What to Do with Leftover Halloween Candy

What to Do with All of that Halloween Candy!

Kids can’t wait and parents dread it: that “monster” sized pile of candy lugged home after a busy night of trick or treating! Collecting treats is clearly the highlight of the holiday and a parent’s effort to limit the consumption can be viewed as downright scary! Here are some ideas to reduce the amount of candy brought into your home and to share what does come home!

Before They Go

Promote Trick or Treating as a Social Event - Gathering a group of kids and parents to canvas the neighborhood together is not only more fun, but changes the emphasis from “candy” to “camaraderie.” Besides, the larger the group, the fewer the homes they will reach!

Impose Subtle Limits - Tricky moms can do this by providing smaller trick or treat containers, in other words, no pillow cases! Shortening the amount of time spent on the streets and filling the kids up with a big dinner before they head out will help, too! (See Fun Halloween Night Buffet!)

After It’s All Over

Find a Charity - this is the approach I take with my own children! When they return home with bags overflowing with candy, I have them sort out the candy, keeping only their very favorite brands. The rest goes to our local soup kitchen, a process that’s facilitated by our elementary school.

Barter - after allowing unrestrained candy consumption on October 31st, “buy” back the remaining candy from your kids with the gift of a coveted toy, video game or whatever can compete with candy! For little ones, consider this clever idea: convince your younger kids that there is a “Halloween Fairy” who will take away candy left outside their bedroom doors and leave a terrific toy in its place!

Set Rules - if the ideas above just won’t float with your children, impose reasonable rules about candy consumption and do your best to stick to them! Store the candy in a hard-to-reach spot and dole it out according to your plan! You can also decide that whatever candy is left, say by Thanksgiving, goes into the trash!

I hope that you find these ideas helpful in the ongoing efforts we make with our kids to promote healthy eating, right along side of a lot of fun!

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(Some ideas as found in Wondertime, October 2008)