Alright, so Halloween is this Saturday, right? If your kids are going out trick or treating, then they're likely to be coming home with an enormous mountain of plastic wrapped crap (to see how cute my crap looks, click here). There is no nice way to say it. Because when it comes down to it, they get too much of it, and they want to eat it all right then and there, until its gone and they're bent over holding their stomachs. Of course we cut them off at a certain point, but then come the tantrums, and the meltdowns- it isn't pretty. This is the worst part about Halloween.
My kids are allergic to several things. Gluten, citrus, sweet potatoes (as we've recently found out with the youngest one) the list goes on. So what we're going to do, and please feel free to snatch this idea right off the screen, is give our unwanted candy (anything not gluten free, anything fruity flavored), get ready for it, to the Halloween Candy Fairy.
Yeah yeah, kind of genius isn't it? I wish I could take credit for it, but I can't. I read about it last year on this blog (our daughters were both bees), and decided that this time around, I'm putting the Halloween Candy Fairy to work.
I'm not sure exactly how this is going to work, because I'm going to have to find something that my daughter really wants. Whats a kid want more than Halloween Candy? A DVD? ...a new doll? I hate to go out and spend money on anything, but, a Mom's gotta do what a Mom's gotta do.
After we go trick or treating on Halloween night, we're going to come home and sort through all of the candy that people have so kindly given us. We're going to put some of it into baggies with days of the week written on them. We're going to evenly distribute the good stuff, the keeper stuff, into those bags, and explain to Miss Eleanore that she can have those bags on those days, so we don't eat it all at once, and then we're going to leave "the crap" for The Halloween Candy Fairy! The next morning when she wakes up, in place of "the crap", will be something bright, shiny, and new. That new Tinkerbell DVD, is it out yet (thats who shes dressing up as this year)? Maybe it will be a pumpkin pie? Or a pumpkin breakfast cake? We'll have to just wait and see...
Um, and, *ahem* feel free to pocket the candy and keep it for yourself. They'll never know.
That is pure GENIUS! Except I'm evil so I'd take all the best candy out (telling the kids it's crap, since we don't happen to have any allergies) and then hide it somewhere for my hubby and I to share! I can be the Halloween fairy, or maybe I'm confusing that with a wicked witch!
ReplyDeleteWhat a creative solution! Last year was the first time we Trick or Treated...before that we lived in an apartment in suburban Boston with few kids in it and well, we didn't feel safe enough trolling the surrounding neighborhood to allow Amelia (Merrick wasn't born yet) to Trick or Treat. Anyhoo, she rarely gets candy anyway, so when we did it for the first time last year, she had no idea what they were putting in her treat bag. We let her have the pretzel and Teddy Grahams she got...and maybe one piece of chocolate and then gave the rest of the candy away. This year I purposely made very small Trick or Treat bags...and I only plan to let Amelia keep maybe a dozen pieces of candy...and maybe a coupld for Merrick and the rest will go to work with Daddy to be given away. I just don't need that much sugar in the house!!!
ReplyDeleteWe're not big candy eaters in our house. The boys get into trick or treating and will maybe eat a few pieces of the candy, but it usually all justs tossed somewhere around Christmas.
ReplyDeleteThats an awesome idea though. I know my boys for sure would rather have a new DVD than candy any day!
We do the same thing ... but we say it's the Great Pumpkin who comes to visit. I think my three year old gets almost as excited about good ol' GP than he does about Santa.
ReplyDeleteWe also give him a choice ... a really cool surprise from the Great Pumpkin, or candy that has sugar bugs in it. So far, GP has always won out. Hmmm.
HOLY SHIT! ELEANORE IS TOTALLY IN THAT BLIND MELON VIDEO!
ReplyDelete"All I can say is
that my life is pretty plain
I like watchin' the puddles gather rain
And all I can do
is just pour some tea for two
and speak my point of view
But it's not sane, It's not sane."
Dude, if the Halloween fairy wants to visit my house to drop off the candy she took from your house, she is always welcome :)
ReplyDeleteBut that is a genius idea!!
We've been doing this since Liam's first Halloween. I think he got a Rescue Heroe the first year, Lego the next three and this year it will be Playmobil. We usually put a $10 limit on the toys we trade for. This year, lucky for them, there's an anniversary sale on at Toys R Us, so their money will go even further. My kids would take toys over candy ANY DAY.
ReplyDelete