Since I was little, I’ve always loved Halloween. There are a lot of fun little traditions that go along with Halloween and it always conjures up that feeling of nostalgia for me. I grew up in the Salt Lake City, Utah valley area and where they have four seasons so Halloween was always associated with the smell of crisp Fall leaves in the air and the air that starts to be nippy when you go outside. Now that I live in Arizona, I have to create Fall in my house with décor so that I can experience the Fall leaves at this time of year.
When it comes to the dressing up and the makeup, part of Halloween—what other time of year can you get away with going a little bit crazy with a costume of your choice (besides Cosplay)? I used to enjoy being in theater in High School but those roles were always picked for me. Halloween costumes are a lot of fun to me—especially when I’ve had the time to sew/create costumes for my family members in the past—it’s expanded my skills for sure. The topping off a costume with hair and makeup is just the icing on the cake to me. So again, I love the dressing up part.
The dressing up, the makeup, the decorations….and let’s be honest…the candy was always a huge draw for me—especially when I was younger.
There was a family friend who used to baby sit my siblings and I, who had four daughters and one of her daughters was really good at taking her Halloween candy and rationing it for the next year until she could go trick-or-treating again. Seeing how disciplined she was with her candy stash and how she always seemed to have a treat on hand when she really wanted one was really motivating for me as a kid so I learned to follow her example.
For years, I was really quite good at having my own stash of candy. I had a large blue plastic sewing case that I would fill up with my Halloween candy and keep under my bed and divvy it out to myself for the next 12 months. Sometimes I wouldn’t quite make it to the year mark but for years I did because it was worth it to me to have control of whether or not I could have a treat when I wanted a treat. Honestly, if all kids could learn to discipline themselves this way, Halloween candy could potentially have more merit in my eyes. It may be more of a personality thing though.
The reality is, that it seems candy is so freely handed out to our kids that they have more than enough treat opportunities. Honestly, with the number of cavities we have dealt with in our most sugar-crazed kid, I am more than happy to not have a year-long stash of candy always at the ready and available for my kids to have.
Besides the sugar, because of gluten sensitivities and Celiac in our home, we have to be more cautious of what kinds of candy are actually in our home and who’s eating what candy. We have a teal pumpkin and hand out non-candy treats and honestly, in a lot of ways, now that I’m a mom dealing with these issues, I feel more like the candy police than the Queen of All Hollow’s Eve that I used to be before these issues started being part of our lives.
I’ll be honest, I’m torn about what to do about the Halloween candy.
We as a family try to eat organic and real food about 80-90% of the time. Halloween is a once a year holiday that I enjoyed as a kid and I want my kids to enjoy and have fun memories of too. The predicament I have is how to help them have fun, be safe, and maybe even learn a lesson in what is worth it and what is not when it comes to eating junk.
We don’t have tons of treats in our home but I don’t want them to feel like they never get treats to that when holidays come around, they have to gorge themselves to get all they can while the getting is good. I had a friend growing up who’s family never had candy or treats around the house (which I totally understand now) but any time there was a stash of candy anywhere, she would kind of turn into this sugar-crazed monster who couldn’t get enough candy.
I just want my kids to learn some balance. It’s hard for adults to learn balance if they didn’t learn it young so I’m doing the best I know how to in order to try to create balance and teach them to listen to their bodies. I know a lot of people do the switch-witch but because we didn’t start this when our older kids were small and we changed our lifestyle/eating habits drastically once my son was in second grade, we felt like we needed to make a compromise when it came to Halloween especially. This is the compromise we came to when it comes to how we do Halloween:
#1 We allow them trick-or-treat for as much and for as long as they are willing to treat-or-treat for. Our neighborhood has made it a rule that those who are passing out candy keep their porch lights on and turn them off when they’re done—so it’s not like our kids will be really going trick-or-treating all night long.
#2 When we first get home we weigh and write down how much candy they all got. This makes it fun for them and they do get a little competitive about it—to the point that they sometimes pick heavier candies at peoples’ houses when given a choice.
#3 After looking up what candy is safe allergy-wise for our kids, we let them keep as much of their candy as they want to keep. It is their “hard-earned” candy and I don’t want to create resentment between our kids and us parents. Then we re-weigh what is left to see how much they have left. Then we weigh the amount of what they are keeping and deduct it from the original weight.
#4 We pay our kids for their candy. And no, it’s not a $1 or $2 a pound. We pay them $5-$10 a pound so that they can get something good that they want for what they are willing to give to mom and dad (and then my husband takes it to his office for the candy drawer there). We use the original weight of the candy minus the amount they are keeping and times it by the amount per pound we are willing to spend (weight – keep x $5-10 = total amount of spending money).
#5 The day after Halloween, we take all our kids to the store of their choice and let them buy something that they want with their Halloween money. My kids LOVE this day. It’s fun to take all four of them to the store to figure out what they are wanting. Though, this year, I think my older kids may want to go on amazon and pick something else from their wish-lists, it’s fun for them to be able to have a chunk of cash that they can do whatever they want with and they feel like they’ve sacrificed to earn it too so they are learning that valuable lesson that it is worth it when we can sacrifice something we want now for something we want more.
This may not be a perfect solution when it comes to the candy of course. It’s a compromise. I give them something that they are excited about (money) and they in turn don’t eat as much candy which is low in nutrient value, full of sugar which is bad for their teeth, and has artificial colors which mess with my kids’ behaviors (I have one child who though generally calm gets quite aggressive when she has red 40). I like that our compromise takes the pressure off of me having to figure out something that will be an awesome gift from a switch witch, and they get to decide what they want to do with their money. It makes them feel like they have a choice as well which I like because it gives them a sense of empowerment which is a big positive—especially as my oldest is getting to the point where he’s not as excited about the “magical” stuff us as parents try to create.
Do you do anything different about the candy situation for Halloween? If so, what do you do?
The Fused Mama 