Halloween Ghosts and Candy

N.

We have the Halloween Ghost come as well. My kids get tickled pink over it just like Santa! They are 9 and 8 and still do this with me!
My old Nanny told me aboutt he Halloween Ghost and we have been doing this for 6 years!
Good luck! Also to keep my kids out of their candy while trick or treating we fill them up with their absolute favorite dinner and we do Ice cream before going out. Their tummy's are so full they have no room for the sugary treats

my sister in law does something similar and has the switch witch come and swap out the candy for a toy.

Hi N.,

The "Great Pumpkin" started coming to our house last year (happily reinforced by "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"). Our son has been talking about the G.P. for weeks now--he is very excited about the surprise that the G.P. will leave him (a book and a small toy).

Happy Halloween!
:-) D.

P.S. FYI--I've given out small toys (Playdoh, spider rings, superballs, stickers, pencils, etc.) for the last several years, in addition to candy. The toys always disappear long before the candy does. The bigger kids especially like the toys!

Oh my gosh! I've never heard of this, but I am sooo doing it! What a great idea! Thanks.

LOL, never heard of that before but it's a cute idea! ;) I'll have to use that when my daughter is old enough :)

I don't know the origin of the idea. I heard it from someone in my mommy and me class last year.
Our version is the "Trick or Treat Fairy" and she comes on Halloween night. She also leaves a toy in place of the candy.
It works wonderfully.

My son is a "candy-o-holic", but knows that he can not keep all his stash. I don't believe in taking it all away - they have to learn moderation. We go through it and first he picks out what he doesn't like and then we go through what he wants to keep and get rid of some of the excess. ex: if he gets 6 tootsie rolls - he only get to keep 3. Then he has a bucket for these "treats". As for the rest...most of the schools do a "Candy Split" and the kids bring in their candy to give to a charity. Ours go to an organization on skid row. The kids are heppy to help other people in need. Also Operation Gratitude is collecting candy for our troops.

For many years, we've had the "Great Pumpkin" come to our house. After my daughter gets home from trick or treating, she gets to keep a small amount of her favorite candies, which we then monitor and distribute over the coming weeks and months, and then we put the rest in a bag on the front doorstep with a note. The next morning she either gets a coupon or a gift card from any number of places (i.e. target, build-a-bear, Barnes & Noble, etc. for like $10.00) and then she can spend it how she wants on a special gift for herself. Sure helps from having tons of candy around the house.

I have no clue where the tradition came from, but I think that it's awesome! I think it's important for kids to always have the fun tradition of Halloween, but the Halloween Ghost concept should make them feel like they're getting two for one - brilliant!

We do about the same thing and it's called the Switch Witch. They write down what they want her to bring, three things......the more candy the bigger the switch!!!!

They love it, they may eat one or two pieces but then it's all for the Switch Witch!!

We have the "Great Pumpkin" too. My older son gets to pick out 10 pcs of candy. The baby, of course, will give all of his to the Great Pumpkin. Which, I'm embarassed to say, all goes to mommy's office candy dish!

Hi N., I never heard of that, but what my husband and I did when our kids waswe kept their haloween buckets on top of the fridge, and then just let them have a couple pieces a day, and made sure they brushed their teeth afterwards and that worked for us. J. L.

Well, for us, it is their "Aunty" that comes by, and tells the kids to choose a few candies they want to keep, then the rest is going to be "donated" to people who don't have treats.... it works for us! Or we literally tell them, put aside some to keep, and the rest we just throw away. And if they eat too much, the "cavities" like it, and "we don't want to feed cavities..."
LOL.

It's probably like Santa Clause. A parent dresses up like a ghost.

Another suggestion, is to take the candy, and give the children only one a day. That way they don't eat it all at once and it can be monitored.

J.