Halloween Candy Advice

• We're careful about sugar consumption - how to deal with Halloween?
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• Handling Halloween with a child w/ food allergies
• Healthy Halloween Treats

We're careful about sugar consumption - how to deal with Halloween?

Oct 2015

Every year we struggle with what to do about Halloween with our two sons, now 8- and 11-years old. Their schools make a big deal out of the ''holiday'', with costume and in-class parties, always featuring large amounts of candy. Then, later in the day, all the kids go trick or treating, resulting in much more candy.

We're pretty careful about how much sugar our sons consume. Halloween makes this very difficult and, in particular, sets up struggles between us and our sons when we deny them access to most of their bounty of candy. In the past, we've allowed them to select a small amount of candy from what they've collected and then we've thrown the rest away. This is not only a source of contention with our sons, we really don't like playing into the commerce-inspired trap of causing candy to be purchased that will immediately become garbage.

We would love to hear of how other parents who try to control their kids' access to candy deal with Halloween. Sure, we can make them trick or treat for Unicef, which is fine with us but leaves them feeling deprived. Are there better alternatives? For example, are there get-togethers to celebrate Halloween that are non-candy events?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Halloween-hating parents

Maybe you can convince your sons to trade their Halloween candy for a toy? As in, they give you all their candy and you buy them a new toy in exchange? Just an idea

From the time my son was little we had a deal: he got three pieces of candy and exchanged the rest with us for gift (small box of lego, or something he has really wanted)

He doesn't have candy ever unless he is at a birthday party and i don't see the point of letting him stuff himself with it on Halloween. However, i get that it's all very exciting and that it's a let down when you have nothing to show for your ''treat'', hence the exchange. anon

I don't have good alternative ideas that would really ''replace'' Trick or Treating for kids. Have you tried buying the candy off your kids or having them sell it through the Halloween Candy Buy Back Program? Maybe they won't feel deprived if they get cash? Another thing to try is allowing the Halloween Day binge. That might cure your kids of their candy desire for a few weeks. That really depends on the kid though. I still remember the stomach aches!

I would just let them have that one day to spend like how most other kids are spending Halloween.My brother and I tricker treated for at least three hours every Halloween and our parents never monitored how much candy we ate.After a few days,it was over.I have found that my kids friends,whose parents are strict about things like this-just get very frustrated and find ways to rebel.It is not worth it.We need to pick our battles and there are so many other things to battle about. Ellen

have them make a haunted house and run it? anon

They are only kids once, and Halloween is only once a year. Don't be the Halloween Grinch. Let them do and enjoy everything, even the candy.

Get over yourself and have fun

Give your kids a chance to manage the candy on their own. They will never learn unless you let them try.

Mom of a Teen

As someone who LOVES Halloween, I do hear what you're saying about it being mostly based on getting totally jacked up on sugar, or wallowing in plastic crap from Oriental Trading. Our son loves Halloween so much that we try to just focus more on the dressing up and decorating the house (we go a little crazy with this) part of the holiday. We do dinner with friends before trick-or-treating, let him binge on candy that night, and then he puts the rest under his bed when he goes to sleep. We swap the candy out for a toy (small Lego set, stuffed animal, etc.) and the rest goes away. We've also tried to emphasize the way that other cultures celebrate - harvest festivals, dia de los muertos (the Oakland Museum has a beautiful exhibit), changing of seasons, etc. Not sure I've offered you any solutions or ideas here, just know that you're not alone in trying to emphasize more than just a 24-hour sugar high.

C (Halloween-Loving Parent)

We let our kids go trick-or-treating and eat as much candy as they want that night. Then they can pick out a few pieces to eat over the next few days and my husband, who works with a bunch of college students, takes the remainder of the candy to work. I feel like that is a good balance of letting my kids gorge on all the candy they want (though only the youngest still does -- the others are now more temperate in what they choose to eat) and not letting them go permanently nuts in eating tons of crap. Better for their teeth too. And they feel good about giving the candy to other people, better than they would about throwing it away.

