What Is Your Candy Policy?
I have the utmost respect for people who have policies about their kids’ Halloween candy. But as a general policy, I like to have as few policies as possible. And this goes for Halloween candy too. What I do (in case you’re wondering) is just let my kids eat it. I eat some of it too, if they offer. They really look forward to coming home from trick-or-treating and carrying their pillow case full of candy around with them as long as it lasts. They eat some candy every day until it is gone.
Sometimes they eat a lot and they say, “Whoa. I am really full of candy.” Then I say, ‘”Yep.” My son Ben is proud to have rationed and hoarded his candy so it would last a whole year. I think this is actually a pretty great accomplishment — the stuff of legends, one might say. The best I ever did was make my Easter candy last through the summer.
Some people throw away all of their kids’ candy after taking them from party to party to collect it from nice people who bought it for them. That seems strange. I guess I don’t mind if people just throw out all the candy I bought them for Halloween. But if that’s how it’s going to go down, it seems like we could eliminate some steps in the Trick or Treating process?
I’ve noticed that some people have an elaborate candy buy-back policy. There is nothing like teaching kids the value of a dollar. Why not let parents pay for the candy twice on top of the costumes and the decorations and the exertion of trick-or-treating itself? Kids deserve it. Actually, they don’t, which is why I would never buy back my kids’ Halloween candy. Of course, I’m notoriously cheap.
I know you would never ever judge me for my lack of policies but I feel it must be said that none of my kids have ever had a cavity. (In case you’re wondering.)
What is your candy policy? Bon Appetit!
Photo credit: Mensatic
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My child is sensitive to the dyes in candy such as red 40. I try to limit the candy. She loves to trick-or-treat , however, so she does so that. I just don’t go out of my way to buy anything with color in it.
It is so refreshing to know that I am not the only mother who is not a Halloween candy Nazi these days. I’m not going to lie; I am overly excited about Halloween this year. It’s usually not like that, but this year I will have three little ghouls with trick or treat bags. They can never eat even half of their candy. So Daddy and I will be looking at no less than about fifteen pounds of candy. I blame the pregnancy on my anticipation to relieve my kids of some of their candy. Of course, the only time I limit that intake is right before a meal. It’s not like this is every day behavior. It’s Halloween. It’s ok.
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15 pounds, DeathMetalMommy! I like the sound of that. I’m excited too.I hope we get some full-size Snickers.
My kids have a candy free for all for a couple of days. Then they can choose to leave it out for the “candy fairy” or keep it and eat it. If they leave it for the candy fairy, they get a small toy in exchange. They almost always pick that option, since they’ve gorged for a few days. Then I sort through and pick out the candy without halloween-theme wrapping and and things like smarties, and nerds and things and they magically re-appear in Christmas stockings and as cookie-decorating supplies. Then they have a candy free-for-all again at Christmas
I love Halloween, and I love all the candy, and I love using the baby’s basket as my personal stash. I also love letting my kids go to town on their personally earned candy and I love dumping lots of candy in the buckets of the kids that come to my door. I love candy!