Scary food for Halloween

Hey, I'm back after another long absence. I was glad to see all the new comments. Halloween is tricky for those of us who want to be dye free, yet we still want our kids to have fun. In the past we have given out non food trinkets, pretzels, or dye free candy. We have also let the kids go get lots of food dyed candy, brought it back and dumped it into our "give away" bowl and had them go back out. Last year I let them get loaded up on candy, kept what was dye free, and sent the rest to my husband's office. I have exchanged their candy for Yummy Earth Lollipops, Surf Sweets, or chocolate. Since I thought we all reacted to too much artificial flavors in the chocolate last year, we'll be keeping that to a minimum too.

This year I will be giving out Yummy Earth Lollipops, purchased in bulk on amazon. But we are also going to have some fun with our costumes. Chipolte restaurant is inviting people to come in dressed as a scary processed food ingredient. http://www.chipotle.com/en-US/fan-antics/boorito/boorito.aspx Well of course, I can't pass that up. Our family will be going as the scary family food dyes. I'll keep you posted on our costumes as they progress. So far we've assigned colors and have hoodies for each one of us. We're working on whether we will also do scary masks or face paint.

Ready for Halloween

Whew, I wasn't sure I would even get to post this before Halloween. I've still been busy with sick parents, sick kids, and school problems. It's been a tough fall so Halloween kind of snuck up on me this year.

A fellow food dye fanatic/friend sent me this link about Necco wafers going dye free. I stocked up on Yummy Earth Lollipops, Darell Lea's licorice (from Target) and some chocolate. I use my selections to replace what my kids bring home from parties.


Here is what I sent in to the preschool party today:








I used a white cake and frosting mix and then decorated with spider rings from Walmart. My daughter loved that some of the rings were purple. For those who have not read my previous holiday posts, I often use white cakes and frosting to make cupcakes for school parties. Be sure to read the ingredients. Many white cake and frosting have dyes.

Then I decorate with colorful things that don't contain dyes. Some cupcake paper wrappers come with matching toothpicks to stick in each cupcake. Otherwise I've used foil wrapped chocolates. Basically I try to add color, without adding petroleum based color like red #40. This year I did not sign up for very many parties (didn't get to the list quick enough at parent night) so I just brought in a cupcake for my son's party and he passed on the rest of the stuff the other parents brought.

My oldest has been quite happy that I stocked the teacher with candy for him. He would rather have a few Surf Sweets sour worms than a cupcake anyway. I just asked what he wanted to eat on party days and he picked a few bags of candy. It works out easily because the candy keeps a little longer than cookies or cakes. The only down side: one day he had a sub and she didn't believe him that he could get candy instead of a birthday treat. Win some, loose some.

I'm also still trying to find which dentist pays kids for their Halloween candy. I think we'll pay him a visit.