To use blue Halloween buckets when kids don't have autism?

[ThisIsSamhain]

Asked my mum to get trick or treat buckets.

She text to say she got the last 3 in the shop.

They're blue. I thought they were cute and just a £1 shop design.

SIL pointed out they are for autism awareness? I had no idea and neither did mum. She said there was no explanation on shelves.

I can't go all the way back to town and spend £10 on bus tickets and £3 on buckets when we already have some, just blue.

Can I just use them?

I saw the blue bucket thing on Facebook and even then I thought it's going to be far too dark for me to see the colour of the buckets.

Plus my dogs are still going to kick off when people knock at the door, so if they (or any other kids) don't react well to loud noises, there's nothing I can do about that.

It's a good idea though but I think it'll take a few years for everyone to know what they represent (again, as long as people can see them).

Maybe spray them black if you're so worried, a tin of spray paint would only be a couple of pound. Or get the kids to paint them black with normal paint and add decorations.
Or forget about them and take a bag for life.

Oh and autism speak can do one. They don't speak for me. All this lighting everything up blue and that daft Holland poem

I doubt most people will know or even care. My eldest is autistic and this is certainly the first I've heard of blue buckets "for autism". I don't hold with anything to do with Autism Speaks, or "going blue for autism" though. The pages I read which are run by "actually autistic" (how they self refer) people are very anti AS. AS doesn't help autistic people.

Nobody will notice, know or care. My autistic dc doesn’t want to trick or treat anyway.

Am I the only one who doesn’t give a shit about the age of trick or treaters? I’ve happily given the rest of my stash to fully NT teens who come round later than others. Maybe it’s because no one takes the piss in my area though, and I’m really not precious about who gets the last of my £1 variety sweet bag - saves me scoffing the lot anyway

Use the buckets, OP. The whole blue for Halloween thing started because one American mother wanted to help her local community identify her autistic son, whilst he was out enjoying trick or treating. It worked for them, and that's great, but there is no official recognition of this at all, and from what I have read online, the autistic communities do not recognise this, and most are very against the whole "blue for autism" thing, as PP have explained.

So it's literally just this one woman's post gone viral, there is no "blue buckets for autism" thing at all.

If you have a child with severe food allergies surely it's up to you as a parent to make sure to check what they eat it they go trick or treating you can't assume people will know by colour of their bucket @ GoldenBlue?I

A lot of these things seem gimmicky to me. No two kids on the spectrum are the same. One might be non-verbal, while the next could really object to a blue pumpkin because pumpkins are orange.
I have to wonder about the rationale of taking a child out who is likely to find the experience upsetting.
As for allergies - that’s on the parents, not the people dishing out goodies.

They're quite controversial in the autistic community anyway - a lot of people don't think they're a positive thing or should be used as a symbol of autism (they just think everyone should be nice to kids who come to their door, even if they act a little unusually or don't say "trick or treat", which seems fair to me as somebody with an autistic child).

And I think 99% of people will have no idea of the possible autism link anyway (probably particularly those people who would be mean to a kid who didn't speak!). I would stick with what you've got!

Never heard of this blue bucket thing, I think you'll be fine

I only saw one post about the blue pumpkins and it said if you see an adult carrying one it is an adult with ASD that wants to participate in Halloween. I thought it sounded like a good idea, giving a heads up that you might want to be more vigilant/careful. I certainly don't think it went viral, I didn't see any posts on my local ASD group. I really don't think it matters what colour a child uses though.

Teal buckets are for allergies so this is confusing!

Agree the food allergies bucket is definitely not well known enough and is actually possibly dangerous for parents to rely on it without a campaign in their own area. I saw a lovely thing that went viral a few years ago where a father went round his neighbourhood a couple of days before Halloween handing out bouncy balls etc with a note saying “my son is diabetic, we will be coming around dressed as X and I will be dressed as Y. Please can you give him this instead of a sweet?” (Obviously worded a lot more nicely!)

That is what parents should do surely if they want to make sure the message gets through? Not rely on obscure social media posts that the vast majority of the population won’t see.

If your going to welcome trick or treaters you should be respectful of them all.

If you child has autism or other problems which will make them struggle then an adult should be with them to help them anyway.

If your child has allergies and is to young to manage them themselves then they should be accompanied anyway.

I doubt anyone cares of the colour of the bucket! Personally I will be hiding away with my autistic son on Thursday hoping nobody ignores my don’t knock sign as he is petrified

I would just use them. most people won't know what it means (I have a child with severe ASD and had no idea that blue buckets were a thing - just learned it on this thread)

I won't be able to cater for trick or treaters with allergies. I get standard sweets and chocolates in, and anyone who won't eat those is left with satsumas. People can't expect total strangers whose doors they knock on to work around kids' allergies.

It depends on the child NC we have gone trick or treating with my son who has non verbal autism he's enjoyed but then he loves sweeties ,I wouldn't take him if he found it all distressing .

I thought the teel pumpkin/ allergy thing was for houses to put outside who are offering allergen friendly treats for trick or treaters so parents know where its safe to take their children with food allergies?? Not for children with allergies to carry a teel coloured bucket to let people know.

Don’t worry at all.

Although some kids have teal buckets for allergies I think? Most of us have no clue what they mean and the autism community is arguing about whether blue is okay or not etc.

So really I’d just use them!

Many parents of autistic children are against the idea of blue buckets so shouldn’t really be a problem. I have two with autism and I did buy two blue buckets then decided against it.

The blue buckets for autism awareness is a relatively new thing, in the Uk anyway and I’m pretty sure a lot of people wouldn’t have even heard of it yet.

Use it.
I don't know why but this blue bulucket gives me the itch. My autistic child is not going to have one.

This has also been doing the rounds on FB and sums up how I feel about it.

OP, use the blue buckets and enjoy yourselves. I promise no one will care what colour they are and if they do then they are the dickhead, not you.

We're using a blue bucket this year. It has been well publicised on local facebook, not by me. If it stops one person from trying to get a "thank you" out of my son instead of just from me, without me having to embarrass him by saying that he is autistic, that would be grand.

Are people now expected to get little toys in for the children with allergies? Aswell as sweets/chocolate. Surely parents are keeping an eye on what their kids eat?