People are putting out teal pumpkins this Halloween — here’s what they mean

We love Halloween SO much, but this year, we love it just a little bit more. Why? Because pumpkins will be sending a very important message about a very important issue.

While many of us like to put a spin on the regular ‘ol jack-o-lantern carving (we’re painting our pumpkins, carving them into cool, fun face shapes that are not jack-o-lantern face shapes), recently, pumpkin decor is about to get more thoughtful. To spread the word about food allergies (which affect many of us — about 15 million Americans have food allergies) and to make Halloween-time candy eating safer, pumpkins are going teal for the Teal Pumpkin Project.

The Teal Pumpkin Project was created in 2014 by the organization known as the Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE) group. FARE decided that we need to have a better way to alert families to homes that are passing out candy with common allergens in them. If there is a teal pumpkin outside of a home, it means they are “allergy-friendly,” aka there will be no nutty candies or anything else that is a typical allergen.

The launch last year was very successful with over 100,000 homes across the country participating. FARE has made the agreement completely doable for any home. If someone is not interested or cannot afford to paint a pumpkin teal, there are printable signs that one can post up instead.

The Teal Pumpkin Project is such a wonderful idea. Not only does it keep kids healthy and safe (and parents worry-free), but the pumpkins are a great additional decoration for an already awesome holiday. For more information or to participate, head to FARE’s website!

Here are some more of the cutest teal pumpkins! We love them all!

All images via Instagram.