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A Confectionary Question.

I have been so hit and miss this week due to a wretched illness that hit our home - first striking baby boy and then me! But we are both almost at 100% and back among the living! We have been shut-in's for a solid week, with the exception of a fun evening out for a Trunk or Treat ... more on that next week.

But today, I have a question.

Candy.

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We have lots and lots of candy that Levi gathered up from the Trunk or Treat, and there is more in our future. Levi still insists on getting "potty treats" (even though he's been trained for months - I swear he's going to want them until he's 8), so I have been using the little bites of his trick or treat candy for potty treats since Wednesday. (I usually don't use candy as treats, but now that I have a plethora, I have been.) I know a lot of parents let their children go hog wild on their candy when they get home from trick or treating and others limit to a couple of pieces a day.

Oh this candy - this multiplying candy. I was wondering what y'all do with your trick or treat candy. Do you let your kiddos gobble up as much as they can handle for one night? Do you limit to a couple pieces until it's gone? Do you let them have some and then give the rest away? Or do you do something totally different?

I don't think my child is old enough yet to get more than I want to let him have, because trust me, he'd never stop eating it. And I don't want this baby to get cavities, so I'm always running around brushing those little teeth after he eats a piece.

Hmmm.

Maybe I'm paranoid? Maybe I'm over thinking it? Tell me your policy on Trick or Treat candy!
I am a modern day homemaker with a passion for family, cooking, celebrating, decorating, travel, and memory making! The Lord has blessed me with the desires of my heart in my husband and our two sons. We recently built our dream home and cultivating a loving and happy haven for my family is where I find so much joy.

Comments

  1. We all eat it over the course of many months. I teach school, so sometimes I take the candy to school. A lot of times we end up throwing a bunch away. I'm not a big fan of candy in general, and my son would literally eat himself sick if I let him.

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  2. I don't have any kids of my own (yet) but when I was growing up we each got to pick one treat from our candy at night if we were good and ate our dinner. It seemed like more of a treat to us then and it was exciting to dump it out and decide what to have. Plus then it lasted longer!

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  3. We ration it out over several days...weeks. I give away candy that is "choke" worthy before my 3 year old gets a good look at her stash. Then she can choose one or two pieces each day after supper or with snack. My youngest is 16 months, and bless her little heart, she just doesn't get much... a sucker and some m&m minis is about all she gets passed down. Then we try to give the rest away...especially so mommy and daddy don't eat it all!!

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  4. I let them have a little bit on Trick or Treat night and a little bit from their school party..but then they have to choose their favorite candy that goes into a zip loc bag and we "buy" back the rest of the candy with either some money or something special that I know that they would like...a book, once a cd, etc and that candy is taken to my husband's work and put in the cafeteria for all to enjoy. I know if we had so much candy here all the time that they would want to eat it until it's gone and that I probably would too. Some dentist offices around here do the same thing and pay per pound of candy.

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  5. I sometimes will hand some of the candy back out (re-gifting, if you will), then I let them have a few pieces for a few days after Halloween. After a few days, I take it up to our peds dentist who does a campaign for $1/pound of candy brought in, then they send the candy to the troops overseas. The dollars go into the girls' piggy banks and all is sugar free again! :)

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  6. Our daughter loves the experience of getting tons of candy! We get home after trick or treating and quickly dump out the candy. She gets to pick out some favorites, and I pick some of mine and then the rest goes in the bowl with the candy we are going to hand out. She then loves passing out the candy to the rest of the kids.

    I see it as teaching sharing with others and it also gets it out of my house! WIN! I NEVER have candy in the house. So we get about 5 pieces to eat the next couple of days. Both Momma and daughter are happy! YAY! :)

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  7. When both of my kids went trick or treating we always had tons of candy. I picked out the non halloween packaged pieces & saved it for stockings at Christmas.

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  8. We pick out our favorites that night and have a few then. We then fit what we can in each of our jars and keep it for special times. The elementary school nearby has a festival shortly after Halloween and we donate the candy for prizes. The kids are told we are donating to children who don't get candy for halloween.

    We are trying to teach sharing and not allow the kids (really more me) not to eat so much!