It used to make me crazy when people told my kids they could take two or take a few, but sometimes now houses will put entire handfuls (or more!) into their bags. So we also talk about that excess. Too much candy!

Here's a great way to put that candy to a charitable use - our child's pediatric dentist has an annual candy ''buy back'' - they pay the kids per pound of candy, and it is all sent to the troops. This year it's on Nov. 3 It's Alameda Pediatric Dentistry, but they have offices in Oakland and Pleasanton as well. Info at the attached link: http://alamedapediatricdentist.com/office-news/

By the way, I understand the dilemma, but you might consider that there can be real negative consequences of entirely taking the candy away from Halloween, as then it becomes forbidden fruit. An alternate approach is to think of it as a lesson in how to navigate the world of candy and consume it in moderation. Then it becomes no big deal, as let's face it - Halloween candy doesn't even taste that good. Growing up in the 70s, I saw friends who had been forbidden from treats by hippie parents turn into ''junk food junkies'' as adults.

Good luck in whatever you decide. It is a tough thing to navigate. Also conflicted about candy

We let our son eat as much candy as he wants on Halloween. The next day we tell him to pick a few pieces and that the rest is going to mommy's work. He's fine with it. He really loves it when he comes to the office and people thank him for the candy. I do think that it's important to place no limits on the first day. Let them go nuts and gorge themselves and then it's easier to get rid of the rest. Candyholic

Hi there, since your kids are old enough to realize Halloween is happening and everyone else gets candy, I think there will be conflict about you denying them their ''fair share'' in the fun. What we have done is to weigh the candy in a little ceremony - they can pick a book or a toy at the store for every pound they ''pay'' to us. I then bring the candy to work where it gets distributed. What we also do sometimes is to let them have as much as they want on Halloween and then pool the rest of the ''catch'' in a basket in the pantry and only on occasion they get to have some. They're normally fine with this since it's still there...Try to find a way to not make it feel like a punishment, like ''their'' candy is taken away, but more like ''let's store this here for later''. Talking about dental health/effects of too much sugar on the body can also convince them that enjoying in small portions is a better idea and they will understand why you feel strongly about this - that can lead to better cooperation. Julia

I too limit my son's intake of sugar. I have let go a bit and don't control what he eats at school parties but his current 4th grade teacher is strict about no sugary snacks. Here's what I do. I order from Oriental Trading and give out pencils, stickers, stretchy bugs or other such Halloween items. Most kids really like what I give out. But some don't. I usually spend between $25 - $50.

With what my son brings home, I do something odd but it really works. We divide up the treats by categories: chocolate, gum, sucking candy (lollipops and smartees), gooey (starburts, twizzlers, now and laters), and then miscellaneous. He is allowed 1 - 2 things each night for dessert. He cannot have two chocolate bars but maybe a kiss and a mini kit kat is ok. His candy, which includes stuff from Easter and Valentine's day school parties, gets added to the sorted bags ( I used the bags from our delivered newspaper). His stuff usually lasts for about 10 -11 months. The benefit of this is that he automatically gives away what he knows he won't eat ( I bring it to work) and it sort of keeps things from getting too sticky. Hope something in this helps. Faith

First I would like to say that hating Halloween is different than hating sugar. If you are okay with the ghouls and costumes and pumpkins, then there are alternatives. Like just go for a walk on Halloween night and look at the decorations. Have a few pieces of their favorite candy waiting at home for when they get back. Or maybe on your walk go to one house per block so they are able to get at least a little bit of candy. If you get too much candy, take it into the office and let the people there enjoy it. Or let a neighbor take it into their office.

Here is a great alternative. Do food trucks and artistic lights instead of candy. http://gardensatlakemerritt.org/save-the-date-autumn-lights-festival-october-16-17-2015/ Anon

Your pediatrician's or dentist's office probably has a candy buy-back program, where your kids can exchange their haul for cash or non-food prizes. Lots of medical offices around here seem to do that. But please consider letting the kids have a little fun and eat a little sugar, too - the best way to learn how to mix moderation, self-control and enjoyment is to practice it.

