Before you buy industrial-size bags of candy bars and make yours the most popular house in the neighborhood come Halloween, pause for a minute. Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course there’s the issue that we as Americans eat too much sugar and face an obesity epidemic. We’ve heard plenty about that. But also more important than ever is the issue of deadly food allergies. That’s why FARE (Food Allergy Research & Education) is promoting the Teal Pumpkin Project this Halloween: Offer something that’s not candy (or food) and paint your pumpkin teal so savvy (and food-sensitive) trick-or-treaters can know which houses are safe.

Lest you fear getting TP’ed for your treats, the alternatives to candy don’t have to just be raisins and toothbrushes. Here are a few cooler ways to sidestep candy.

• Glow sticks
• Glow-in-the-dark bracelets
• Little toy animals
• Fake mustaches
• Cool pencils
• Bubbles (for the teeniest trick-or-treaters)
• Stickers
• Coins: Be the favorite house on the block by filling a bowl with different coins (mostly pennies, some nickels, a couple of coveted quarters or silver dollars) and a large spoon.
• Mardi Gras beads
• Temporary tattoos
• Finger puppets
• Fangs
• Toy eyeballs or other gory accessories

• Mini granola bars
• Sliced apples in bags
• Pretzels