Looking for allergen friendly Halloween Candy? Struggling to know what to do about Halloween with allergies? Check out some of these brands that make top allergen safe candies. They may help out make this Halloween an inclusive one. We are also sharing how we deal with Trick-or-Treating and Halloween.
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How We Handle The Holiday
This may seem really early but since October is just around the corner we thought we should talk about how we handle Halloween candy and trick of treating. We wanted to do it a bit early as some of the places we order allergen friendly Halloween candy from do short runs of Halloween themed candy and need time to ship it all.
Our kids do go trick or treating. They all go together and it is something they look forward to all year. Even though our kids cannot eat everything they are given, it always finds a home and isn’t the only reason we have to limit some candies. Most of the older kids are starting to get their braces, retainers, and expanders so what they can have is limited, too.
The kids all hand their bags to Rob and I when we get home and we go through the candy and separate what they can have to what they cannot. We often make a treat in advance like Rice Cereal bars or Double Chocolate muffins for the kids to enjoy while we sort the candy. We also have small bags with safe candies ready to go so they do not have to wait at all, if needed.
The candy some of the kids cannot have can often be split between those that can eat those ingredients, like milk chocolate. Those pieces may get sent in the lunches of those that can have that food. It is a tiny treat every once in a while, never any peanuts or nuts though as our schools are nut free. Rob ends up with a good chunk of what cannot be eaten to enjoy a sweet with a cup of tea after dinner.
There are a few commonly given out candies that are accidentally top 8 free:
Sour Patch Kids
Rockets/ Smarties (in the US these are safe as Smarties. In Canada Smarties are a different candy made with milk which are not safe)
Fuzzy Peaches
Swedish Fish
Old Dutch Plain Chips
UTZ Original Flavoured Potato Chips
And more.
Always contact the manufacturer for cross contact risks and read the ingredients as they can change. Manufacturing may differ for the candies from time to time with ingredient availability and they may come in contact with allergens.
What About DumDums?
We have had a lot of people contact us to include DumDums however according to Spangler the company that soy oil is used in the processing aid in the manufacturing of their products. They stated that "Our products may contain trace amounts of soy oil, a processing aid in making candy. The soy oil has been refined, bleached, and deodorised, a process that removes the protein that can cause an allergic reaction. Because individual sensitivities vary, however, we have chosen to list the soy oil." This was sent via email to our blog when we inquired about the lack of a soy free label on their packages. The Dumdums pops website does not list this information nor updated contact info but both are found on their parent company Spangler Candy site.
We have chosen not to include DumDums at this time due to the soy as a processing aid. We applaud Spangler foods for their disclosure. Due to some people still reacting to soy oil, even highly processed, we will leave it here for you to decide what is safest for your family.
Comment below with the name of your favourite accidentally allergen friendly candy.
There is a more comprehensive list put out by Snack Safely Guide each year for many different occasions. It is an excellent resource. This list is highly trusted within the allergen family community and is thoroughly researched. We highly recommend checking it out for ideas on what is available for your family. For us we created a customised guide as our allergens are greater than the individual lists.
Tips for Shipping Chocolate
Having allergen friendly Halloween candy and chocolates shipped requires some product stabilisation at certain times of the year. The chocolate can melt in transit. Many of the companies offer special packages and ice packs for purchase. These are to help keep the products from melting in transit. Budget for these. Especially if you live somewhere where it can be warm or the plant is in a warmer climate.
There is nothing worse than spending a ton of money to have pumpkin shaped chocolates only to have them melt into blobs before they get to you. Don’t skimp on the packaging, even if it means you purchase one less item.
Dairy free chocolate can also bloom quicker than other products in our experience. It doesn’t mean the chocolate has gone bad. This just means the cocoa butter is coming out to the surface of the product. It is really common in chocolates that have melted and re-solidified without proper tempering.
One thing we should note is that the chocolates are all made with cocoa butter. This is a non-dairy ingredient made from the fat of the cocoa bean and has nothing to do with milk.
What We Have Found to be Allergen Friendly
Enjoy Life - Top 14 Allergens Free
Free From:
- Wheat
- Milk
- Casein
- Eggs
- Soy
- Tree Nuts
- Peanuts
- Shellfish
- Crustacean
- Fish
- Sesame
- Mustard
- Sulphites/sulfites
- Lupin
- Gluten Free
(As per the Enjoy Life website. Current as of publishing date)
The Company
Enjoy Life Foods is a top allergen friendly chocolate and snack manufacturer from Jeffersonville IN. They have a range of chocolate bars, morsels and chips, lentil chips, cookies and much more. We will be focusing here on the chocolate bars as an allergen friendly Halloween candy.
