Halloween Party

Hi Apple,
What exactly are you looking to convey to the teacher and the other parents?
Stay Safe,
Rhonda

hi thank you for responding. i,m looking for a letter to send to parents to inform them about my daughter,s pa. and to let them know what to look for on labels.

Hi Apple,
Our preschool environment is a peanut & tree nut free environment. I buy all the snacks, so I have a good control over what is entering the classroom. This was my way of conveying the nuances among really dangerous foods, problematic foods and "safe" foods. This is our letter. You may find the concept helpful. We passed this letter out with a "Green, Yellow, Red Light Food List" on nice paper with a school theme, and I used our color printer. The list had boxes with a circle at the top. For example, the red light list has a red box and a red circle at the top. Then within the box, I listed all the different words for peanuts. Forms of peanuts, and high probability foods (ex. hydrolyzed plant oil). I made a red light list for tree nuts also. We never told parents they could not bring the yellow light food lists into the classroom. But we encouraged them not to. The yellow light list has foods like, bulk bin foods, chocolate just to name a few. The green light list has all the foods that are safe for our DD (who is contact, inhalation and ingestion allergic) to be around. I categorized the green light foods by baking, sweets, fruits, etc. One of the key elements of this letter and another we sent out is that our DD is to never eat any food that is not provided and approved by us, regardless of whether or not it is a green light food.
___________________________________
September 6, 2001
Dear (Name of School/Class) of the Three & Four Year Old Programs,
We would like to ask you for your help in making our preschool environment a safer place. Attached is a Green, Yellow and Red Light Food List that (mother

Also, we are doing a Halloween Party at school for the kids. See the Halloween Party tread on this board. Take care, Rhonda

classmom,
I am not sure where you live so I can't give you any area specific suggestions. Do your parties consist of homemade or store bought goodies? A huge hit always in my daughters class are sour worms, chewy starburst, believe it or not carrots and ranch, microwave popcorn and soda. In our area Hostess cupcakes are safe and they have monster ones for Halloween ( they are chocolate with an orange squiggly). We also do root beer floats.
I think it is great that you came here to seek out information. Many of us parents here would love to have a classmom like you around!
Thank you,
Linda

Classmom: I think it is wonderful that you are taking the needs of a peanut allergic child into consideration. You must be a very caring person! On behalf of mothers of allergic children, I thank you!
Regarding ideas for the party, certain candy is safe: Dum Dum lollipops, tootsie rolls, Starburst, Twizzlers. Chocolate from "Vermont Nut Free Chocolates" is also safe (and very delicious!) You can access their web site directly from this one.
I think popcorn is a great idea (most microwave brands are ok.) Most potato chips, tortilla chips (Frito Lay), pretzels (Bachman, etc.) are safe.
Since kids get so much candy at Halloween, maybe you just want to have the kids wear their costumes and play some simple games. They could get stickers or pencils as prizes. Keep food to cupcakes (ask parent of allergic child to make) and fruit. The kids usually just want to wear their costumes and run around anyway!
Thank you for being concerned about keeping a child safe!
Pat

Hi Room Mom,
Great question! My little one has pa. I am in charge supplying and organizing the parties for all 3 of our pre-school classes - 45 kids. I think the idea below would work for any elementary school aged child. To cut down on the candy, since the kids will get so much anyway, I am putting together gift bags with just a little bit of candy. We asked each parent to donate 2 or 3 dollars. There are lots of great Halloween toys in the Oriental Trading Company catalogue that you can buy in bulk and REALLY CHEAP. Kids love that kind of stuff. You can ask other parents if they want to help put the gift bags together. Maybe the mom of the child w/pa will bake some of her "special" (safe) cookies for the party. It would be a good idea to contact the mom of the child w/pa and ask her exactly what candy/food treats she considers safe. Run your candy list by her before you bring it into the classroom. Ask her if she wants to plan the party with you. Here is a link to the site, and you can request a catalogue from them. The catalogue has 100s of ideas for Halloween non-food toys. I am placing my order today. For just $2.50 a child, each child will get *12* little gifts in a plastic hat, and 2 food treats. I

Rhonda: Thanks for the tip about Oriental Trading Company. This sort of party favor (as an alternative to candy) is exactly what I am looking for!
Pat

Hi Pat,
There's another similar company called U.S. Toy. They have lots of great stuff too that is different from Oriental Trading Company. They sent me a paper catalogue right away too.
[url="http://www.ustoy.com"]http://www.ustoy.com[/url]
Stay Safe,
Rhonda

Just my opinion, I prefer it when there are store bought snacks instead of home made snacks, that way the ingredients can be checked. Last year I would go to the store ahead of time, check ingredients of specific brands then tell the room mom what brands should be bought. The room mom and I had a great relationship and worked well together. If you call the mom of the PA child and work with her she will probably be happy to help. It's always nice when someone calls and says "I want your child to enjoy the party, what should we do?".