I don't know about you, but I've got a 10 pound bag of candy sitting on my front table and we didn't really stay out that long on Halloween. While I was pleased to see some pencils, stickers a few wind-up monsters, most of the "treats" were anything but for young, growing bodies.
What's a mama to do? She needs a good trick up her sleeve.
It was so much easier when they were younger and would forget about their sweet treasure by the next morning. This was really the first time that they asked about the candy, but maybe our mistake this year was leaving the goodie bags out in plain view.
For a few years, we've negotiated a bargain of a deal with our kids: they turn over all but a few pieces of acceptable candy and, in return, they can select a toy, book or money for their piggy banks. Since their evening was especially successful this year, they each earned $5 to deposit and agreed to keep four pieces of candy to enjoy. Both parties walked away from the negotiation pretty happy.
What they don't know yet is that this mama also purchased a few additional treats from Whole Foods that have no high fructose corn syrup, and are free of artificial colors and preservative. It'll be a nice surprise once their treasures are gone.
We want to know: how do you deal with the abundance of candy your child collects between trick or treating, school parties and friends?
We have the "Halloween Fairy" that comes to our house. The night of Halloween we pick out 5 pieces of our favorite to have each night after dinner the following week as a treat. We put the entire on the front porch that night. The Halloween Fairy comes and takes it to all the boys and girls in the world that didn't get any candy. As a thank you for sharing their candy, The Halloween Fairy leaves our kids a present - like a book. Something little but it teaches them to do something nice and not have to eat all the candy!
It is a win-win!
Posted by: Heather Deshayes | March 28, 2011 at 12:00 PM