A New Look at Halloween
Many of the parents originally felt stumped by Halloween, the Queen of all sugar holidays. But they are getting creative. Vicki is making changes in the treats she offers:
Last year I bought little things, like pencils, cheap Harry Potter glasses, the Halloween long scary fake fingernails, things from the birthday gift aisle at Wal-Mart, etc. and put them in little gift bags tied with a ribbon. My son helped me put them together. We just did a few each night for about a week. I spent a little more than I would have on candy, but I didn't feel guilty about handing them out. I gave a bag to a few friends' kids and they loved them, so I am assuming that the kids at the door liked them too.
Here are some other goodies our moms give out:
- Small packets of pencils
- Microwave popcorn from Costco
- Small toys from Oriental Trading Company (you can buy these on line or through their catalogue)
- Small bags of pretzels
- Small bags of Goldfish
- Packets of cheese or peanut butter crackers
Gail actually “buys” her girls’ candy - she purchases the candy from them in exchange for cash, which they use to buy things they really want, like music CDs. She got a number of the other parents intrigued by this idea. Vicki liked it a lot:
For the past two years, I have bought back my kids' candy. I will give them $15 each and they would much rather have the money than the candy. Originally, I let them pick out 5 pieces that they could have with meals, but not all at once. This year I am going to tell them that I will buy all their candy for $20. Even the five pieces is making me uncomfortable now. Of course that doesn't mean they won't sneak some while they are out trick-or-treating, but at least I am making a dent!.
Melanie now does a sugar-free Halloween party with finger foods and games. She holds a costume contest and then the kids all make jack-o-lanterns together. No one even thinks about the candy any more. Maggi does the same in a big way:
I decided that we would make our Halloween tradition about the pumpkin carving and the costume. That way, there is a special trip to pick out the pumpkin, carve it and eat dinner in the dark by pumpkin candlelight on Halloween.
The other thing I had always wanted to do was to teach my son how to sew -- he picks out his costume, we go to the fabric store, pick out patterns, he chooses the fabric and we sew it together (that means I do 90 percent of the work, and he sews a few straight seams, pins the pattern and pins fabric...).
This has worked great, as he has costumes for dramatic play that are really nice that he uses all the time throughout the year. The costumes this way are a little pricey and very labor intensive for mom, but his cool midnight blue with silver trim wizard costume will be treasured for many years.
Janie raised yet another alternative. She and her family simply are simply not going to do Halloween.
We decided we are going to go to the Grand Canyon! We will stay a couple of days and then drive the whole way back on Halloween. So we will miss the stupid holiday all together and not have to worry about it. I will, of course, talk to them about all the fun we will be having on our trip, and all the fun things we will be doing instead of trick or treating.
From Little Sugar Addicts
(c)Kathleen DesMaisons 2006. All rights reserved.
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