Halloween
Enjoy Life in the past has made little bite sized bars in three flavours that they package in Halloween wrappers. There is nothing Halloween-y about the shapes inside but they are cute and festive wrappers. They also make these packs for Christmas. The chocolate is top allergen free and made in a special facility.
We find the small individually wrapped pieces they are suitable for switching out the candy, parties, and handing out. The small chocolate bar bites in a large bag are available, without each piece being individually wrapped they are only good for switching out the candy for us.
Selection
The products range from holiday small bites to full sized bars. They have plain chocolate bars and ones filled with rice to make them crispy and a dark bar. The chocolate quality is similar to the Enjoy Life chocolate chips for baking.
Stores
Many stores in Canada carry them. Bulk Barn in western Canada carries the full sized bars year round. Our natural foods stores tend to bring the holiday ones in but they sell out quickly. For a full list of Canadian Products visit the Canadian site. Ordering on the Canadian site is not available at this time. It does have a full list of shops of where to purchase the products. You can choose which products are available and it will list the stores that sell them in your area.
Shipping
The company’s American website does ship some products but they do not currently have the seasonal packs listed. Shipping is free in the contiguous states over $49. They do not ship to Canada.
Our Experience
We buy a lot of Enjoy Life Products all year long. We only ever buy the holiday packs from the local stores. Ordering directly from the company site is on our list of to-dos but with so many Enjoy Life products available in our stores it hasn't been necessary.
No Whey - Top 9 Allergens Free
Free From:
- Wheat
- Milk
- Eggs
- Soy
- Tree Nuts
- Peanuts
- Shellfish
- Crustacean
- Fish
- Sesame
- Artificial Colours
- Artificial Flavours
- Vegan
- Kosher
- Gluten Free
(As per the No Whey! website. Current as of publishing date)
The Company
No Whey is a New Jersey based candy company that specialises in top allergen free sweets and chocolate. The products are manufactured in a special facility to avoid cross contact.
Stores
They are starting to become more popular in stores, especially London Drugs or Sobeys in Canada. For a wider selection of products we also order straight from the company. A No whey bakeshop and retail store recently opened up in New Jersey. For a full list of stores that carry the products check out the company’s Where to Buy page. We have noticed that some places near us on the list only carry the products seasonally and not all are year round.
Shipping
They do short runs of their products to meet demand. We recommend ordering early to allow time for shipping. Their ordering site is not terribly mobile friendly so ordering on a computer is easier, we have found. They ship to Canada and run free continental US shipping with purchases over a certain amount.
Selection
The products are everything from our favourite No-Nos which replace and M&M or Canadian chocolate smartie to chocolate bars, pea based cups like a peanut butter cup and holiday shaped chocolate lollies. Around this time of year they sell their products individually, by the case, and in halloween treat sized bags.
Halloween
We have bought them all in the past and found the value to be better on the cases and split the candies in dollar store Halloween bags for our kids. If we are having a party or handing out the candies we get the Halloween packs for safety reasons. The kids prefer the allergen friendly Halloween candy packs as they look like what they call “real” Halloween candy.
No Whey runs a seasonal page for Halloween goodies and will run a separate one for Christmas and Hanukkah later in the year.
Our Experience
We order quite a bit from No Whey! Throughout the year and find the quality consistent and the kids love the taste of the candies and chocolates.
Amanda’s Own - Top 11 Allergen Free
Free From:
- Wheat
- Milk
- Eggs
- Soy
- Tree Nuts
- Peanuts
- Shellfish
- Crustacean
- Fish
- Sesame
- Mustard
- Sulphites
- Lupin
- Vegan (except jelly beans and marshmallow clusters)
- Kosher
- Gluten Free
(As per the Amanda's Own website. Current as of publishing date)
The Company
Amanda’s Own is a top allergen free chocolate and sweets company from Ohio. The products are made in a dedicated facility free from the top 11 allergens.
Selection
They make jelly beans, chocolate lollipops, sunflower cups, and chocolate products. They have a killer FAQ page that has so many great answers and questions we would not have thought to ask, like if they use latex in their facility.
Halloween
For Halloween they have a special line of chocolates and confectionery that is shaped like pumpkins, bats, and ghosts. They would be suitable for us to use to switch out our kids’ candies with but not to give out due to the way they are packaged and the price. The bags are more geared to give to one child and no allergen friendly Halloween candy individually packaged sweets are offered. They are instead cellophane bags with around 9 chocolates wrapped in teal foil or boxes with 12 pieces in them which are not individually wrapped.
Shipping
They are available directly from the website. The shipping within the US is They do ship to Canada but you must contact them to order for Canadian shipping. Shipping prices are only available per order and seem to be based on weight.
Stores
Some stores do carry their lines, though what each store carries would have to be determined by contacting that store directly. The Where to Buy page has the US stores listed, no brick and mortar stores are listed for Canada, however there is a Canadian website that sells their products. Products are also available on Amazon.
