Halloween For Vegans. Trick…Or No?

Kids Just Want To Have Fun!

Everyone wants their children to have fun on Halloween and Vegan parents are no different. Fewer events on the calendar make Vegan parents more uncomfortable and worried than Halloween. Can a Vegan parent keep their kids away from animal products on Halloween?

How do they do that without causing their kids to feel left out? Is it possible to avoid gaining some new strands of gray hair?  Well, you don’t have to throw in the towel.

You definitely won’t have to avoid the night completely or worse, let your kids eat non-vegan candy. What may surprise you is that, with just a little bit of planning and work, you can make sure your kids have a really fun night.

Choices For a Safe Vegan Halloween

There are three major options you have in order to survive Halloween with your veganism intact. These three items are to find a trunk or treat, to have your own vegan Halloween party, or to distribute your own vegan candy throughout the neighborhood. No matter which one you choose, the first thing you will need to do is buy the vegan candy yourself.

Thanks to an awesome amount of attention given to food allergies as well as more and more people becoming vegan, the options for cruelty-free vegan candy and allergen-friendly candy are almost endless.  I have compiled a list of candies that you can easily add to your Amazon shopping cart. Click on the trick-or-treat bag below to see what is in my bag of candy!!!

Click on my bag 🙂 You want to.

My trick-or-treat bag includes this list of my top 45 items (yes top, I have more!):

1. NoWhey Foods
2. YumEarth Organics 
3. Theo Chocolates
4. Sweet and Sara Delicious Treats
5. Now & Laters
6. GoMaxGo Foods
7. Free2B Foods
8. Zotz Fizzy Candy
9. Annie’s Fruit Snacks
10. NO Whey Chocolates
11. Charms Blow Pops
12. Dandies Marshmallows
13. Equal Exchange
14. Endangered Species Chocolate
15. Divvies

What Are Your Halloween Goals?

If your goal is the least amount of work possible, and hey, who doesn’t have that goal? Then investigate if someone in your area is having a trunk or treat. What is a trunk or treat you ask?. Everyone should experience this at least once.

Often, local businesses, churches, and schools will host a trunk or treat. This event is a gathering of people who decorate their cars with a designated theme. They put candy in their trunk and have fun games for kids to play.

Much like walking around the neighborhood ringing doorbells. Kids go around to each car for their trick-or-treating fun. In this scenario, you could easily provide your previously purchased candy to each participant and ask that they only give that candy to your kid. If you are secretive enough, your kids won’t know and maybe you could even have them in pre-decorated candy bags.

The second option, which does step up the legwork a little, is to distribute candy throughout your neighborhood. You will have to speak to your neighbors (oh the humanity) but it will pay off well once you have your safe house map in place and you see your kid's happy little faces.

Again, I would recommend that you take the time to make up bags of candy in secret. Distribute those bags to the neighbors that have agreed to participate and then make sure you only go to their houses.

If this is the way you’d like to go, I would recommend that you work with the teal pumpkin project in your area or even create one. While this does create some extra legwork for you, it is very likely that other parents in your neighborhood will be grateful.

The third option you have is to host a Halloween party at your house. This one takes the most work but it is the one in which you have the most control over everything. You can control all of the food and all of the beverages.

It sounds a little lame for kids since most want to trick or treat, but of all the Halloween parties I have gone to, the kids seem to have more fun than the adults.

Decorate each room of the house, organize some silly games, and have tons of fun vegan candy, vegan finger foods, and perhaps some adult beverages for the hosts ;).

One Halloween party I went to even had a table outside for trick-or-treaters. There was candy for kids and hot adult beverages for parents! They ran out of candy very quickly that night!

It All Comes Down To Planning

Until the world becomes vegan, many things that we want our children to participate in will come with planning and work. While some of these tasks can be daunting, just remember the compassion you are teaching your children. Remember the joy you will see on their faces. Most of all, know that more animals were saved because of you.  Happy Vegan Halloween!

In what ways have you survived a vegan Halloween? Share any tips you want for Halloween and Thanksgiving survival.