Halloween trick-or-treating is around the corner, but in our house the festivities and treats have already begun. And I am trying to keep all of our sugar intake to a moderate level. I LOVE chocolate and am trying to keep myself from digging into the candy I bought for the trick-or-treaters when my kids are asleep. My goal is to make sure our kids (and my husband and I) eat healthy meals every day while doling out the sugary snacks in moderation. Personally, I am striving for moderation NOT denial.
Here are some helpful tips for restraining the sugar rush:
– On Halloween day, try to have your kids eat healthy meals. Prepare dinner for the kids before they head out to trick or treat.
– Great tips from other parents for managing the mountains of candy after Halloween include: Limit your kids to maybe two pieces of candy a day, save it to decorate your holiday gingerbread house (thanks to Parent Hacks), or have your kids barter their candy for non-edible treats (stickers, small toys) or for a special outing or event (thanks to the Savvy Source for Parents).
– If your kids have food allergies, read Sure Foods Living for useful ideas on How to have an allergy-free Halloween.
Switch Witch rules!
I know some parents (in a different community) who do something called the “Switch Witch” (or Halloween Fairy) where kids feed an ailing Halloween fairy a good portion of their candy in the evening, and get a gift in exchange for it by morn. You need to be ready for the interest, however, and it has to be a good bit of the candy to work (otherwise the poor fairy won’t survive…)
A teacher at Primrose Hill school in Barrington collects H-ween candy and sends it to soldiers in Iraq to pass out to Iraqi children as a gesture of good will. Keep this in mind as you find ways to get rid of the stuff!
My son made a chart of his candy by kind and color. He first drew lines on a plain sheet of paper, sorted and counted his loot, wrote the names of candy on his chart along with how many he had of each kind. He also rated them with stars to indicate his favorites. This made for a great activity and a mini-math lesson. Thanks Tina for the great idea!
Interested in sending H-ween candy to children & soldiers in Iraq?
There’s a teacher, Mrs. Belmont, at Primrose Hill School in Barrington who is accepting Halloween candy–no strict deadline–she can be reached at BelmontV@bpsmail.org. She says of the candy collecting, the more the merrier!
Here is her description of what they do with the candy:
We make up a SOLDIER box that has all the adult sized candies in it.
Then we pull out all the toys and trinkets and make a box of just those types of items.
Last we sort and pack up and weigh all of the “snack sized” candies which the soldiers either EAT 🙂 or distribute to children they meet on patrols. It is a HUGE hit every year as the soldiers are truly touched by the idea that children would give up their candy to show they care about others.
So thank you as well for joining in our efforts to bring some smiles to both our soldiers and the Iraqi children alike. AND Good public relations makes it safer for our American soldiers.
Thanks,
Victoria Belmont
That’s it!
One of the teachers in the school my boys go to collects the candy about a week after Halloween and the kids in the class first count, make charts, weigh all the candy then send it to one of the teacher’s military contacts overseas and the soldiers then distribute it to the children in the area that they are stationed in! I let them keep a certain number and the rest goes to school!
Heard on the message board: i saved the better chocolate ones and threw all the candy away after two days! the kids enjoyed a couple pieces of candy but soon forgot about it. if yours won’t forget so easily, remind them that visits to the dentist can be painful, or attract them to another, even more special treat, like a new type of cookie (so many in the stores right now as we enter the holiday season, and there are numerous tasty and fun ones), or just say, it’s once in a while, and yes, keep doling them out throughout the year.
i guess if your children are used to candy in general, none of the above will work easily…
from mma
Heard on the message board:
I slowly dispose of the candy. Some of it I put out at work for co-workers, some goes to my teenage niece, and the rest goes in the garbage. My daughter complains a little, but she quickly forgets.
– Library Mom
Thanks for the shout out! We’re glad that you liked the Halloween candy store idea. Come back for more fun ideas at Savvy any time.