You're Only Young Once

Halloween doesn't ''set up a struggle'' with your kids over candy. YOU are setting up the struggle. They are definitely old enough for you to have a talk with them about the health impacts of eating, say, 5 lbs of candy; as a family, you should discuss how to pick a place to donate the bulk of it - I see lots of buybacks where the candy goes to homeless shelters, overseas military, etc. Why not let them eat what they want on Halloween itself, and then the day after donate the rest of it to the cause you have selected as a family? Plus, this may be the last year your 11 yo can get away with trick or treating (or is even interested in it) so respect that transition, let your kids be kids while they're young, and work as a family to minimize the health impact and share with others. mom of 2

Do you know the switch witch? In the night following Halloween, she exchange all candies for other treats like stickers for exemple. We are going to try this for the first year as my daughter started kindergarten this year. She already been exposed to a lot of unhealthy stuff. Just thinking about what they have for snacks give me nightares. Anyway, we decided that this year we will do the switch witch thing. We started to talk to her about it. She is not super happy but we told her that she could keep a couple of chocolate bars and that's it! We'll see how it goes. No candy please!

I agree that sugar is ubiquitous and has zero nutritional value, but if you let your kids participate in Halloween and allow them to eat their candy, what is the worst thing that could happen? Unless your kid is diabetic, one day of candy fun isn't going to kill them. I respectfully suggest you let it go and let your kids have fun, eat their Halloween candy and enjoy. Ask yourself what kind of memories you want your kids to have if Halloween: picking through their candy and enjoying themselves or feeling limited and repressed. They can brush their teeth before bed and will be just fine. Let them eat candy

A few thoughts... Really, one night of sugar overload is not going to kill them. I remember trick or treating as one of the most amazing childhood experiences. You get to dress up as whatever you want, knock on strangers doors, run around in the street at night with your friends and GET CANDY. All the things you are otherwise never allowed to do! Why not let them trick or treat for a set time and eat whatever they want that night. Pick out a few pieces for the next day then donate the rest. Children's Dentistry in El Cerrito has a candy buyback event. Kids can trade in candy and get a $1 gold coin per pound of candy. The doctors donate the collected candy to a local non-profit. Drop off candy Nov. 6, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and Nov. 7, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. at 7001 Stockton Ave. #3 El Cerrito. You can also send candy to troops overseas, google Operation Gratitude.

Or, stay home and have the dress in costume to greet trick-or-treaters, pass out candy and scare kids when they come to your door.

Alternatively, City of El Cerrito has a Halloween Carnival and Haunted House on October 31 from 12-3, I don't think it features any candy. And the Downtown Berkeley YMCA usually has something similar.

Don't be a party pooper

Please please do not cut Halloween out of your kids' life! no matter when and how you have a ''dress up'' time - halloween in the US or carnival in Germany - it is so special. I agree with you on the ''surplus'' of candy. here is what we do (and we have approx 500 kids coming thru our street, and our kids - 9 and 11 - roam the street for 2 hours - so we end up with a ton stuff): they keep about 1/4 whatever they like (sometimes mom goes in and does some additional selection ...) - they lose interest fairly quickly eating what they have saved another 1/4 is kept for ski season and we put it into our lunch boxes we eat on the ski hill - you could save it for some other sport events or activity the other 1/2 is being donated to dentists who send it to the troops. For they donation they get $10-15 into their savings account - so we buy it back. stefanie

If they want to trick-or-treat I say let them. Given their ages, your oldest only has a few years left anyway.

I suggest focusing their energy on selecting a charitable cause for the surplus candy. For example, some organizations collect candy to send to our overseas troops. I've heard the Ronald McDonald house will also accept donations of candy, as will various homeless shelters.

A quick google search should give them enough ideas and get them excited about parting ways with most of their treats.

