertise Candy Tree Twists in different flavors (similar-looking to Twizzlers). Here is their ingredient info for the strawberry flavor: “Allergen Considerations: Chemical Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free, Fish Free, Gluten Free, No MSG, Organic, Peanut Free, Potato Free, Sesame Free, Shellfish Free, Soy Free, Tree Nut Free, Wheat Free, Yeast Free. Ingredients: Organic corn syrup, organic rice flour, organic rice starch, organic concentrated fruit juice: strawberry (3%), apple, elderberry, organic flavor: strawberry. Made in a Facility that Processes: Gluten and Dairy. Made on Equipment that Processes: Gluten.”
• Oriental Trading Co.:  Remember, trick-or-treats bags don’t have to be filled with candy. Oriental Trading Company offers a bazillion (I counted them) super-cheap novelty toys, many that you can buy in quantities of 50, 144, or more.

Remember, next week I’ll post a list of what I found in local stores and where I found it, so check back next Monday.

Allergy-Free Holiday Treats Online

by Kelley Lindberg


Chanukah starts this week (wow, how did that creep up on me so fast?), and Christmas is less than four weeks away, so it’s a good time to think about finding safe holiday treats for bright-eyed little tykes (and neighbors, and teachers, and co-workers, and…).

Because holidays and treats go hand-in-hand whether we want them to or not, I like to hunt through online sources to find the latest in allergy-friendly treats that can help make your food-allergic family members or friends feel a little more special and a little less excluded at this time of year.

So here is a list of ideas for this holiday season. It may be too late to order for Chanukah unless you’re willing to pay for express shipping, but there’s still time for Christmas. So check out these online grocers and manufacturers who are dedicated to making our lives a little… um… sweeter, and help them have a happier holiday, too.

• Yummy Earth.  Yummy Earth candies (lollipops, drops and gummy bears) are corn-free, as well as being free from the big 8, and they use natural colorings and flavorings. They’re sometimes available in health food stores, Toys R Us and Babies R Us, but I don’t know if they’re here in Utah. However, you can buy them online at http://www.yummyearth.com/ and on Amazon.
• Allergies and Me:  This is a great online grocer who sells gluten-free and allergy-friendly products, including candy. My latest find there: ice cream cones that are free from the Big 8! This is also the place for gluten-free licorice twists in several flavors, lollipops, gum, etc.
• Amanda’s Own Confections:  Looking for safe Chanukah gelt bags? Amanda’s own offers gelt bags with 10 gold and sliver foil-wrapped chocolate gelt, and they’re free from dairy, tree nuts, peanuts, eggs, and gluten, plus they’re Kosher certified! For Christmas, they have chocolate Santas, snowmen, snowflakes, and other fun shapes. Order by Dec. 16 for Christmas. (Chocolate contains soy lecithin, but they say “the soy protein has been removed.”)
• Divvies:  Nut-free, dairy-free, and egg-free chocolate bars and jelly beans for both Christmas and Chanukah (contain soy).
• AllerNeeds:  This online grocer sells allergy-friendly foods from several vendors, including Enjoy Life! Foods’ Boom Choco Boom chocolate bars. They also sell some familiar candy manufactured in Canada’s nut-free and peanut-free factories, so it’s worth checking out.
• Vermont Nut Free:  Their chocolates are peanut-free and nut-free, but they do have milk and egg warnings on them. Their huge selection of nut-free chocolates for both Christmas and Chanukah (non-Kosher) includes lots of fun shapes and a nice selection of gift baskets. You’ll also find treats like chocolate-covered pretzels, peppermint crunch bark, and ornaments filled with candy-coated Skippers chocolates.
• Chocolate Emporium:  Read the ingredients carefully on this website, but they do offer a lot of allergen-friendly goodies. Call before you order to ensure you get what you need.
• Peanut Free Planet:  This site sells candy from lots of different manufacturers. They have an Iced Gingerbread Cookie that’s free from peanuts, tree nuts, diary, egg, and gluten! The also have Kosher, nut-free, and dairy-free chocolate gelt, and Sun Cups (like Reese’s) that are peanut-free, tree nut-free, gluten-free, and Kosher Dairy. You’ll find chocolate, jelly beans, and all sorts of allergen-friendly groceries. I found some nut-free Kit-Kats there (from Canada), so I bought some for my son’s stocking!
• Indie Candy:  One of my blog readers introduced me to this site – and it looks like a real find, although I haven’t ordered from them yet. They have a large selection of confections and let you search by your specific allergy needs. The Gummi Christmas Trees look wonderful (and you can order them corn-free), as do the Big-8-free Christmas Lights Lollipops and the gorgeous Giant Snowflake Lollipops.

