I’m a conflicted mom on Halloween.
On one hand, I love the dress ups because my kids love it so much. I love the fun fall activities, pumpkins patches, fall foods, and Halloween festivals. I also like that my children learn to interact with people and be polite as they are being celebrated with candy.
On the other hand, I hate that they are getting and eating loads of sugar, contributing to unhealthy eating habits.
As we experience more Halloweens, our family has created a solution to all my candy woes that works wonders for my children and myself, as their mom.
Start with Food
We start out on Halloween evening by ensuring our kids eat a full and good meal for dinner. By ‘good’ I don’t necessarily mean super-healthy because my kids tend to not eat much of healthy meal. But I want them to eat real food that they love, so they fill up on food, not candy.
This year, we hit up a pizza buffet so they were stuffed with food before they started trick-or-treating.
We let them eat quite a bit of candy on Halloween night since it is a ‘special day’. But after the pizza buffet, they each only ate ONE piece. I think for some reason they thought they had to ask and never got around to it until right before bedtime. #MomWin
Being full of food, they didn’t crave candy.
Candy Counting and Graphing
After trick-or-treating, the kids dump all their candy. Sort it into categories. Create a candy bar graph to see which one was the most popular. Talk about more, less, equal, sizes, favorites, similarities, and differences.
Count it and use them as manipulatives for math problems. Of course, don’t tell them they are doing Math! They can compare to siblings, suggest trades or combine their loots. 
All the while, they are eagerly anticipating the sugar…and not actually eating any of it!
Mom Tax, Of Course!
I also take a mom tax. Somehow this year all 3 of my kids decided they didn’t like my favorite candy bar (Twix) and gave me all of them!! Coincidence?
Choosing Favorites for the Future
We let the kids pick enough candies to last 1 per day until Christmas (55 pieces). We keep each child’s chosen 55 pieces in a gallon Ziplock labeled with their name.
From the 55 pieces that were chosen, each week the kids pick 7 candies.
The kids can be-their-own-boss on those candies. They can eat all 7 on Sunday and have nothing the rest of the week or choose to eat one a day or two every two days. They can take it for lunch or eat it at home.
Through this, self-control or the consequences of indulging are learned. We still have guidelines for appropriate times and places for eating those candies.
My rules are
- Don’t ask me if you can eat these candies! I don’t mind a piece of candy every day, but I hate saying ‘yes’ to them eating candy. I feel like a bad mom even though in my mind I know its ok to eat only one piece a day. So, they aren’t allowed to ask if they can eat it, they can just eat it when they choose.
- If I find a wrapper, you lose one of your candies.
- No eating before breakfast, or after teeth-brushing at night.
- Keep your candy out of reach of the baby and in a place where you know it is yours.
Sell to Mom and Dad
After the favorite 55 candies are chosen, they “sell” the rest of the candy to us for an agreed upon price. We pay up to 25 cents for the good stuff and only pennies for candy we don’t like.
Dad created a pay sheet for all the candies. They usually make about $5-10 each.
They get to use the money they earned collecting Halloween Candy to buy Christmas gifts for their siblings.
Sometimes I use the very candy they sold me for cleaning incentives or movie night treats. Not to mention the times I hide in the closet with a piece of chocolate to get me through the day! This stocks my mom-cabinet for months!
The End of Candy Wars
After these additions to our Halloween traditions, I’m actually excited about their candy-gathering activities.
- I love seeing my kids excited.
- Having a bunch of ‘math lessons’ using candy as our manipulatives is an added bonus for my ‘teacher’ heart.
- Using the candy to teach self-control, responsibility, and self-discipline feels like I’m fulfilling my role as a mom.
- I love that they have to decide to keep the ‘good candy’ or sell it for a higher price… life lessons right here!
I find so much value in these activities. These great outcomes help me to not be annoyed at the amount of sugar my kids just received. I know that they will only consume a small amount spread across many days. But this also allows my kids to be kids and get excited about little things like candy. It’s a win-win!
How do you handle Halloween Candy? What works for your family?
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