It’s almost Halloween which means CANDY! And honestly the stressful part of the candy situation doesn’t even happen on Halloween Day. What gets me is the Halloween candy lurking in the pantry, singing sweet siren songs luring me in for JUST ONE MORE BITE. And weeks of the kids asking for candy ALL DAY LONG.
But what can you do? You can’t just throw it away, right?
Um, actually you can.
Or you can donate it.
Or sell it.
Or swap it.
Whatever you do, just GET IT OUT OF THE HOUSE.
There are a few ideas I see popping up around this time every year, including the Switch Witch and the Sweet Swap. Basically the idea is to entice your kids to give up their candy for something better. I’ve also heard of some Dentists who buy back candy and send it to soldiers.
Basically what I do is have my kids choose a small amount of their very favorite candies too keep. (I’m trying to remember what the number is, but we haven’t been doing this for very long.) Then Jeff and I pick a few of our favorites, and the rest of the candy gets tossed. Since the kids are a little bit older this year, I’m wondering what their reaction will be this time around. Maybe we try the dentist buy-back program this year.
What do you do with Halloween candy?
P.S. If you’re gluten-free, make sure your candy is safe to eat by clicking here!
Thank you for the candy list! This is my daughter’s first gluten-free Halloween, and it’s a bit intimidating to all of us. We will definitely have a different approach this year in terms of what to keep and what to get rid of!
I remember my first gluten-free Halloween. We came home from trick-or-treating and I realized I had to figure out what I could steal from the kids’ buckets. It took me a while to search. Glad this helped!
The dentists in our town do the candy buy-back thing and you don’t even have to be a patient of that specific practice. So much better than throwing it all in the trash if a little sweet taste from home will make our soldiers happy.
I remember when I was little my parents would allow me to keep a certain amount of candy (10-15 pieces) then I could “turn” the rest in for a small toy.
Although now, I just buy what I want. 😉
I agree with not eating it all but maybe you should try going to a halloween party and only trick or treating a block or two. It is incerdibly wastefull to sugest throwing it away. I dont like spending all the money to have candy to pass out and to think that that someone would then take it only to thow it away is upsetting.
You’re right, we shouldn’t do the entire neighborhood and get loaded down with candy. We will probably go a couple blocks then come home and reverse trick-or-treat (give the candy away).