Need a game plan for dealing with trick-or-treat sweets? Here are seven clever ways our readers cope with all the candy.
Eat the Best, Freeze the Rest
The Lorbetskes of Rhinelander, Wisconsin, used to end up with bagfuls of candy every Halloween. Instead of eating it all, each of their three daughters got to pick out ten pieces to enjoy over the next few days. They then froze the rest, which they used at Christmas to decorate a gingerbread house.
Buy It Back
When their daughter, Grace, was diagnosed with diabetes, the Kams of Manassas, Virginia, were concerned about the amount of candy she would receive trick-or-treating. They decided to let her eat five of her favorites, then pay her 10 cents a piece for the rest of her haul. The plan worked! Grace satisfied her sweet tooth and made a few dollars to spend at the toy store.
Make - and Share - Candy Cookies
The Hammari kids of Duluth, Minnesota, got so many chocolate bars on their trick-or-treating excursions that mom, Anna, decided to bake cookies with them. She now uses her family's favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe but adds crushed-up candy bars instead of the chips. They even share the cookies with friends so they don't do all the eating!
Trade Candy for Trinkets
When her twin daughters were younger, Desiree Tinder of Vacaville, California, opened a candy store of sorts the day after Halloween. She stocked up on inexpensive items, such as stickers, pencils, and coloring books, and some bigger-ticket ones, such as fun nightgowns. She attached a price in ounces to each item and used a kitchen scale for her cash register. The girls chose what they wanted and paid for their purchases with their Halloween candy, by weight. They got some new things, and Desiree got to send three pounds of candy to her husband's office!
Leave Some for the Great Pumpkin
The Barr family of Dayton, Ohio, offers up their excess treats to the Great Pumpkin. After trick-or-treating, the kids eat their fill, then pack a small sandwich bag with a few of their favorite sweets. The rest of the candy goes into a container in front of the fireplace. While the kids sleep, the Great Pumpkin takes the loot to a local food bank and leaves a small toy for each child. One year, appropriately, the Great Pumpkin left electric toothbrushes.
Call the Sugar Witch
To keep her son, Asa, from eating too much candy, Heidi Kuharich of West Chicago, Illinois, decided to call in the Sugar Witch. (Think of a tooth fairy who collects candy instead of teeth.) Sometime after Halloween, the witch calls the Kuharich house when she knows no one is home and leaves a message for Asa, asking him to leave a bag of candy on the front step. In exchange, she leaves him a little token, such as a toy car, and a thank-you note.
Go Reverse Trick-or-Treating
For a change of pace on Halloween night, Nikie Capps of Beech, Grove, Indiana, used to take her son, Tobi, Reverse Trick-or-Treating. They bought bags of Hershey's Hugs and Kisses candies, then spent the evening visiting friends and family and giving out the sweets. The Capps did this for Tobi's first Halloween outing, and it quickly became a tradition.
