Spooky, Scary…Sugar!
Here we go! Into the holiday gauntlet of gluttony. If you’re like me, every holiday has a unique set of emotional attachments and nostalgia that go with them…starting with Halloween. It's the first major challenge when it comes to avoiding, limiting, or totally giving into sugar. Personally, I’m not a huge candy person, so I’m not as triggered by Halloween treats around every corner. My 4 year old on the other hand…the sweetest tooth. So I’ve been asking myself…How am I going to cope? How can I keep him from overindulging without demonizing it? Because we all know what happens after treat…The dreaded trick in the form of a crash.
If you’re worried about what to hand out to trick-or-treaters or having treats in the house, my advice for you is to just flat out avoid the bad stuff. Set a good example for others in the neighborhood and hand out unique items that are exciting to kids INSTEAD of candy.
Here are some other options for things to hand out:
Stickers
Small toys/ Squishies
Temporary Tattoos
Silly putty/ Kinetic sand
Other types of food: boxes of raisins, yogurt pretzels, fruit gummies.
Money!! Kids are usually stoked to have coins to put in their piggie banks. Or even $1 bills. (This depends on how many kids come to your door on Halloween, however) 🙂
IF you are still thinking about candy, seek out the companies that sell versions that contain less artificial additives, food coloring, high fructose / corn syrup, etc. Sprouts and Vitamin Cottage do a great job stocking “better-for-you” candy for those who still want a splurge.
Trick or treating is the highlight of Halloween, so instead of limiting the candy collection, Karen told us about the “switch witch”. Here’s how it works: “She” comes Halloween night and exchanges the candy for a toy. When Halloween night comes, your kiddo can set their candy bag out for the switch witch to take and the toy would be waiting for them in the morning. You can also just skip the lore, and choose the toy together, and after a full night of trick-or-treating, the exchange for the toy takes place. Worked like a charm for Worthy and he was too focused on his new toy to even miss the candy.
Then you can throw the candy away or find a place that is sending it to the troops. When we get closer to Halloween, you can find participating locations here.
Treats can certainly be tricky, but with a bit of pre-planning you can make avoiding sugar a bit less scary this year. Happy Halloween!
