Halloween has been our busiest time in the calendar so far this year, with lots of gatherings and parties for Jasmine. Any event that is centred around food/sweets can be surrounded by intense anxiety for us as a family, especially after Jasmine had a mild allergic reaction to touching a wrapper of a chocolate containing nuts, back in 2018 whilst trick or treating.
We were invited to a couple of parties and the hosts were amazing, ensuring that there were no products containing any peanuts or nuts in any of their foods was so reassuring for us. Although Jasmine couldn't eat any of the foods, the risk of a reaction to her airborne allergies were eliminated because the hosts really wanted Jasmine to be in a safe environment and for that we are so grateful. The worry of touching surfaces that were contaminated with the protein from nuts, was also reduced because there weren't any present at the time we were there, Jasmine felt safe and managed to relax and thoroughly enjoy both parties as did we. We also brought safe food for Jasmine to consume whilst there.
After the party on Halloween we went trick or treating, we made sure Jasmine wore some gloves to eliminate risk of reaction, we also accompanied her to the doors to see what was being handed out (luckily nothing unsafe) and once home we ensure all hands were washed, then I went through the sweets to double check everything was safe. We also had treats at home that are safe in case we had to exchange any, this also avoids any disappointed.
Jasmine also had a Halloween party at dance class and school, she wanted very gory makeup. Due to allergies and eczema she is unable to use conventional face paint.... so I made hers out of safe things we had at home such as, aveeno cream, honey, cornflour, toothpaste and food colouring. After alot of trial and error I finally managed to give her the look she wanted and nobody knew any different!!