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?

@Winterfellismyhome. No. Toys not expected.

I have a child who has an allergy and we handle it. He does T&Treating on our street and only eats what I've checked out. When home I exchange what he can't eat with other treats (we have for handing out) or with the haul from his siblings.

I think there's so much that could go wrong with an allergy bucket that I don't know where to start! You need to check your children's sweets yourself as people could assume you were allergic to anything, and there's no candy bar in the land that is free from absolutely any allergen. If you're relying on strangers checking the colour of your child's bucket to stop them having a reaction that is dangerously lazy parenting!

You could cover them with foil and if not a hastle, add some e.g. star stickers. Happy Halloween! 🎃

All this angst about buckets makes me glad I take the battery out of the doorbell and ignore anyone who knocks on Halloween!

winter last year I probably had about 30% non sweets (stickers etc) to 70% sweets. All the non sweets stuff went first as all the kids were interested in them more!

I offer both as the kids across the way had allergies and I did too as a kid, and know how not being able to join in can be crap. However most allergy families I know of certainly dont expect it and will happily take it and swap out for something at home (we're in the US tho)

Also to note - giving out non sweets stuff is a really good way of up cycling shit small gimmicky plastic toys that seem to abound with ~4 year olds

Haha same @PinkSparklyPussyCat. I was going to be less miserable this year and buy some sweets, but will be ignoring the doorbell again this year.

giving out non sweets stuff is a really good way of up cycling shit small gimmicky plastic toys that seem to abound with ~4 year olds

oh... that "collection" of kinder surprise tat could finally be made to good use!

Thank you!

muppet I have a small bucket (not a blue one ) that I gather party gift etc shit in through the year that DS isn't interested in. I then buy cheap halloween themed stuff to bulk it out (stickers, pencils, and anything cheap on offer at Tk Maxx etc) Doesn't cost me any more than sweets, mainly because our street is huge for trick or treaters and the bags we have to buy as a result are massive!

They are allergies. Not autism. Fantastic idea.

The Teal buckets are for the givers of treats to use NOT the kids.

“What’s the Teal Pumpkin Project®?
The Teal Pumpkin Project encourages people to raise awareness of food allergies and promotes inclusion of all trick-or-treaters throughout the Halloween season. The nationwide movement offers an alternative for kids with
food allergies, as well as other children for whom candy is not an option. The steps to participate are:

Provide non-food treats for trick-or-treaters.
Place a teal pumpkin – the color of food allergy awareness –in front of your home to indicate you have non-food treats available.
Add your home to the Teal Pumpkin Project map.
Spread the word! Share the Teal Pumpkin Project ”

www.foodallergy.org/education-awareness/teal-pumpkin-project/faqs

I don’t get how it is a fantastic idea for allergies either. Infact I think it could lead to complacency.

The bucket doesn’t state every allergy a child has.

The scheme isn’t well known anyway.

No person with allergies should be trusting a stranger to know their allergies.

Never heard of it. Enjoy your blue buckets or indeed any colour of bucket. No doubt the shop will restock..

I don’t think many people will have heard of this at all. I read it yesterday once on FB but it isn’t well known. Use whatever receptacle you like!
DS has a good friend with a nut allergy. If I buy for him I check labels but for Halloween general I buy whatever is cheap in Aldi. Chocolate not sweets as I don’t like sweets.
DS friend’s mum checks his bucket and swaps what he can’t have- I’m sure all allergy parents will.

@Sirzy it’s good for allergies because it was designed to be used by the treat givers to offer non-food treats. It shows the trick or treater a house that has non-food options with their teal pumpkin outside, so they can knock and know they aren’t just going to get sweets.

Yes I get it as a marker for the house but not for the person going door to door which is how many here seem to be reading the idea

The vast majority aren’t going to notice what the kids are putting their sweets into and of the few who do, the number of those people who will have any idea about the blue buckets will be negligible.

I’m very aware of autism and various other SEN and disabilities etc but hadn’t heard about this. If I haven’t, you can bet Jo public definitely hasn’t.

I work in a school that specialises in autism. Had no idea this was even a thing.

We took a red bucket and a blue bucket out last year. Why? Because those are the buckets I have. They're sandcastle shaped too.

Just use your blue buckets.

I have an ASD DD, she has a blue bucket this year. I wouldn’t be even slightly offended if someone not on the spectrum had one, and I’d be highly unlikely to even ask if they were, so try not to overthink it and let the DC’s carry on and have fun.

We got a blue one and until this post I had no idea. Likely most others won't either.

It'll be dark. People won't make an effort to stare at the buckets.

The teal pumpkin thing is not about carrying a teal bucket, it's hav ing a real pumpkin to signify you have non food treats - so that people with allergies can knock....I think it is more of a thing in America.

Ds would be completely flummoxed by having a blue pumpkin if everyone else's were orange!

Bloody hell! I didn’t have a clue about different coloured buckets. Tesco sold them
In loads of colours. I just picked a random one.

Just going to reinforce what a couple of previous posters have said.The autistic community really dislike the association with the colour blue.

This is because the "Light it up blue" for autism campaign comes from a hateful group, Autism Speaks. Their "treatment" and belief in absurd "cures" for autistic children is shocking and causes lifelong damage.

The problem is that lots of the general public have latched onto the colour blue as representing autism, and use it to offer their support with the best of intentions. But a very large proportion of autistic adults find the use of blue very offensive, because it's supporting Autism Speaks and their horrible agenda. There's lots online about it if you want to read further. It's a very emotive subject.

As an aside, rock your blue buckets and don't worry. It's not official, lots of us wouldn't use them for our children anyway and lots of people don't know about it anyway. Hope you all have fun on Halloween 😊

@FrancisCrawford bit of an odd post, I’m sure you didn’t have internet ‘in your day’ either but here you are posting on an Internet forum.