If you’re planning to take your kids trick-or-treating, you may be surprised to find several alternatives to candy this Halloween.
Concerns about health, safety and inclusion are driving new trends in the annual gambol of ghouls and goblins. They include teal pumpkins full of stickers and pencils for trick-or-treaters with candy allergies.
They also include warnings about rainbow-colored opioids that look like candy and precautions about preventing the spread of COVID-19.
Meanwhile, some grade schools have canceled Halloween celebrations over cultural inclusivity and safety concerns.
“In our society today, holidays are not only becoming increasingly secularized, but neutered and bland as well,” said Gregory T. Angelo, president of the conservative New Tolerance Campaign. “As time goes on, it’s becoming increasingly evident that the most accurate definition of ‘progressivism’ is ‘the fear that somewhere, someone is having fun.’”
But fun and safety can share the same space, parents say. Victoria Bako, a homeschooling mother of five children younger than 11, says her Christian family participates in the Teal Pumpkin Project. The national trend encourages parents to set aside a labeled pumpkin with non-candy treats for trick-or-treaters with allergies.
“We might skip trick-or-treating this year because my son with allergies is getting older, and it just isn’t very fun when you can’t eat two-thirds of the candy,” said Mrs. Bako, 34, of Fort Worth, Texas.
And authorities are alerting parents to brightly colored fentanyl pills that resemble candy or sidewalk chalk and could end up in their children’s Halloween stashes. The district attorney of Sacramento County, California, recently told CBS News that drug dealers often target kids with the colorful and sometimes deadly opioid.
In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is advising parents to get the latest COVID-19 vaccine boosters for children 5 years old and older. The agency called it “the best way to protect yourself and others from severe illness from COVID-19 on Halloween.”
Other CDC “tips for staying COVID-safe this Halloween” include trick-or-treating outdoors, staying home if sick and wearing masks at indoor parties.
“Consider making the mask part of the costume — like a doctor, nurse, ninja, or cowboy,” the CDC said.
For several years, public schools have canceled Halloween celebrations, saying they alienate some families for cultural or religious reasons. As school shootings have become prominent, safety concerns are influencing some of this year’s cancellations.
In Pennsylvania, the Lower Merion School District recently canceled its Halloween parade for six elementary schools. The decision followed the fatal shooting of a 14-year-old football player outside Roxborough High School nearly 20 minutes away in Philadelphia a few weeks ago.
“Just the thought of having an entire school population of young children in a field surrounded by adults that we couldn’t possibly screen was worrisome,” Amy Buckman, Lower Merion director of school and community relations, told The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Ms. Buckman added that the inclusion-focused school district “has numerous students who for religious or cultural reasons do not celebrate Halloween.” Those students would have either missed school or gone to the library on the day of the parade.
Robert Weissberg, a retired political science professor at the University of Illinois, says the concerns are becoming more of a trick than a treat for many Americans.
“The left can kill anything,” Mr. Weissberg said. “No doubt some cities will appoint a Halloween commission to ensure that all future Halloweens are carbon-neutral, inclusive, nonracist and nonsexist to exclude dangerous stereotypes.”
• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.
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