Our Experience
We have not tried these products yet but will update this post when we do.
Free2b - Top 9 Allergens Free ( Free From Mustard, Coconut, and Corn)
Free From:
- Wheat
- Milk
- Eggs
- Soy
- Tree Nuts
- Peanuts
- Shellfish
- Fish
- Sesame
- Corn
- Mustard
- Coconut
- Gluten Free
(As per the Free2B website. Current as of publishing date)
The Company
Free2B from Staten Island NY is a company that produces candies free from many top allergens that are also vegan and gluten free as well as Kosher Pareve. The selection of goodies from this company centres on the sunflower seed butter filled chocolate cup.
Selection
The variety of the cups is one of our favourites as they do not only a plain sun butter cup but other flavours such as enrobed in dark chocolate or our fave the mint flavoured cups. Free2B also has a line of Crunchsters. These are made from mung beans and kind of like a corn nut snack. We haven’t tried the Crunchsters yet but hope we can find them soon.
Halloween
There is a Halloween bag-o-treats available for purchase straight from their website around Halloween. It has 18 individually wrapped sunflower seed butter cups that are perfect for handing out on Halloween, or at parties. Swap out for Reese's peanut butter cups with a Free2B cup so the kids can have an allergen friendly Halloween candy instead.
Stores
The 2 pack cups are something we often buy in grocery stores and natural foods stores in Canada. We find them readily available in a lot of shops. There is a store finder on their website. The search can be done in one for the sun butter cups and the other for Crunchsters through this site by clicking on the menu.
The store locator just needs an address or zip code to find stores in the US and a postal code to search in Canada. The tool works for both countries and appears up to date as we found all the stores we knew had them in stock. You may not find the sunbutter cups in the candy and chocolate aisles. More commonly the Allergen Friendly candy is found in the natural foods sections of the larger grocery chains, in our experience.
Shipping
The shipping is free for orders over $49 and does not include trial packs, as per the Shop page banner and footer notes. Free2B has limited shipping days and only will send out orders Monday to Wednesday at this current time. Shipping is only available within the United States at this time as Canada is not an option on the shipping estimates. Canadian stores do carry the products, particularly the Lobaw’s Superstore stores in Western Canada. Check the Store Locator page for a full list of the stores.
The Free2B company has a full FAQ page with more details about shipping, allergens, and product. Do check it out as they have a lot of great info there including how they ship in warm weather.
Our Experience
We regularly buy the sunbutter cups but unfortunately haven’t tried the Crunchsters yet.
YumEarth - Top 9 Allergens Free
Free From:
- Wheat
- Milk
- Eggs
- Soy
- Tree Nuts
- Peanuts
- Shellfish
- Fish
- Sesame
- Non GMO
- Organic
- Artificial Dyes
(As per the YumEarth website. Current as of publishing date)
The Company
A company in Connecticut, YumEarth has a lot of candy options that are not available at other companies.This brand of Allergen Friendly Candies has loads of sweets options for many holidays.
Selection
The selection is really great. They have suckers/lollipops they sometimes call pops, wheat free licorice, giggles that are like skittles, gummies and more. In addition to being allergen friendly the lines are all organic and some are vegan so they hit a huge market. They also carry Choco-yums which are like M&Ms or Canadian Smarties (not the American ones) and filled with chocolate in a candy shell. Some products are produced in facilities that also contain some allergens but yet they are not ingredients in their products. Contact the company and check out their FAQs for more info.
Halloween
The Halloween variety pack and pops could be handed out for Halloween. The candies are in individual packages for their allergen friendly Halloween candy. We have not however seen if they have the ingredients printed on the individual bags as we would feel is personally safest for handing out candies. When we can find a package in stores we will update the individual package info as last year they did not have the ingredients listed. The bagged candies are perfect for trading the kids for any candies that they collected. Portion the candies in Halloween theme bags in smaller portions for the kids.
Stores
In Canada we find their products at local natural foods stores year round. The holiday special lines are in our stores but they do sell out quickly.
Stores in both Canada and the USA stock YumEarth Brand allergen freindly candies. Info on where and which store are on the store locator page. We found loads of stores in the US. All these stores listed the products they have carried at some point. You can search by specific product, as well. We were not however, able to get this function to work for Canada, even when we searched areas we know currently carry some of the products we searched for.
Shipping
Shipping in the contiguous 48 states in the US is free for orders over $40. They do offer flat rates for Hawaii and Alaska as well as for orders that have totals less than the free shipping minimum. YumEarth’s shipping policy page has all the current prices and minimums for free shipping. It is unclear if they ship to Canada from the shop site. There is a separate European site but not Canadian.