Good luck! Local Parent

Well, we have developed an unusual remedy for this. I too do not like my son to eat too much Halloween candy. In my opinion, the cheap halloween candy is very unhealthy even compared to many other sweets. My son (now 10) and I have developed a tradition where he eats a few pieces on Halloween. Then we put the rest in little sandwich baggies. We keep the baggies in my car and then when we encounter homeless people, we offer them a bag of candy. It is really heart-warming for both us when we see how excited they get when we give them the candy. My son really enjoys this part of the tradition. He has no regrets about giving up the candy. If your children still feels jipped, what about finding a recipe for a halloween treat that you could make at home that is not as unhealthy, for example strawberries dipped in chocolate. I found a great recipe once for oatmeal cookies sweetened only by ripe bananas and dates.

I am sorry you received so many unsupportive responses. Too many people really don't understand how harmful processed sugar is. Sometimes we have to go counter-culture and do what's right for our kids! supporter of non/low sugar Halloween

My son's dentist told us it's actually better to let them gorge and eat all the candy they want on Halloween rather than have a piece a day for the next month. And that peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, and raisins, are worse for teeth than chocolate!

For what it's worth!

The Switch Witch visits our house late after Trick-or-Treaters are asleep. She takes most of the candy and leaves a gift for my kid. We've already discussed this year and agreed that she gets to keep 10 pieces and will offer the rest to the Switch Witch. 10 pieces is still a lot, and she gets to decide when to eat it - all at once or a little over time. So she may be sugar-unregulated a bit but at least the time change makes getting up easier for us all. I roll my eyes and go with it. But I feel like I have some control over the excess of Halloween without just taking the candy away. Last year I ate a bunch of the switch witch candy but this year will be different... Recovering Sugar Addict

Gosh. Why such hatred for this fun holiday? Because you are anti-sugar?! Not sure why you want to donate candy to UNICEF but I encourage you to rethink your position for your kids' sake. I know you were looking for an alternative but consider my argument. For my family, Halloween is the favored holiday. I especially appreciate the fact that there is no religious element but is, rather, a cultural phenomenon. This is a uniquely American tradition that everyone can enjoy.

We love to decorate our home with gravestones, bats and spiders spinning cobwebs in the chandelier. We have an annual trip to the pumpkin patch and get a kick out of seeing my son pick out a favorite pumpkin that he intends to carve. We read Halloween-themed books, buy ''pumpkin o's'' from trader joes. We discuss what costume he wants to wear MONTHS ahead of the biggest night of the year. It doesn't matter that it is the same Star Wars character for the past three years.

But most of all, the excitement of the most awesome night.....houses decorated, kids gleeful, the thrill of a haunted house. Seeing all the amazing costumes and adorable little princesses and Spider-Man costumes. Kids live for this!

It has nothing to do with candy. In our experience the school parties have been healthy snacks or baked goods. The very small amount of candy my son actually retrieves from an hour of trick or treating is forgotten the next day. I keep it in a jar and dole it out over the year to his friends (or me). He knows he can't just eat a bunch of candy.

Please, please don't focus on the candy aspect. This is a genuine holiday that is focused on kids dressing up as a character. Go walk a fun neighborhood it with a group of your kids' friends or sit on your stoop and enjoy a bottle of wine while greeting trick or treaters.

Seriously, this is an amazing holiday and your kids will have the time of their lives.

Trick or treaters

Our family can relate to this! When she was 18 months, our daughter was diagnosed with several dental issues that make it a really bad idea for her to have any sticky or hard candy. Which is pretty much all candy. In addition, she's allergic to food dye. On top of that, I'm a health educator and I know way too much about long-term effects of dietary choices. So, she's never participated in trick-or-treating. I've spent her whole life dreading this holiday but thankfully I've been able to find alternatives in every city where we've lived so far (she's 9 now).