Got another source you love for holiday candy or treats? Share it with us!

 

More Allergy-Free Holiday Candy Ideas

by Kelley Lindberg


Thanks for the great comments with ideas for safe holiday candy. Here are a couple more hints that I got in emails, and I thought I’d post them here so more people can see them. (But don’t forget to read the “comments” from last week’s post for more great ideas.) While it’s probably too late to order for Christmas (and Hanukkah is over), it’s still good to have some ideas for the next time you need safe treats.

From Debbie B:
“For our holiday candy, we plan to stuff my son's stocking with the same yummy earth suckers and gummy bears we used for Halloween. In my mind, it isn't very Christmassy candy, but I think it is all we have to work with. My son has a corn allergy, so we are very limited in our choices. FYI the Yummy Earth candy is available on Amazon for much less than it is from the Yummy Earth website or from the health food stores. If you go to www.yummyearth.com however you can get extremely detailed allergy information. All of their foods are flavored with natural flavorings. My son is allergic to orange and they even have details on which natural flavorings are used in which products, so we can weed out the ones that are bad for him. I hope this helps everyone. For anyone with a corn allergy, I have discovered that rice syrup works just as well in candy recipes as corn syrup. We even made ‘caramel rice’ using rice syrup for the caramel and puffed rice from the grocery store. It tasted just as good as caramel corn, but didn't have any seeds.”

From Michelle F:
“As always, I LOVE Peanut Free Planet. Click on the Christmas/Hanukkah link or search by ingredients to avoid. They carry great holiday items from numerous allergen free companies and are very fast and easy to order from. One pitfall is the $8.95 flat shipping fee - so if you just want to order $10 worth of candy it can be pricey to spend another 10 on shipping but maybe worth it if you find what you want. I try to order a lot all at once to make it more advantageous-stock up on Sunbutter, snack bars, etc. I saw nut free gingerbread house kits for Christmas (and at Halloween they had nut free candy corn)!”

Michelle also sent a link to Sweet Alexis (Dairy-free, Egg-free, and Nut-free Baked Goods).


Thanks, everyone! Have a wonderful season of light, comfort, hope, peace, and love.

Kelley

Holiday Candy Round-up

I was hoping to go shopping for holiday candy ideas before today, but as usual, life had other plans. The human whirlwind is on the couch with a sore throat, I hosted one party Saturday night, I’m hosting a party tonight, I have family coming into town on Wednesday (not staying here – staying at my parents’, but we’ll still spend most of our time together)… you know how crazy things get this time of year.

So I didn’t get a chance to do much in the way of candy shopping. So I’m going to list a few things here that I found, but I’m hoping the wonderful readers of this blog will post other “finds” so that we can all save some trips and some brain cells looking for those last-minute treats.

One great member of UFAN wrote to tell me this good news: “I found candy canes at Walmart by Spangler Candy Company that say ‘This product does not contain peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, wheat or gluten. It has been manufactured on dedicated equipment.’” I LOVE it when manufacturers go the extra mile to be proactive. So if you’re hunting for candy canes, support this company! Their website says the equipment contains a trace amount of soy oil, but that the oil is processed to be free of proteins, so read the allergen statement on the website for the exact wording and make your own decision accordingly if you're soy-allergic: Spangler Candy Company Candy Canes.

