Comments on: Discuss: How do you Handle Halloween Sweets?

By: Rex

Rex — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:11:04 +0000

Just hand out Bit o Honey’s – man I hated getting those as a kid.

By: June Webster

June Webster — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 13:18:33 +0000

As we live 'down under' we are new to Halloween, but the neighbourood kids have taken to it like bees to honey.
Last year I counted 32 trick or treaters who arrived at our front door aged between 4yrs to 14yrs.
Fortunately, I had stocked up on sweets & treats so was prepared.
I love the excitement on the faces of the kids & the joy I feel to be a part of their special night.
Thank you USA for allowing us Aussies to play Halloween like you.
Regards June Webster
Australia

By: Jenni

Jenni — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:37:56 +0000

Jmo, I want to come to your house. I LOVE the salty much more than the sweet. Salty things are much more of a downfall for us in our house.

By: MoJo

MoJo — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:16:24 +0000

We do ‘The Great Pumpkin’ story Halloween night. The older kids get to eat some candy and then the rest gets left out at night (like cookies for santa) to feed The Great Pumpkin. As a thank you, TGP leaves a small gift for the kids. I haven’t got that far this year, but it could be some new art supplies or a new chapter book. We did it last year and the kids never missed the candy. And their teeth thanked them! :)

By: Jenni

Jenni — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 19:58:30 +0000

Candy is for special occasions only. Halloween is a special occasion. Now, there is always a limit to how long that special occasion lasts; I give it a week. Trick-or-treating is limited to a radius that will give us the appropriate amounts for that week. Candy goes into a community bowl for the family and everyone picks from (including mom and dad) and by the end of the week, we wait for the next special occasion to come to divulge in more candy.

By: JMo

JMo — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 19:25:33 +0000

We are the loser house that passes out bags of pretzels. Hey, you need salty with all those sweets! Plus if you don't hand them all out, they are great for lunches for the next month.

For school gift bags, we do the $1 Target bin books, playdoh, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, a balloon and ... pretzels (or 100 calorie pack bag)!

When we receive gift bags, most of it goes straight into the trash.

My son just turned two, so Halloween will be all about the novelty of ringing the doorbell and putting stuff in and out (and in and out and in... ) of his bucket.

I like the Candy Fairy!!

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:52:17 +0000

Wow….that candy fairy idea is GREAT!!!! We may have to take this into consideration since the neighbors love to dump extra in my son’s bucket :) My son LOVES getting the mail off the porch…I can only imagine how excited he would be if the fairy left something for him!!!

By: AJ

AJ — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:28:33 +0000

Wow, so no one does the Candy Fairy who exchanges your candy for a gift?
http://notquitecrunchyparent.blogspot.com/2007/09/candy-fairy.html

By: Mary

Mary — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:31:40 +0000

Our son has been mostly too young to Trick-or-Treat, but he has gotten goody bags before with sweets. We'll let him enjoy the candy, of course, in moderation. This year for Halloween, he's old enough to Trick-or-Treat, but we're opting to take him to a senior center/nursing home during the daytime and possibly to trunk-or-treat at church. If his haul is large, we'll moderate the intake. I'm thinking of putting the candy in a jar and limiting him to one or two a day (depending on size and his temperament).

As for giving out candy, we tried the last few years (and we had candy, though, I'd like to look for alternatives), but we've never had any kids come by. :( We don't plan to give away anything this year since our track record isn't so great.

By: SarrJK

SarrJK — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:28:34 +0000

Those puzzles are awesome. I wish I had seen this earlier. I may still stop by TRU to get some. My son loves puzzles, and it would be a nice supplement to the candy for the neighborhood kids.

Last year he didn't even know what candy was (he was 2 1/2), he was just interested in putting things in the bucket. So we took all of his candy (save one small bag of raisinets--"special raisins") to work the next day and he never missed it. (We had him convinced that if he ate more than 2 at a time, he'd get a tummy ache.)

This year, he knows what candy is, but he also knows it's a sometimes food. When we bought the candy to give out, he asked for some, but we told him we weren't opening it until Halloween, and he accepted that.

I think we'll just keep it out of sight. Out of sight for him is usually out of mind. Then after a week or so, we'll toss it.

For birthday party favors, we usually go through the bag and pull out things we don't want him to have before he has a chance to see them.