Halloween shall be tricky for us this year. For the past month our daughter has been gluten-free (like me!) and it’s made a world of difference.
It’s not that she was sick before. On the contrary, she has an incredible immune system and is rarely ill.
We’ve just finally completely cut out all gluten from her diet and discovered that her response to it is similar to mine: when we eat gluten we typically feel crappy, overwhelmed, exhausted (like we have the flu), overly sensitive, and cry for no absolutely reason. Who needs that?!
So now our whole family is gluten-free and probably the happiest we’ve ever felt. (Plus no one feels left out, because we feel supported since we’re in this together.)
Celebrating Halloween this year, however, shall take some extra planning since most candy is chock full of gluten. I want our gluten-free child to feel special, not excluded, in celebrating Halloween!
She informed us that since she’s gluten-free, the neighbors are going to give her only gluten-free candy. If only it were that easy!
In preparation for the big day I’ve been hoarding gluten-free (fair-trade, non-gmo, all-natural) chocolates and candy (aka the expensive, good stuff!), so we can trade it with our eldest as she Trick or Treats.
The real swap, however, will occur after the children fall asleep when the Candy Fairy arrives to stealthily dispose of the hard earned (gluten-free) candy and leave pretend cupcakes for the play kitchen (and a book or two) in its place at our daughter’s request.
What does your family do with all that Halloween candy? Our dentist buys back candy from kids by the pound, but I particularly like the idea of making candy houses. We could even keep (hide!) the candy to make our gingerbread houses in December. That’s the thing about candy: it keeps for a long time… if you can not eat it in the interim.
If we keep the candy, I think David needs to be the one who hides it though. If I know where it’s located, there’s NO WAY the candy will last until December. ;)