If you’re not fond of peppermint, I’ve also found that some of the fruit-flavored candy canes are safe, so check labels carefully and you may find some that tickle your fancy.

If you’re looking for chocolate, try the great online vendors that make our allergic lives a little sweeter, like:
Vermont Nut Free
Divvies
AllerNeeds.com
Amanda’s Own Confections
Chocolate Emporium (This site has both Christmas and Hanukkah chocolates)

I also heard that Walmart in Layton is now carrying the complete line of Enjoy Life! Foods, including the Choco Choco Boom chocolate bars. (They have crisped rice in them, so they’re like Nestle’s Crunch bars). Enjoy Life! Foods are free of the top 8 allergens, and I haven’t found these chocolate bars anywhere else, so this is good news! I haven’t been to Walmart to check it out myself, though, so let me know if you find them there.

If you’re only avoiding nuts, some Hershey’s kisses are safe this year, but some of the flavored ones aren’t – check the packaging carefully. I’ve bought the caramel, the dark, and the cherry cordial flavored kisses, but the peppermint and some others aren’t safe because they’re made in a different factory.

Looking for one of those fun ornaments filled with candy? My son received a “Smarties Chewies” tin ornament ball that doesn’t contain any of the Top 8. A Nerds Rope is fun for a stocking stuffer, as are the usual standbys like Starbursts and Skittles.

Okay, that’s my starter list. Anyone have any great finds that are fun, different, unexpected, or holiday-themed? Share with us!

And one last thing… Since candy tends to be everywhere this time of year, especially in little bowls on the service desks of just about everywhere you go, including dentists, car repair shops, and boutiques, you might tuck a few safe candies in your purse or coat pocket to stave off a temper tantrum when your little one gets offered a treat and you have to decline. You’ll be the coolest parent around if you can whip out a safe treat to offer instead. Yeah, I know, candy isn’t a healthy treat, but it’s the holiday season, right?

Nice Girls Do Ask for Snacks

Baseball practice started this week. Of course, it was cold, windy, and still damp from rain. Hardly baseball weather, if you ask me. But sports wait for no fair-weather moms, so there I was at the local ball field, shivering and hunched against the cold, while my son flexed his catcher’s mitt and chased after wildly thrown balls.

As part of the new season, the coach handed out a schedule, which included practice times, game times, and … treats.

I hate treats.

It’s hard to ask other parents to consider food allergies when they’re providing the treats. It’s still a little embarrassing, even after all these years, to have to speak up and ask that they limit their treat options. All our lives, we’ve been taught to be gracious about food that other people offer. “It’s not polite to ask for food, wait until they offer,” we were told. “Take whatever is offered, don’t turn up your nose at something they’re generous enough to provide,” we were scolded. So trying to tell someone else what they can and can’t bring for game treats goes against all our “good girl” training.

But as the mom of an allergic kid, I have to ignore the “nice girls don’t make a fuss” rule and make a fuss. (Although I try to make it a very nice fuss, of course.)

So as usual, as parents and kids huddled around the coach, when he mentioned treats, I spoke up. “Coach, I know we have at least a couple of kids on the team who have food allergies. If you’d like, I could send out an email to everyone with some suggestions for treats that would let those boys feel included.”

I braced myself for possible cold shoulders, puzzled looks, or exasperated sighs. But that’s not what I got. I got complete support – “Oh, what are they allergic to?” “What are some specific things they can have?” “Is there something you’d suggest?”

The parents were awesome. They pulled out pens and jotted notes on their schedules. They smiled and said, “Sure.” They weren’t exasperated at all. And they made jokes like, “Shoot, I was going to bring sushi for treats!” and we all laughed, instantly bonding.

We’ve come a long way in just a few years. When my son and his friend first started playing organized sports, people were still unfamiliar with food allergies, and it was harder to ask other parents to include our boys in their snack choices. But over the last five years, awareness has grown so much that we’re surprised each time we ask and we’re greeted with a positive reaction of support.

So despite the 40-degree weather, bone-chilling wind, and snowy rain, I think I’m ready for the season to start after all.

Play ball!