Happy Halloween!

Having 2 young children is both good and bad for Halloween. On one hand, we are not home on Halloween, so we don't have to buy candy to hand out. Therefore, there is no candy hanging out in our house in the days prior to Halloween.

BUT, then my kids go trick-or-treating. They are both girls, ages 4 and 5. This year they will be the world's cutest little kitty and piggy. Ridiculously cute. Of course, they end up with enough candy to share with all of China. They can't eat it all, nor do I want them to. The obvious solution to this little dilemma, before I was more health-conscious? Eat it!  Better me than them, right?! Well, kind of. But there are other solutions to be considered....




Throw some away. (I know...*GASP*).

Bring it to work!! Set out a jar or bowl on your desk or in a common area.

Simply hit less houses. You can't eat what you don't get.

If you know certain houses/neighborhoods typically give out less junk and/or more healthy options (raisins for example), go with that. Your kids might complain. Tell them to shut it and enjoy their raisins.

Go trick or treating as early as you can, get home early, and then turn around and give some candy back out! (Let your kids pick out some of their favorites to keep).

Make art projects out of the oddball candies (like those hard candy ball things, AKA evil little choking hazards). Glue them together or onto paper. Put them into a decorated bottle and turn them into maracas.

If you are REALLY lucky, maybe you have a kid with a birthday coming up in the very near future - use some candy in goodie bags for the party guests!

I realize some of these present challenges - mainly your kids not wanting to part with ANY of their candy. I don't know about other people, but with my young kids, they never get free access to their candy anyhow. I let them look through it all right away, pick a little something to enjoy right away, and then it gets put up. After that, it's easy peasy to do a little thinning out of the supply. They are so young, that the next time they are picking out a candy from the bowl, they will be concentrated on what they want to pick, and not the fact that their supply has shrunk by 75%. It's sneaky, but it works, and it's for the greater good of all involved :-)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN and BE SAFE!