Paint a Pumpkin Teal this Halloween for Kids with Allergies

Painting pumpkins is a fun alternative to carving them and there have been a lot of great painted pumpkin projects on the internet, but there is an even better reason for you to do some pumpkin painting.

Launched in 2014, The Teal Pumpkin Project solves the issue of children with allergies being left out of Halloween fun. When a child with allergies goes trick-or-treating, they would usually come home with a bag of candy that is filled largely with treats that they can’t eat. With The Teal Pumpkin Project if a Teal Pumpkin or a sign about Teal Pumpkins is displayed on the porch then the trick-or-treaters know that there will be non-candy treats at that house. Teal is the color of food allergy awareness.

It’s a great solution to make sure that kids with allergies are not excluded from the Halloween treats. Apparently, many kids who don’t have allergies still choose the non-food item, which is a also a plus to this project (so, make sure you have plenty of non-food treats).

So, how to turn an orange pumpkin teal?  Painting a pumpkin with teal acrylic paint is easy. If your pumpkin will be outside then we recommend spraying it with an acrylic sealer after the paint has dried. The Montana Gold Label Spray Paint is a paint and sealer in one. This would be great for painting pumpkins.

You can also get a little more creative as our Craft Warehouse Design Team has done and create a sign you can use year after year.

To create the wood signs shown above with the teal pumpkins, our design team used the faux pumpkins we have in the store and cut them in half. You can use a serrated knife or a mini-saw for this. They painted them teal and then glued them onto one of our pallet boards with E6000 glue and added chipboard letters.

The 5 x 5 board on the bottom left has a “pumpkin” made from circles of teal scrapbook paper that is folded in a fan and glued to the board. A tiny spool with jute makes the stem.

The pumpkin paper fan was created by cutting scrapbook paper into a circle and folding it. A wood grain paper makes the stem and a chalkboard label was added.

Wondering what you can give out as a non-food treat? There are lots of inexpensive ideas available at Craft Warehouse. Try to stay away from clay or latex items.

Keep the non-food treats in a separate bowl than the candy and when the little monsters knock on your door just offer them the choice or candy or non-candy. Make sure you display your teal pumpkin so parents of kids with allergies know to stop at your house.

Non-food Treat Ideas:

• Glow sticks, bracelets, or necklaces
• Pencils, pens, crayons or markers
• Bubbles
• Halloween erasers or pencil toppers
• Whistles, kazoos, or noisemakers
• Bouncy balls
• Finger puppets or novelty toys
• Coins
• Temporary Tattoos
• Spider rings
• Vampire fangs
• Mini notepads
• Playing cards
• Bookmarks
• Stickers
• Stencils