So I've read a few blogs this week on The Great Candy Dilemma. It seems that most moms seem like giving their kids 22 pounds of chocolate, frosting and pure, unadulterated sugar is a bad idea. Looking around, there seemed to be a variety of solutions - ranging from Good Idea to Kind Of Stupid.
1. Throw it away. Personally I think this is kind of dumb. Unless the candy is something gross, like Dots or those Boston Bean things.
2. Hide it (this was my parent's method - as if we didn't know that the giant yellow duffel bag didn't contain all the good candy that my dad was hiding for himself)
3. Give it away.
4. The Switch Witch. Although you still have to do something with the candy and now you have to buy toys on top of it. I don't know...
5. The best idea for me comes from my friend Jessica (at least I THINK it came from her - it's the kind of thing her clever brain would come up with. If the idea is the intellectual property of some other smarty-Mom, she'd better tell me so that Jessica can quit stealing her thunder). Anyway, she lets her girls pick out their favorite candies - enough for a few days of post-Halloween snacks and rewards - then puts the rest in coffee-can size containers and nestles it in with the rest of her food storage. Genius! When we're living on old rice and re-hydrated beans, she's going to be indulging in a Reeses cup. Or trading it for a week's supply of Cream of Wheat.
What do YOU do with the Halloween candy? And if you're not too scared to admit that you just let your kids eat it, by all means let me know! I withdrew my application for Mom of the Year earlier this spring.
We will be doing the switch witch. Personally I think it is an awesome idea. The toy does not have to be that expensive. We got Mathias a jeep that pulls a trailer with a four wheeler on it (pretty good sized) for only $6 at target. Then I will be giving the candy to my mom. They have a candy bowl at the front desk of her work that they can keep stocked with our candy. I not only don't want Mathias to eat the candy but I don't need the temptation of having it in the house either.I don't want him to be addicted to sweets or have crappy teeth and I don't need to gain another 20 pounds. I also figure if I start young that Mathias wont really know what he is missing. I will get off of my soap box now but this is my personal opinion. I think it is worth a shot. Hope that all made sense.
ReplyDeleteWe all eat the candy. Eli has to share it with Stewart and myself. Hello I love candy and really what's another 5 pounds. i plan on getting a head start on my holiday weight gain this year.
ReplyDeleteI go through all the candy and throw away things I find repulsive or that will rip out their sealants and then I stick the rest in a jar for snack time or whatever and once I have consumed enough of it that I feel incredibly ill and want to die I call my mom and tell her I'm a fat lard and then I throw the rest away, give to one of Ed's skinny friends, or try and save it for Christmas.
ReplyDeleteWe make a count down to Christmas chain. You take a really long piece of plastic wrap, and place a candy every inch or so along the plastic wrap, roll up the long chain, and tie a piece of string or ribbon between each piece of candy. Then, every day between Halloween and Christmas they get to untie a string and have a single piece of candy. If it is a candy they don't like, tough! But- that keeps the consumption down to a minimum. All you need is string, plastic wrap, and 55 pieces of candy per kid!
ReplyDeleteI think that the food storage idea is awesome! I hate to admit that usually we eat it, but how do you think that I ended up being diabetic. Actually we usually have a movie pary after Halloween and invite our family over and leave the candy out for all of them to eat. The candy doesn't last long with a bunch of little nieces and nephews and their parents around.
ReplyDeletePam, that's a great idea! Actually all the ideas are good. Especially the ones that involve Mom eating the candy. Haha!
ReplyDeleteWe make it easy on our kids by eating it all ourselves. ha!
ReplyDeleteMy kids aren't into trick or treating yet. Well, maybe this year they will be.
I like the idea of putting it in food storage. If it's the last days, I'm not gonna care about how many calories I'm consuming. :)
Guilty! Now everyone knows that in an emergency they can come to my house and we'll happily go down eating Starburst and Hershey Kisses with our wheat. Ha Ha!
ReplyDeleteMy SIL does the Switch Witch and I LOVE the idea of the count down chain. I heard someone saying that they donate it to the bishop because he has a candy jar that the primary kids get to indulge in if they had a birthday that week. I thought that was pretty cool.
-Jessica
This is about the time of year all the neighborhood kids LOVE me! I take all the candy the girls receive, put it in one big bowl and leave it out so everyone can snack on it! Luckily my girls aren't addicted to candy (probably because I've never made it an issue:) so they do pretty well controlling themselves. The biggest problem in this scenario is ME, but I figure the inevitable holiday weight-gain is just around the corner so... what the heck! But I am LOVING the food storage idea!!! Hmmm... maybe if I can keep my fingers out of it... whatever!
ReplyDeleteOur dentist exchanges it for money, $1 for every pound they bring in. So I let them pick about 10 pieces or so and then we take it to the dentist.
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