When I found out what this dad did for his son who is on a restricted diet due to severe epilepsy, I was awed.
Residents of Discovery Ridge in the US received the following letter last Halloween:
The letter was posted on Reddit and has since been shared world-wide. It's really really sweet the lengths he went to in order to make sure Fletcher could enjoy Halloween as well. I hope Fletcher cleaned up that year and has just as much fun this year.
Halloween is pretty big where I live. We moved into this area five years ago and on Halloween night I had a steady stream of trick-or-treaters and not much to give them.
Australia has been famously resistant to Halloween, with most families viewing it as an American tradition, but kids just love it and I don't see why it shouldn't be embraced. Come on, get your Halloween on!
I handed out fruit bars that first year. I'm lucky my house wasn't egged. I apologised profusely as I handed them out and swore to them I'd make it up the following year. I felt so bad and I even considered giving them them a gold coin as well but settled for learning the lesson and being better prepared next time.
Now I do it all. We decorate the house and stock up on treats. We don't normally trick-or-treat ourselves but have heaps of fun watching all the goblins and witches wander up and down the street.
This year I'm thinking of actually trick-or-treating.
Except my son has food allergies, so it gets a bit tricky, like it did for Fletcher's family.
Philip's food allergies have been a part of our lives for almost ten years now so we're used to living with them. We are at a crucial stage where we are trying to 'normalise' is behaviour from one of panic to just simply not eating the foods he is allergic to. That means we have eggs and nuts in the house and he knows what he can and can't eat. That way his knows what to do when I'm not there, at school, at parties, at camp.
So if we do trick-or-treat it will be the same rule as we follow for all foods Philip is given. He can collect as much of everything as he wants but before he eats anything we go through it all together. I test him to see if he can recognise the foods he can't have and then we sort through it all together. He then runs off with his safe treats and his dad and I eat all the Milky Ways, Mars Bars and Snickers (Philip is allergic to egg and nuts). It's a sacrifice but with every bite we know we are saving our son's life...
Do you celebrate Halloween where you live?
If you decide to let your kids participate this year, here's some costume inspiration from parents around the world - some creative, some weird, and some borderline inappropriate. What do you think - do any of these costumes go too far? Check out the full range of photos on Buzzfeed.