Battle-free Tips for Handling the Halloween Candy

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4 Votes

The Great Pumpkin comes to our house the night after Halloween and takes all the candy leaving a little (non-food) treat behind --usually a toy but this year my 7 year old wants a backpack and is looking forward to trading her candy.

Phyllis M added this item on October 29, 2009

aw voted on October 29, 2009

aw commented on October 29, 2009 - This is brilliant!!! Does the Great Pumpkin actually show up, or is this like Santa?

Jennifer A commented on October 29, 2009 - This is what we do as well. We call her the Halloween Witch though. I, in turn, ship the candy to the soldiers in Iraq.

Jennifer A voted on October 29, 2009

Laura P commented on October 29, 2009 - Why not let them have their candy and eat it too? Swap it out for healthy diabetic friendly high antioxidant dark chocolate with acai berries that they can eat guilt free daily. Its good for them! Go to www.chocolatewellnessandwealth.com for more info.

Jessi C commented on October 29, 2009 - Hello all, I was givin this little story from the waldorf school to tell our children. And it worked! Jules eagerly gave up his candy the other night after a party and I left a little wooden flute for him and he was thrilled in the morning! Jasper even fo

Susan P commented on October 29, 2009 - I wish someone had shared this idea with me when my kids were little!!!!!!!!!!!!

Susan P voted on October 29, 2009

D T commented on October 30, 2009 - This is what we do too!!! The kids are so excited to have their candy turned in and get the toy in return. In fact, we sit down that night and sort the few pieces they want to keep, since they can't wait.. And yes, it's kinda like like the santa thing!

D T voted on October 30, 2009

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Battle-free Tips for Handling the Halloween Candy

Top 5

The Great Pumpkin comes to our house the night after Halloween and takes all the candy leaving a little (non-food) treat behind --usually a toy but this year my 7 year old wants a backpack and is looking forward to trading her candy.

In our town a local pediatric dentist offers to buy the kids' candy. They get $1 a pound,, and the dentist donates the candy to an organization that sends it in care packages for the troops. Everybody wins!

We just let them dig in. They are so sick of candy by the end of the night, they don't even notice we've thrown the rest away.

We allow the kids to have 2-3 peices Halloween Night, then they pick out 7 peices to keep each so that they may have a piece a day for a week. We then take the rest of the candy to a shelter, church or food pantry. The kids learn that it's good to share

My mom used to just let us eat our candy until we got sick and didn't want it anymore. That took all of one day and that way the candy didn't sit around the house.

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Give a portion of it for them to eat on Halloween night, and then stash the rest away (or drastically reduce what is in the trick-or-treat bags) after the kids are in bed -- out of sight, out of mind!

Probably not the best idea, but it works for us. Kids are 8, 10, & 13. They eat all they want til its gone. The rules are they cant take any to school, and nothing before a good breakfast on the weekends. It takes about a week.

My friend has an annual New Years' Eve pinata at her New Years' Eve party. All the hard candy is stashed away for that.

Our version of the Great Pumpkin and Halloween Fairy is the Gift Witch. Our daughter picks out her favorites and leaves the rest for the gift witch- In the morining the candy is gone, replaced by a token gift.

We have a 'candy basket' on top of the fridge. It gets stocked on Halloween night and throughout the year from b-days, school, etc. We let them eat 5 pieces on Halloween, then they can pick out a piece or two for dessert after dinner throughout the year

The Halloween Fairy comes the night of trick or treat, and they leave ALL of their candy, except TWO pieces that they are allowed to eat. She leaves them a toy and takes the candy. They get so excited they don't miss the candy at all!

I like all these ideas. Her is another...we let the kiddos eat what they want the day of and then have a few days of two pieces each day. Then we throw the rest of it in the freezer to decorate our annual gingerbread house--which doesn't get eaten!

We have not done it yet, but our friends tell their kids to get as much candy as possible, and the bigger the bag of candy, the bigger the toy they will receive. So it makes it a game to get as much candy as they can.

We recycle the candy that night; when we run out of treats for people at the door, our kids happily dump their haul into the bowl and redistribute it out. They have so much fun answering the door and giving it out that they don't miss it.

Each child had their own bowl. They assorted the candy and put their favorites into it. Then every night after supper, they were allowed to choose 2 candies for dessert. After supper they then brushed their teeth. Two have no cavities, 3rd only one.

We also give out little toys for out treats. A couple years ago, I went to Salvation Army and got a bunch of 5-25 cent toys. Since then I just add to the stash any little toys we come by.

After my daughter goes to sleep on Halloween, I take down the decorations and put the candy away. Kind of a bummer, but it really works. It underscores that "Halloween is all done, we now return to snacks that aren't of lollipops."

Our children give their sweeties to the "Halloween fairy" in return for a DVD, toy or game they've been wanting. At almost 6, they now know we're the fairy & they don't mind trading! The candy they receive while trick or treating is given away.

They can pretty much eat what they want on Halloween night, then the rest gets put away to use for our gingerbread house at Christmas. They are okay putting some away for a good reason!

My kids (they're 3 and 4) get to keep 2-3 candies, the rest are put on the patio or porch for the Switch Witch, who takes the candy and leaves them a toy (something small.) They look forward to the Switch Witch all year!

The old "Switch Witch" or the "candy goblin" comes and takes the candy but leaves a toy that the child requests.

I pretty much have always let him eat a lot of candy on Halloween right after trick or treating. I let him have a piece or 2 each day for dessert for lunch at school for the next week or 2 and then the pumpkin gets hidden and he's done with it.

We buy back the candy our kids get! When they were little it was 1 or 5 cents each, now (age 11, 14 and they get less candy!) we might just go up to 25 cents each for the bigger ones. We are all happy.

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The old "Switch Witch" or the "candy goblin" comes and takes the candy but leaves a toy that the child requests.

We have not done it yet, but our friends tell their kids to get as much candy as possible, and the bigger the bag of candy, the bigger the toy they will receive. So it makes it a game to get as much candy as they can.

Our children give their sweeties to the "Halloween fairy" in return for a DVD, toy or game they've been wanting. At almost 6, they now know we're the fairy & they don't mind trading! The candy they receive while trick or treating is given away.

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