We just moved here a couple of months ago, but from my past experience there is usually at least one community event that is not candy-related. In one city our local library had a Halloween party with no candy. They gave prizes at different stations, like a scavenger hunt. I've also been a part of a parenting group that had a Halloween potluck with games. No candy there. This year we are planning on attending a family dance that's open to a group we've joined. These are just a few examples, and I'm inclined to think there are more out there. If all else fails, we've held our own Halloween event with friends. Finding like-minded families to hang with will help -- that's been huge for us. Knowing other kids who don't partake will help your kids to feel part of a crowd. It is really hard since they are in school. We don't do the school thing with our daughter, but my step-kids did, so I know what that's like.

If having your own party/get-together to celebrate with friends does not pan out, you can also start a special tradition that involves fun things you don't normally do to celebrate just within your family. Rent scary movies (ones that won't traumatize your kids of course), pop popcorn, and get some other type of special treat that doesn't involve candy (example: my step-daughter loves shrimp so one year we made different fun shrimp dishes for appetizers before the scary movie).

The best thing you can do is to find other families that you can hang with that can support what you are trying to do. This helps, trust me. And they are out there! Hang in there... Meredith

All That Candy

Oct 2007

Halloween is coming and I am wondering what other parents do with all the candy their kids bring home. I have a three year old who gets the occasional treat. (Like at a birthday party, grandma's, a friend house) She is so looking forward to halloween and the candy this year, but I just can't imagine letting her eat all of what she collects. I don't have a problem with a few pieces Halloween night but what do parents do with it after that? I like Halloween and don't want to be a scrooge but I also don't want a sugar deranged child. anon

Let her eat as much as she wants on Halloween night, then put the bag in the pantry and let her raid it for maybe a week thereafter -- subject to reasonable rules about having candy only AFTER a healthy snack or meal. Then quietly get rid of whatever is left after she's more or less forgotten about it. Kids who are allowed to control their own candy consumption tend to self-limit much more than those for whom candy is a ''forbidden pleasure.'' And gorging on the stuff in a short period of time is actually better for their teeth than eating one or two pieces at a time over a longer period. Holly

I am a kindergarden teacher (currently caring for my own baby). Many of the parents in my class invite the ''Sugar Fairy'' to their house after Halloween. You see, she only eats sugar, so by leaving the candy you collect out for her, you are helping to take care of her and she will certainly leave you a special gift as a thank you. If you are not opposed to your little one having some candy, the Sugar Fairy could leave a few pieces behind along with the non-eatable gift. Going trick-or-treating becomes an act of helping and caring for the Sugar Fairy instead of a mad rush of consumption and greed. Lyssa

We've always allowed our kids to have all the candy they want for a week. They quickly get sick of it and the rest gets thrown out. Our dentist suggested that rather than stringing all that sugar on their teeth out over months. anon

I steal it. I eat what I want and throw the rest away. Well, sort of...I make it very clear before we go out trick-or-treating that I need to go through their basket before they eat anything. I immediately take out anything that is a choking hazard and throw it away. I let them pick a few pieces in which to indulge that night. After they go to bed, I throw away more and eat some. Hey, who doesn't like free mini-snickers? I stretch this out over the course of the week (though I have usually stopped indulging my own need for mini-twix bars by the second or third night). They get to 'finish' it, so they don't go to bed with some in their basket and wake up with it all gone in the morning. I would hate to be fingered by my children as a candy thief. After a week, we can usually transition into full bore 'lets get ready for Thanksgiving' mode and Halloween is forgotten until the following August when costumes start showing up in stores. Oh, NEVER, EVER, EVER, suggest that you 'count' the pieces of candy. You'll get caught. jan

Our dentist will buy the candy for $1.00 a pound (or such.) You can also do the ''switch witch'' and let your daughter keep a few pieces of candy and switch the rest for a special treat or a small toy. Our daughter always knew the switch witch was me, and she was happy to switch for a toy starting at age 3. anon

I read about this in a magazine and developed my own version. You let them eat what they want after Trick or Treat, then you have them leave the candy outside for the Switch Witch. The Switch Witch leaves them a gift in exchange for the candy. I made up this poem for my girls to read when they left out the candy.

Switch Witch Poem

We are ready for the new treat.