Our Experience
For the last few years we pick up the YumEarth products for Halloween and Christmas and as treats.
Other Options
Many Grocery stores have allergen safe versions of candies and chocolates that can be used as allergen safe Halloween candy. Check out places like Save-on, London Drugs, HEB, Sprouts, Trader Joe’s, Walmart, and Whole Foods. They may carry candies that are inadvertently free from allergens. It is important though to follow up with the manufacturer on shared lines and facilities.
Some stores have store brands that may also be safe. Check out stores like Trader Joe’s Sunflower Seed Butter Cups or Oat Chocolate Bars.
Making Your Own Chocolates
Making chocolates from melted allergen free chocolate chips like those from Enjoy Life (available in Canada, too), Nestle Tollhouse, Walmart’s Great Value, or Pascha. Using a mould for chocolates usually made from silicone. They can be as big or as small as you’d like. Microwave the chocolate for 20 seconds. Then stirred, returned to the microwave, to melt more for another 20 seconds, if needed.
Then pour the melted chocolate into the moulds. Allow to cool before removing from the moulds. Moulds can be purchased at Michael’s Crafts in Canada or the United States or Amazon.
The chocolate can alternatively be tempered on the stove following the instructions from Epicurious.
Other Than Classic Trick or Treating
For our older kids they are looking forward to watching a few scary movies with treats we never buy or make. The movies are geared to their age level. Not all our kids can handle the same level of creepiness. They will pick out their fav treats and have a friend over to spend the night in a different way.
Tips For Trick or Treating
Predetermined Treats
If the kids are little, we used to just visit a few selected friends, family and neighbours. Before Halloween we would drop off a special Halloween bag full of allergen friendly Halloween candy for our kids with their names on them and have them hand this out instead.
The Teal Pumpkins
See who has a teal pumpkin out front and prioritise those houses. Not all houses may be a part of the program however but traditionally a teal pumpkin is a sign that there is a family with allergies who MAY provide other options (not for certain and not for all allergies). Some areas have maps that families can list themselves as providing allergen friendly offerings through FARE.
We put out a Teal Pumpkin and have a sign next to the door that reads “ If you would prefer a non food treat please let us know”. This started years ago when my sister was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. On offer are little halloween themed notions in a separate bowl that the kids can choose from. Some of the options are stickers, hot wheels cars, pencils, erasers, and the like. They are for over the age of 3 only due to small parts and the choking hazard they may pose for toddlers. Any leftovers that will keep for a year go in a bag. We pack that bag away with the Halloween ornaments until next year.
For more info on the Teal Pumpkin Project check out The Teal Pumpkin Project by FARE.
Donating the Candy
If you are like me and don’t feel you want a ton of temptation for the kids or adults lying around, donating the extra candy that isn’t safe for you is an option. Some food banks may take the individually wrapped candies. Contact them first to see if it is something they accept.
In our area some dentists do a candy swap. The kids bring in the candy and it is weighed. There is a dollar amount for each pound of candy and the kids will get that. The dentist then donates the candy and the kids can spend the money on something they can have.
These are not options we personally partake in as we trick or treat to a certain limit and Rob is always happy to polish off the extra candy in the house for the kids and I.
FAQs
Sometimes. It would entirely depend on how it is manufactured and what the ingredients are. Vegan or plant based just means no animal products are contained in the ingredients. It doesn’t mean that tree nuts, peanuts, or soy are not present. Vegan and gluten free items have a whole range as to what is certified and what is called plant based or vegan. Many items are produced in facilities with allergens. To be sure, check the ingredients and contact the manufacturer for the processing standards and any possibility of cross contact with allergens.
Sometimes, but usually not. Gluten free only refers to the presence of gluten being below 20 PPM (this changes based on country of origin so always check). Some Gluten free items can contain de-glutened wheat which is not safe for those with wheat allergies. It is really important to always check the ingredients. Another factor is it will most likely contain milk, soy, or other allergens and is not safe.
No. Those items, even if we know the brand and are pretty sure they don’t contain allergens, go in the bag for Rob. If we cannot verify the ingredients we don’t give them to the kids. We just don’t want to take the chance. There have been so many supply issues and manufacturers have changed ingredients often lately we personally don’t feel safe with it.
Disclaimer
We are sharing this information of what we have found on allergen friendly Halloween candy and what we have tried in our experience out of good faith. Your experiences may differ with the companies and products. Always contact the manufacturers directly to ensure the products are safe for you. We also may approach holidays a bit differently than some families.
This article is not intended for medical advice, and is strictly for informational purposes. No products, compensation, or monies were received by anyone associated with TheAllergenFreeKitchen.com. These are our own personal thoughts on the products and not intended to harm or influence any purchasers or businesses.
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