Giving out candy in Cosplay?

[otakuotome]

Hello, I had a question about giving out wrapped candy in costume. I have some lollipops that I wanted to give out to people cosplaying as characters from the same series as me and I wanted to find out if this was violating the code of conduct because I had seen that you can't give out food at panels but does that count wrapped/packaged foods or just out in the open ones such as cake?

[ewu]

I would suggest you not. There is a reason you are not permitted to give out food in panels and in the artist alley. While it is not explicitly in the code of conduct, you will likely have someone ask you to put it away and save it for personal consumption.

[Admiral Donuts]

There is a reason you are not permitted to give out food in panels and in the artist alley.

And that reason is...?

[otakuya]

I believe it's the usual health and safety reasons. Plus you never know what's in that candy.

[EJAY420]

Dont do it. Protecting ur butt from getting sued. Hand out non edibles? In 1999 i ordered 300 pens. I gave those out.

[Rurutie8]

I would advise against it.  I do not know about Fanime specifically, but at many large conventions, official vendors have exclusive food distribution rights.  You cannot even bring in your own food unless you have medical requirements.  This usually does not apply to areas outside of convention space as well as conventions that take place in hotels or college campuses.

[Beastcub]

As No-Face I handed out gold wrapped toffee at Sac-Anime one year... while it was fun to do I never did it again, not because I got in trouble or someone asked me to stop, but because I was disgusted by the number of gold wrappers floating around by the end of the day... I was raised to strictly not litter so it really bothered me that people so blatantly littered the wrappers from the candy I gave them.