Halloween question for parents

[Mrsdennison]

I have read about some people doing science experiments with the candy. LIke putting it in water and letting it sit. Melting the candy in a big bowl. Mixing. Just different things.

We let our kids eat it. Plus I take some to school and might hand out one piece the next day for a correct math problem. The only one I worry about eating too much candy is me . LOL.

Mrsdennison

 

[QVCshopper]

After my kids trick or treat, I pick out what they like right away. Then, everything else goes right back into my candy bowl and gets given out to the rest of the kids that are still coming by. My kids are young, so they only go for so long.

Of course, I check to make sure everything is unopened, in good condition, etc. etc. But, it cuts down on my extra candy... and saves money, too!

 

[reginaastralis]

Halloween candy cookies! Every year my husband makes these and people go nuts over them. He makes chocolate chop cookie dough (without the chocolate chips) and then takes all of the leftover candy from what we were handing out, plus whatever good stuff is left in my daughters bucket, chops it all up and adds it to the dough. The cookies are amazing. You would never think snickers, butterfingers, almond joys, whoppers, peanut butter cups, twix etc would taste so good all mixed up and chopped up in cookies, but they do! You get a different taste with every bite.

I do this as well!

Last year, I swear we had 5lbs of candy after Halloween was done. We Trick or Treated at Fort Wilderness and the next night did MNSSHP. It was the most outrageous amount of candy I'd ever seen. I made the cookies, froze chocolate, kept some for DD and STILL had a giant bag I brought into work. I ended up finding a bag of candy when we moved a few months ago. I've honestly never seen so much candy in my life.

 

[tink&stitchmom]

I actually read this on board somewhere and we are going to use it this year with my GS(5)- realize it will only work with young children, we are going to let him pick out 10 pieces of candy to keep and the rest will go into a bag for the "Candy Fairy" who will come and take the candy and replace it with a toy. Someone in our house will then take the bag to work.

When my kids were younger, I would just take handfuls of candy to work everyday until the bowl was empty, they never noticed it missing!!

The "Great Pumpkin" would come the night after Halloween and exchange their candy for a toy or a dvd. I would take the treats to work to share.
Another thing is we don't go "crazy" trick or treating--we stay in our small neighborhood which is about 15 houses plus visit the relatives.

 

[JoanneMouse]

Any candy that I know that my child won't eat we bring the candy to our local dentist's office. They give money back for each candy brought in. THis is a great way to get kids to not consume so much! THey would rather have the money! See if there is a local dentist in your area that does this.

As for how much a day usually I would just put a chocolate bar as their dessert in there lunch and then maybe have one after dinner for dessert. We mostly hang onto the chocolate bars and take the rest to the dentist!

 

[bartleby1]

Halloween candy cookies! Every year my husband makes these and people go nuts over them. He makes chocolate chop cookie dough (without the chocolate chips) and then takes all of the leftover candy from what we were handing out, plus whatever good stuff is left in my daughters bucket, chops it all up and adds it to the dough. The cookies are amazing. You would never think snickers, butterfingers, almond joys, whoppers, peanut butter cups, twix etc would taste so good all mixed up and chopped up in cookies, but they do! You get a different taste with every bite. The non-chocolate candy we use for gingerbread houses.

I LOVE the cookie idea! I'm definitely going to try that!

I like the gingerbread house idea too. I've never made one though. Anyone have directions for me, LOL?

 

[bigmama67]

We let them have some holloween night. Then a few a night to munch on. Come Dec 15th I throw out the rest.

This, more or less...

The first thing we do when we bring it home is take out the non-edibles (money, Frosty coupons, etc.) and non-permitted candy. After that he can have 2 or 3 pieces a night (and I sometimes slip one into his school lunch as a surprise).

DS' birthday is December 4 and whatever is not gone by the time Hanukkah is over (mid-December), out it goes!

This year will be the first time our DD is going to understand a bit more...always makes things interesting.

 

[bigmama67]

our kids school takes donations of excess candy, and then it goes to the local shelter, where they use it for desserts, etc.

This is wonderful! It reminds me that our friend's daughter donated a bunch of her candy last year. She enjoyed the process more than the result, LOL.

Personally, we don't give out candy but have lots of fun choices for the trick-or-treaters such as crayons, play-doh, tattoos, stickers, etc. This year we have some Silly Bandz in the mix too. We used to give out the Halloween pretzels but I scored BIG at Target post-Halloween last year and plan to try that again! We also used some of the crayons in DD's birthday goody bags last weekend.

 

[prncess674]

After my kids trick or treat, I pick out what they like right away. Then, everything else goes right back into my candy bowl and gets given out to the rest of the kids that are still coming by. My kids are young, so they only go for so long.

My parents did the same thing! Dad always stayed home to pass out the candy and Mom would take us kids out to TOT. I remember coming home and dumping out my pumpkin carrier on my parent's bed and separting the candy. The candy was separated into premium chocolate, sugary candy, gum and other (pretzel, raisins, frosty coupons, nickels.) All the gum and some of the "weird" sugary candy was promptly put into the bowl to be passed out to other kids and we kids were allowed to "trade in" for a few pieces of our premium chocolate bars, which were usually Snickers and Milky Ways. The trade was never even, but the real junk went back out the door for other parents to deal with. Looking back I think a lot of my candy mysteriously walked out the door with my parents, but after a day or two I don't think kids even remember. I remember gorging on candy on Halloween night, but when it is out of sight, I forgot.

 

[happydisneyfamily]

We let our kids eat a few on Halloween night, then we'll go through the candy and save only a few of the chocolates, gummy bears, and any McDonalds gift certificates (our favorites). We remove any hard candy, taffy, caramels, and gum. The rest of the candy is given to my mom to give away to the kids that come in to her work. The kids know that they can bring a piece in to school for a recess snack and have another at home. Once they run out of candy, that is it. Usually it will last up to a 10 days max.

 

[Dorisk3]

I usually inspect the bag to look for any signs of tampering (yeah, right, I actually do it so I can steal half of their peanut butter cups) and then I let them eat what they want. For Halloween night and following day, they eat away, and by the third day, they never want to see the stuff again! Then my husband brings it into his job and the rest gets devoured by co-workers.