Spooky Season Safety

Halloween means candy, parties and dressing up with friends and family. It’s a fun time of year for everyone involved. To keep the fun going, there are many programs that have started raising awareness about children's health and safety while celebrating Halloween. Sometimes this can be shown through pumpkins displayed for trick-or-treaters. I’m going to talk about some colors that pumpkins may be and their meanings, as well as share some tips for how to safely partake in Halloween festivities.

Many children with food allergies are faced with a problem during Halloween: they have to refuse candy or disclose their allergies while trick-or-treating. The Teal Pumpkin Project was started to help solve this problem after a mother of a child with allergies saw how prevalent candy refusal could be for some children. The main focus of the project is to provide an easy way to signal to parents and children that a house has non-food items available.

You can participate in this project by placing a teal pumpkin outside your home. The pumpkin can be plastic, painted or on a flyer (FoodAllergy.org has a flyer free to download). By placing a teal pumpkin in your yard, you are signaling that you have non-food items available to trick-or-treaters. These items can be pencils, bubbles, bouncy balls, stickers and other toys or fidgets. You can still give out candy, but the items should be kept in a separate bowl and offered at the same time as the candy.

A blue pumpkin often symbolizes support for trick-or-treaters with autism. When left in a yard or on a porch, residents are signaling that, for children with autism, there won’t be judgment on someone who isn’t wearing a costume, who may be communicating differently or not following traditional Halloween routines. In a child's hands, a blue pumpkin doesn’t hold meaning. Blue is a common favorite color, so if the color appears on a trick-or-treater’s bag or bucket, it’s not an indication of autism. The best way to show support is to offer every child patience and understanding this Halloween.

A purple pumpkin is meant to show support for people with epilepsy. Placing a purple pumpkin on your porch helps spread awareness and destigmatize the condition by making people ask, “Why is your pumpkin purple?” The Purple Pumpkin Project aims to create a safer environment for people with epilepsy and hopes that educating about epilepsy during Halloween will keep it in youths’ minds throughout the year.

With all these new pumpkins to keep an eye out for, I’m sure you want to get out there and start looking for all of them immediately. However, while you look for all these pumpkins, you still need to stay safe out there. Here’s some tips and tricks to keep the fun going while trick-or-treating.

It’s always best to go out with friends. If you and your friends plan to meet up somewhere, make sure everyone in the group knows the plan and is present before heading out. While walking around, keep an eye on everyone, especially youth, as no one should be wandering off alone. If your party is somehow separated, always have a back-up plan or a meet-up location in mind for such instances. If someone wants to leave, walk them to their car or back to the meet-up place; a group of three would work best, so that no one is walking alone or getting lost.

If you’re looking for some more adult-oriented seasonal fun, you may end up going to a party on campus or in Fargo-Moorhead. Wherever you end up, make sure you know your way around and be sure to tell people where you're heading and who you’re going to be with. If you’re going to party, be aware of your surroundings and the behavior and actions of the people around you.

Halloween is a fun and spooky night! I hope this article encourages you to go have some spooky — though safe — fun!