November 1, 2011

Uses for Halloween Candy




I'm one of those mean moms who doesn't let her kids have all their halloween candy.  I just can't.  It is too too much sugar for those little bodies.  But I don't snatch it away from them while they're kicking and screaming either.  We've talked about health and why it's not good for us to eat 200 pieces of candy in a week and they're good with it.  So this is what we do.

The kids get to eat some halloween night when we get home, and then the next morning they sort through their candy, putting it in piles and trading if they like.  This year I let them choose 30 pieces they can be in charge of (last year I only did 15, so they should be pretty happy with that) and eat whenever they like.  The full size candy bars count as 3.  The rest goes to mommy.  In exchange they get to choose out whatever book they like at the book store.  They like this exchange.  My kids are kind of book nerds, and I love it.

What do I do with all that candy?  I put it in bags for later use. The bag full of lollipops goes into our emergency kits in the garage.  I keep the m&ms and hershey chocolate bars in the pantry to use next time we want m&m cookies or to make s'mores.  I have a bag up in a closet hidden full of fun size chocolate bars to put in Christmas stockings.  We make gingerbread (or graham cracker) houses every December so I put aside the skittles, Dots, smarties, hard candies, kit kats (for fences and such), nerds, airheads, licorice, laffy taffy and other things aside for that purpose.  It makes for an interesting looking house, but it's cheap!  We use some for math activites, and I also keep some put away for school manipulatives.  Then there's a bag to eat, which is still probably too big to be healthy for us. I just have a hard time throwing it away.

2 comments:

  1. I feel the same way. My boys are allowed one treat per day, (they are 2 and 4). Four days later, and they have forgotten that the candy is even in the house. I just used the M&Ms for a school bake sale.

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  2. You're much nicer than I am!! I think my kids ate a piece or two for about a week afterwards, then as soon as they didn't ask for it anymore, I sent it to work with my husband. :) I also try and bake more homemade goodies so the forget about the crap candy a little sooner. :)

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