• Why Plant-Based?
    • Overview
    • Sustainability
    • Better health
    • Compassion for animals
  • Resources
    • Virtual speaker series
    • Speakers program
    • Pamphlets
    • Newsletters
  • Blog
  • About Us
    • Who we are
    • Contact us
  • How to Help
    • Join us
    • Donate
  • Subscribe to Newsletter
Earthsave CanadaEarthsave Canada
  • Why Plant-Based?
    • Overview
    • Sustainability
    • Better health
    • Compassion for animals
  • Resources
    • Virtual speaker series
    • Speakers program
    • Pamphlets
    • Newsletters
  • Blog
  • About Us
    • Who we are
    • Contact us
  • How to Help
    • Join us
    • Donate
  • Subscribe to Newsletter

Trick or treat- vegan style!

Trick or treat- vegan style!

Trick or treat- vegan style!

October 14, 2020 Posted by Lindsay Doucet

I absolutely love Halloween! I love experiencing how beautiful nature becomes in the fall season, and I enjoy coming up with creative costumes for Halloween. Of course, I also enjoy all of the sweets and candies that come out around this time of year. Did you know that many of the treats you enjoyed as a kid are vegan? 

Ahead of the big day at the end of the month, I wanted to share some vegan Halloween resources, tips and tricks I’ve come across. It is also important to note that Halloween will look a lot different this year than in previous years, so I encourage you to consult the advice of your local public health authority to determine how you and your family can celebrate the holiday safely. For those of you in BC like me, the BC Centre for Disease Control released guidelines on how to safely celebrate Halloween this year.
 

Vegan Candy

Fortunately for those of you with a sweet tooth, a lot of common Halloween candy is “accidentally” vegan, like: 

  • Sour Patch Kids
  • Swedish Berries
  • Fuzzy peaches
  • Sour cherry blasters
  • Rockets
  • Swedish fish 
  • I recently received a gift of vegan gummies from the Canadian candy company Squish and can attest – they are delicious! 

While many online sources say these candies are vegan, I would still encourage you to (as always) check the ingredients label to confirm, as sometimes products can vary by region and by flavour. 

There are some unfortunately common ingredients in candy that aren’t vegan, including the following list:

  • Dairy- found mostly in milk chocolate products (also look for “milkfat”, “whey”, “casein”)
  • Gelatin- a common ingredient in gummy candies, gelatin is made from animal tendons, ligaments and bones. 
  • Shellac- also known as “confectioner’s glaze”, this glossy product is created using the excretions of certain insects.
  • Carmine (also known as cochineal)- usually found in bright red products, carmine is a pigment made by crushing the shell of a female cochineal insect 
  • Palm oil- In itself, palm oil does not contain animal products, but the palm oil industry is linked to the destruction of rainforests and significant harm to animals’ habitats. Be sure to read the labels carefully if you do not want to consume palm oil.
     

Fun Halloween-themed Meals

Since I love Halloween so much, I try to come up with creative ways of incorporating a Halloween theme in the rest of my meals that day as well. 

  • For breakfast, try making fun tangerine pumpkins and banana ghosts! Transform your tangerines into pumpkins by adding a tiny sliver of celery as the stem, and turn your bananas into ghosts by adding (non-dairy, vegan) chocolate chips for eyes! These fruit snacks are also a healthy alternative if you want to skip the candy. 
  • For lunch, it might be fun to make these “ghastly tortilla chips” and “ghoul-camole”– who doesn’t love a festive guacamole?
  • And for dinner, consider these adorable vegan Jack-O-Lantern stuffed peppers!

For more ideas, this webpage has 51 “spooky and delicious” vegan Halloween recipes, and this webpage has 36 vegan Halloween recipes that are “scary delicious”!
 

Vegan Halloween Tips 

If you are searching for ideas for celebrating Halloween with your little ones, there are many resources available online with great tips and suggestions:

  • YouTube videos are a great resource. Many vegan Youtubers have made Halloween-themed videos, showing how their families celebrate Halloween, like Ellen Fisher’s. The Fairy Local Family also has a video for how to have a zero waste, vegan Halloween!
  • This website has a list of vegan-friendly Halloween activities, and more “accidentally vegan” candy ideas! You may also want to share a kid-friendly message about how no animals were harmed in the vegan candy you’re sharing. 
  • The Vegan Outreach blog has a post specifically about how to celebrate Halloween with vegan kids.
  • If you Google “vegan Halloween”, pages and pages of vegan Halloween candies and recipes will come up. There is not a shortage of resources on this topic! 
  • Since Halloween parties are not a good option this year, those of you without children may be interested in having a relaxing Halloween evening with spooky-themed bath bombs, bubble bars and soaps from Lush- both vegan and packaging-free!

I wish you all a safe, spooky and happy vegan Halloween!


Photo by Mel Poole on Unsplash

Share
Avatar photo

About Lindsay Doucet

Lindsay grew up in Nova Scotia, moved to Ontario to pursue her master's degree and work for the Government of Ontario before moving even further west to Vancouver. An Acadia University and Queen's University alumna, Lindsay is currently a Government Relations Officer at UBC. When she isn't cooking a new vegan recipe, Lindsay enjoys curling, barre classes and traveling to Disney parks. Connect with Lindsay on Twitter at @lindsaydoucet.

You also might be interested in

How can we continue to honour our planet after Earth Month?

How can we continue to honour our planet after Earth Month?

May 20, 2025

The New York Times recently asked a group of leading climate experts a big question—what's the single best thing we can do for the planet—and their answers remind us that real change starts with rethinking how we live, and becoming part of a movement for change.

It’s time to take milk off the menu: It’s not a health food, and for animals and the environment it’s simply bad news

It’s time to take milk off the menu: It’s not a health food, and for animals and the environment it’s simply bad news

May 25, 2016

Not long ago, the Journal of the American Medical Association’s[...]

Trying to stop climate change? Eating plant-based is more helpful than eating local

Trying to stop climate change? Eating plant-based is more helpful than eating local

May 18, 2020

While eating locally sourced food is still beneficial to the community, it’s important to remember that you aren’t significantly lowering your carbon footprint, or helping out the climate, without reducing or cutting out animal-based products from your diet.

Donate

Recent Posts

  • How can we continue to honour our planet after Earth Month?
  • No, Bill C-293 on pandemic prevention is not the “Vegan Act”
  • Estimating the True Costs of Our Foods
  • CBC’s coverage of plant-based issues is all too often outrageously flawed

Follow us

Engage with us on facebook

Earthsave Canada

Earthsave Canada

5 hours 40 minutes ago

"Scientists have discovered that many baby animals experience grief in ways remarkably similar to humans, especially when they lose a parent, sibling, or close companion.

6
View on Facebook
Share
Earthsave Canada

Earthsave Canada

7 hours 58 minutes ago

Bottom line: Meat industry 'science' amounts to mostly lies. Quoting the study, "Our findings highlight that using animal protein as a comparator in industry-funded studies,

6
View on Facebook
Share

Earthsave Canada

10 hours 43 minutes ago

"Switching to plant-based diets could help protect our environment—and ocean life—in meaningful ways. A 2023 analysis from the University of Oxford, which studied data from

New Research Shows What Our Diets Are Doing to the Oceans: “An Existential Crisis”

New research reveals how ocean warming threatens thousands of species. Here’s how our diets could help protect them.

3
View on Facebook
Share

© 2025 · Earthsave Canada.