What Is The Teal Pumpkin Project?

Have you noticed these beautiful Teal Pumpkins lately? You may have noticed them for sale in craft stores or on porches while trick or treating with your kids. They are used to mark homes that are participating in the Teal Pumpkin Project. What is the Teal Pumpkin Project, you ask?

The Teal Pumpkin Project was started by FARE (Food, Allergy, Research & Education) in 2014 to encourage people to raise awareness of food allergies and promotes inclusion of all trick-or-treaters during the Halloween season. To participate, place a teal pumpkin (the color of food allergy awareness) in front of your home to indicate you have non-food treats available. Luckily, our children don't deal with food allergies but we have several friends that do, so we decided to participate in the Teal Pumpkin Project this year.

I decided to spray paint a craft pumpkin that I already had because it was less expensive than buying one. However, you can find teal pumpkins at Michael's Craft Store, Target, or Oriental Trading.

I used this Seaside RUST-OLEUM gloss spray paint that cost me $3.87 at Walmart. It was the perfect color and dried really fast and even. I just taped over the stem and sprayed it. It probably took 10 minutes to spray and was dry in 20-30 minutes.

I also recommend printing out a sign to put with your teal pumpkin or on your front door that explains what the teal pumpkin means and that you have non-food items available for trick or treaters. I used this cute printable sign from Dawn Nicole Designs. FARE also has a great printable sign as well as other free resources to help you spread awareness and help keep kids with food allergies safe.