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!

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Photo by Mel Poole on Unsplash