What to Do With All That Halloween Candy?
Best Ideas for Getting Rid of Kids’ Trick-or-Treat Candies
Halloween is a fun time of year, but kids can collect way more candy than a parent wants them to eat, especially when it comes to little ones. Here are some ways to get rid of that bag full of chocolates, licorice, suckers and gumballs.
Come up with Traditions for How Halloween Candy is Eaten
Some families let their kids eat as much as they can on Halloween, and whatever is left goes into hiding. Particularly for young children, most will not notice when the bag disappears (out of sight, out of mind). Other parents slowly “weed” out the Halloween bag, by taking out some of that candy each day to help it empty out quicker. (For the “good” of their kids the parents eat the candy!) Others pick one day of the week to be candy day, like Wicked Candy Wednesday or Sweet Saturday. Another idea is to let kids pick one candy after lunch or after dinner until the candy is gone.
Recycle the Candy for Other Trick-or-Treaters
Go out early with little ones and let them have a certain amount of the candy. Then use the rest of the trick-or-treat loot (after it has been checked of course) for kids who come to the door for Halloween. Another idea is for mom and dad to take it to work and leave a bowl out in the staff room. It will likely empty in a day or two.
Have a Healthy Bag of Treats at Home for Kids
When parents and kids get home from trick-or-treating, and parents check to make sure the candy is all safe to eat, they can switch out some candy and put in some healthier Halloween options ranging from granola bars to small tubs of play dough to play. Or some parents just switch the contents of the bags entirely and have fun doing Halloween drawings with pencils with Halloween designs and eating something healthy like pumpkin muffins and pumpkin seeds.
Have the Halloween Fairy Come Visit
Have the kids leave their bags of candy by their beds and tell them the Halloween fairy will come visit. The Halloween fairy is a cousin of the tooth fairy and she likes to trade Halloween candy for gifts. So, she will take the candy in the middle of the night and leave something behind like a book about Halloween, Halloween pencils and pads of paper for drawing. She may also leave some healthier options like fruit, fruit leather, nuts, seeds or granola bars as well. Perhaps her cousin may also send along a new toothbrush.
Have Pumpkin Elves Come Collect Halloween Candy
Once kids have eaten their fill of candy on Halloween, tell them the story of the pumpkin elves (witches, goblins, ghosts, whatever would capture their imagination best without scaring them). Explain how only on Halloween night, after trick-or-treaters have gone to bed, the elves come out of the pumpkin patch and look for any leftover candy. To be nice to the pumpkin elves, any candy the kids don’t eat can be put outside the door in a bowl or left in a bag for the elves to come get. This serves as a dual purpose, once kids have gone to bed there can be candy for older kids to help themselves to and it gets rid of the excess candy.
There are a lot of creative ways to get rid of extra Halloween candy such as coming up with some family rules about when and how to eat it, recycling it for other trick-or-treaters, swapping it for healthier choices and having the Halloween fairy or Pumpkin elves come visit to take care of it. Choose what works best for one’s family.
Check out Alternatives to Handing out Halloween Candy and Holistic Thanksgiving Ideas with Kids.
HOL101
Ideas for Getting Rid of Halloween Candy
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Tell Kids Halloween Fairy Comes for Candy
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Give Kids a Bag With Healthier Halloween Goodies
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Pumpkin Elves Also Like Halloween Handouts
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