Trick or Treat Bags for Non-Verbal Kids

I have 2 kids that don't talk at all. There are a lot of reasons why kids who are old enough that people assume they can talk don't, in my case my children are Deaf. They have no other disabilities or delays, even their language and communication skills are at or above age level, they just don't talk. They communicate through American Sign Language or when needed they can communicate through writing, or at least my oldest son can, my younger daughter is still kind of young for that. Another Deaf daughter both speaks and signs.

Most of the time this isn't really an issue, we sign in our house so they can communicate fine at home. They go to an ASL school, an ASL church, extended family members know that they are deaf and how they communicate and can get help from someone else if needed. Honestly, we are 10 years into this and it is pretty much just normal life for us. It was hard at first when we didn't know ASL and were struggling to learn. Now it is just our normal. I don't even really think about my kids being different most of the time.

My kids look and act like you would expect kids of their age to look and act. Just looking at them you would not know that they were deaf unless you could see that they were wearing hearing aids or a cochlear implant and sometimes they may not be wearing them. They are just normal kids. Because of that sometimes awkward situations come up. People will talk to them and wonder why they are not replying. They may even think the kids are being rude, when the reality is they just don't know what you are saying.

This happens every Halloween when they go trick or treating. There is always at least a few houses where people won't give candy unless the kids actually say "trick or treat". They wonder why my 11 year old or my 6 year old are just standing there waiting. There is no mean intent and once someone explains that they are deaf they always feel bad, but it makes for an awkward situation every time, and sometimes makes the kids feel bad because they don't understand why the person won't give them candy when they gave it to everyone else.

I wasn't planning on posting anymore Halloween stuff since it is only a couple of days away but then this past weekend I was looking in Cricut Design Space and I came across a few designs for Trick or Treat bag designs specifically for kids that are non-verbal or autistic. Most of them are geared toward kids with Autism which doesn't apply to my situation and I don't know if it is something I would use with my kids or not but I thought it was an interesting idea and worth sharing.

You can find the designs in Design Space and they are all available through Cricut Access in the Trick or Treat Bags cartridge. Here are a few of the designs available:

All you need to do is cut the design out of iron on (I used Everyday black and Glitter in a few colors). Then press it on a premed canvas bag and you are ready to go. Quick and easy.