Halloween homes welcome teal pumpkins to their doorstep

Halloween homes welcome teal pumpkins to their doorstep (Image 1) (Copyright by WSLS - All rights reserved)

(NBC NEWS) - There's a push this year to add a different kind of Halloween decoration to the front of your house. 

A pumpkin painted teal!

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Folks say it's all about keeping kids with food allergies safe while trick-or-treating. Let's face it, Halloween only means one thing for most children - candy. 

But the candy can't contain peanuts for these two twin brothers, Ben and Will Bemis. Both have food allergies. Last year, Halloween was especially scary for their family. 

"We were dumping out all of the candy on the kitchen table and sorting through it, and Ben just saw a fun-sized Snickers and snuck one bite," said Erin Bemis, the boy's mother. 

One bite lead to a severe allergic reaction. Ben had to spend Halloween night in the hospital. 

Now, an idea to help keep trick-or-treating safer for kids with food allergies is gaining momentum on social media. The food allergy research and education group started 'The Teal Pumpkin Project.'

Here's how it works; paint a pumpkin teal and place it on your doorstep. That will signal you have treats, like vampire teeth and spider rings, instead of candy which may contain allergies.

Allergy experts say smaller, bite-size versions of normally safe candy are sometimes manufactured differently, making them potentially dangerous for kids with food allergies.