This Halloween there will be at least a few pumpkins that will stand out.

Merrittonian Amanda Forman is placing teal-coloured pumpkins outside her home, and although they may look out of place, their intent is to promote inclusion and awareness.

As a mother of a son with food allergies, Forman is spearheading a local Teal Pumpkin Project, which involves painting jack-o’-lanterns turquoise as a symbol of food allergy awareness, and offering non-food items as an alternative to handing out candy.

The Teal Pumpkin Project is an awareness campaign promoted by the non-profit organization Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE), and is meant to help make trick-or-treating less scary for children with food allergies.

The initiative is meant to let the public know that there are more and more children with severe food allergies, Forman said.

One of those children, is her five-year-old son Phenix.

Phenix has many allergies and hasn’t been out trick-or-treating for the past two holidays, she said.

“I just think it’d be cool to see a blue pumpkin on someone’s doorstep and be like ‘Oh, Phenix, that is a safe place for you to go [trick-or-treating] and they will have a treat for you,’” Forman said.

Her son is allergic to dairy, egg, soy, wheat products nuts and has a severe allergy to pistachios that will lead to him breaking out in anaphylactic shock.

Forman said she first learned that her son was allergic to pistachios when he ate one at the age of two.

“He reacted so bad that his face was unrecognizable,” Forman said.

She said he was rushed to the hospital where he had to have a shot of epinephrine administered into his bone marrow.

Phenix won’t be out trick-or-treating this year, but that’s not stopping him from dressing up for Halloween. He said he wants to dress as a bear.

Forman advised offering non-food treats such as glowsticks, pencils and erasers, or even items you’d receive from the dentist to trick-or-treaters this Halloween. She said parents of children with allergies should also keep cross contamination in mind this time of year.

Forman has been circulating flyers about the project around town and said the public response has been positive.