Gluten, and dairy, and peanuts OH MY! If your little dudes have sensitivities to certain foods or if you are a vegan family, the choices your kiddos have every year during candy season (Easter, Halloween, etc.) are limited. This can lead your kids to feel peer-induced FOMO, and frankly, that just sucks if you're a youngin'. Here are some safe options for the little ones that will make 'em smile and that you won't have to worry as much about.
Lindt Chocolate Easter Bunnies
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These popular Easter bunnies are actually vegan. Who knew? They include ingredients like Cocoa, Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Soya Lecithin (careful for those with soy allergies here), and artificial flavoring. As of this article, they were out of stock on the Lindt site, but we found them at Kroger for $4.49
Vegancuts Luxe Vegan Chocolate & Treats Medley Box
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Easter can be a lonely day for vegans since there is so much dairy in the standard basket. That's why this Vegancuts snack selection is a great bring-along for those friends who have recently gone all veggie. It's chock full of organic vegan chocolates, crunchy rice cake snacks, peanut candy, and luscious animal-free toffee. Our vegan friends have so many fewer choices every holiday, so this tasty gift is sure to be highly appreciated.
Evolved Chocolate
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These are some great alternatives that include clean ingredients like organic coconut sugar, organic cacao, and organic cacao butter. It's a little pricey at $39.92 for a box of 8, but they're known to make delicious craft confections and are a great safe option.
No Whey Coffee Truffles
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These are popular amongst the vegan social media set and trend every Easter because they are rife with great ingredients like vegan cane sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa, rice syrup powder, maltodextrin (from corn), brown rice (partially milled), pressed canola oil, safflower oil, palm fruit oil, flax oil, olive oil, corn syrup, pea protein, non-dairy lactic acid, sunflower oil, sunflower lecithin, tricalcium phosphate, sea salt, natural annatto coloring, dextrose, natural vanilla, natural flavors, coffee and are enriched with Vitamin A, Vitamin B12, and Vitamin D2. You can find them on the No Whey site. A box of six will cost you $14.95.
Sour Patch Kids Bunnies
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These pucker perfect gummies are made from non-animal gelatin, and kids (as well as this author) freaking LOVE these. Ingredients include sugar, inverted sugar, corn syrup, modified corn starch, tartaric acid, citric acid, natural and artificial flavor, yellow 6, red 40, yellow 5, and blue 1. They are both vegan and PETA-approved, and an 18-pack sack can be found at Amazon for $10.99.
YumEarth Organic Easter Candies
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Another company that gets a lot of social media buzz come Easter is YumEarth. Their Easter treats come with organic cane sugar, organic brown rice syrup, citric acid, ascorbic acid, natural flavors, and are colored with organic concentrate (carrot, apple, blackcurrant, radish) and turmeric. A variety box of their organic gummy fruits, jelly beans, and pops is available on Amazon for a very reasonable $6.19.
SmartSweets Berry Bunnies Easter Candy
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These are delicious, sugar-free, and pretty safe for most sensitivities. Ingredients include chicory root fiber, modified potato starch, pectin, malic acid as a flavor enhancer, citric acid, stevia leaf extract, vegetable juice, spirulina extract for color, natural berry (type) flavor, carnauba wax, isomalto-oligosaccharides (vegetable source), and coconut oil. A pack of 14 will set you back $42.74.
Spring Mix Mallows
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We were really hoping to find out that marshmallow Peeps were vegan but alas, they are made with an animal ingediant. Darn it! Well, don't worry because the Spring Mix Mallows from Chomp are made from vegan chocolate (cane sugar, cocoa, cocoa butter, oats, refined coconut oil, vanilla powder, sunflower lecithin) sprinkles (sugar, rice flour, palm oil, glycerin, corn starch, tapioca starch, glucose syrup, gum arabic, xanthan gum, cellulose gum, artificial flavor, turmeric, beet powder, microline) and mallows (tapioca syrup, cane sugar, tapioca starch, carrageenan, soy protein, and vanilla flavor). Again, these have some soy, so be aware of this for those who are bean-sensitive. $9.95 at the Chomp site. You may also be able to get 10% off by entering your email at their online store.
PEZ
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As much as we are disappointed that Peeps contain animal products, Pez, on the other hand, is free of animal proteins and allergens. Peeps generally contain sugar, corn syrup, adipic acid, hydrogenated palm kernels, palm oils, mono and diglycerides, natural and artificial flavors, and artificial colors like FD&C red 3, yellow 5, yellow 6, and blue 2. BONUS: They come with awesome collectible dispensers!
Bottom line: Candy of any kind isn't an indulgence you should be shoveling at your children, but for special occasions, these are some senisitivity-safe options you don't have to worry about as much outside the sugar zoomies. NOTE: Recipes and ingredient lists change at times, so ALWAYS read the labels of any products you are buying for sensitive kiddos. Happy snacking, folks!
