Trick-Or-Treat Candy Alternatives? (Cana: home, school, allergies)

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by SallyField

OMG my kids hate you and your kind!

Thank goodness I read through to the end! Ha! This did crack me up.

Thanks for getting the joke!

I'll never forget my disappointment at age 10 upon being given, instead of candy, a card with a depiction of a religious figure. I didn't egg their house, but there's still time.

[CaliTerp07]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

I think giving them a choice might be OK--but then I think you'll see a lot of kids arguing with each other on your front porch as to which is better or arguing with you to get both. I think the unwritten rule is that on 10/31, if your porch light is on, you're signaling you have candy to give out.

Last year I had kids yell at me that my candy "sucked" (reeses and snickers?), try to come into my house to take soda from my fridge (because they didn't want anymore candy), and grab a whole handful of candy from the bowl and run off. Not one said "trick-or-treat". A few looked older than I am (25). Several kept knocking on the door and ringing our doorbell up to an hour after our light was turned off.

Arguing on the porch over which one is better would be a step in the right direction.

[Middlin]

One year our realtor gave us Long & Foster clip on lights and they were a big hit... along w/ the candy

[peanutrach]

When I lived in Long Beach, CA ppl would drive their kids in from the less fortunate neighborhoods to our neighborhood for trick-or-treating. I would see tons of cars unloading kids on our block. We ended up running out of candy real fast and had to make a run to the store for reinforcements. I will never do that again...once we're out we're going to turn off the lights and go to bed.

I was always amazed how some adults would go trick-or-treating with their kids and take candy for themselves!

[alibaba1579]

There was a house when I was a kid that gave out bottles of water and cans of soda. We actually loved that b/c we'd half way across the neighborhood, eating candy the entire time, and were usually dying of thirst by then. There was also the "whole candy bar house" that I still remember to this day. If we got less kids I'd probably be that house too, but I don't think I can afford it, lol.

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by CaliTerp07

Last year I had kids yell at me that my candy "sucked" (reeses and snickers?), try to come into my house to take soda from my fridge (because they didn't want anymore candy), and grab a whole handful of candy from the bowl and run off. Not one said "trick-or-treat". A few looked older than I am (25). Several kept knocking on the door and ringing our doorbell up to an hour after our light was turned off.

Arguing on the porch over which one is better would be a step in the right direction.

Oh. My. God.

You need a big, mean-looking dog or something.

Seriously, that is scary behavior. I wouldn't blame you if you bailed on the whole event this year.

[jillabean]

One year I gave out candy to the kids and had a cooler with beer and sodas in it for adults trick-or-treating. No one wanted the beer and I never did it again.

I am not sure what it is, but kids (in general) seem to like what I always figured is "junk" candy (not that other candy is all that great--but I mean they like the sour stuff that tastes horrible or gummy fingers and such more so than Snickers and the stuff I seem to remember kids liking as a kid). This year we are giving out KitKats because they are my daughter's favorite and she finally realized at age 7 that whatever we don't give away, we get stuck with.

One thing I learned when I first started giving out treats at Halloween--never let the kids pick their own candy out of the bowl, just pick something out of the bowl and hand it to them. Most kids are okay, but you always get those few that try to grab huge handfuls.

[brooklynborndad]

when we finally overcame our religious/civilization reluctance about trick or treating, one thing we firmly insisted on was that our DD express gratitude for WHATEVER she got - candy, healthy treats, coins, pencils, whatever.

Some households do not want to give out candy cause they DO end up with the leftovers, and some folks health and wellness just isnt that compatible with a lot of candy around the house, yet they want to participate. Some do coins cause they didn't prepare (sometimes just because plans changed) and they feel good about participating. When I was a kid we appreciated getting coins, but then perhaps we were a tad more financially deprived than kids today.

The best of halloween is neighborliness, generosity, and walking around outdoors.

The worst of it is greed and entitlement - grabbiness.

[The Dissenter]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

Our house is going to have a bunch of trick-or-treaters, but we don't want to encourage bad habits, childhood obesity, etc. We're thinking about some healthful or educational alternatives to junk food. What do you folks think of these options?

If it hasn't hit you yet, I'm totally joking. This is my attempt at some Friday levity.

I knew something had to be up. Frozen Veggies? Trust me, I put some in a box when I moved over the summer and forgot about them, boy did they stink.

[South Jersey Styx]

Originally Posted by CaliTerp07

Okay, you joke, but I was seriously contemplating giving out glow sticks. My husband says our house will get egged. I say that anyone who is young enough to still be trick-or-treating will think it's cool, and anyone who's too old shouldn't be out anyway.o give them a choice, at least. I think SOME kids might choose a glowstick...

I think the glow sticks are fine. I make trick-or-treat bags with candy but always include some kind of party favor too. One time it was those plastic rings with skeleton heads or spiders. Another time it was little rubber snakes and lizards. And another time I had rubber eyeballs.

Pencils, erasers, and stickers (of Halloween-themed) objects are also nice.

I want to make cupcakes this year but it would be too arduous for kids running around.