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  9. How funny, my 2 year old still doesn't quite understand candy. We really don't ever have any in the house and when I do (yes, I have a secret stash every now and then) I'm pretty reluctant to let him have any. We do have baked goods pretty often, though, and with that I'm definitely of the opinion that he gets a treat (max 2) a day. When it's around. So he doesn't get a ton of sugar. I agree with you - I think our boys are too young to have unrestrained access. I think the problem with rationing it out is that it can last forever. I'd probably rather let him have his treats for a week or so and then be done with it. I *definitely* wouldn't feel bad eating the rest. ;)

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  10. I let mine eat what they want at the trunk or treat festival and then the next day they get to pick 10 pieces. They can eat it at once or save it, it's up to them, but when the 10 pieces are gone, it's gone. (I do monitor how much the youngest has at one time) My oldest has a birthday a few weeks after halloween so we bag up the rest and send it home with everyone else in their treat bag!

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  11. I think I'm going to want to limit it a little bit. It's more fun if it lasts longer.

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  12. We all eat the candy slowly over many months, so it seems to work out well. I've heard some other suggestions:
    1) Have kids pick out their favorites and then "buy back" the rest for a special toy or experience.
    2) Have kids pick out their favorites, and then send the rest in a care package to troops over seas.
    3) In our area the dentist office trades candy for cash, someone might do something like that in your area.

    Also, in regards to potty treats, when my daughter was trained yet still requesting treats, we'd set a time for a random amount of time. If we were home when it went off and her underpants were dry, then she'd get a treat. So treats were for staying dry rather than pottying. We could make longer and longer time periods between timers and soon she'd forgotten all about it.

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  13. Do you do Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes? Anything that isn't chocolate can be used in those! Also we save the rest for our trips to the cheap movies in the summer time. Each kid picks out one or two pieces to put in my purse to take with us. Totally against the rules, I know.

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  14. The Halloween Fairy! The kids get 10 pieces of candy to keep and put the rest in a bowl at the foot of their beds. Then the halloween Fairy comes and changes it into a toy.

    I heard a celebrity talking about it on a talk TV show last week.

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  15. This may sound totally "Teachery" of me, but I would do some math with the candy. Ask him to sort it by color (or something else), then count all of the piece of a certain color. Or ask him how many reese's cups there are total. You can also take and add candy for addition and subtraction. Always good start early. As far as your question--I have no idea. I don't have any kids! Sorry! :) Good luck1

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  16. I was allowed to eat tonnes on halloween night only (but usually didn't, keep that in mind) and then I would stretch my candy out, no joke: until easter. I don't remember it being horribly stale but I'm sure it was.

    My cousin secretly throws out about 1/2 of it before his kids get too attached to the idea of limitless candy.

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  17. A few days after Halloween, on a random night....the Candy Fairy comes and takes the candy at our house....they anticia\pate this and look forward to it. It is kind of like our precursor to The Elf on the Shelf coming at Thanksgiving! Of course, I take out all the good candy for us befor the Candy Fairy comes :)

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  18. When my kids were younger, I would let them have a couple of pieces a day, while slowly stashing the pile. I used it to make Christmas Countdown jars or calendars.

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  19. First thing, our kids are pretty young, ranging from 2-6, so we don't let them get a ton of candy to begin with. For about a half an hour after we've trick or treated they can eat as much as they want!!!! I just let them go crazy with it! They've had so much fun collecting it, I don't have the heart to just put it away. Half the fun is eating the candy, since it's something they don't get that often. After that (and a major teeth brushing session), I pick out the best of the goodies and put them away for special treats (or for mommy and daddy to eat ;). The rest, I just toss. It's kind of interesting to see what the kids will choose!

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  20. One of the magazines (Disney or Parents) suggests dividing it up through the month of November. You make a calendar with little cups, and each cup has a little candy in it.

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  21. when i was little we were allowed to eat some (but not go hog-wild) on halloween night. then allowed one or two pieces after supper each night. then it just sort of disappeared. i think my mom gave it away to church to use in children's church! i think that's what i'll do with my daughter when she gets older...

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  22. I let my littles (4 and 2) have a few pieces the night of, then we combine it all and let them have a piece or two after dinner each night for as long as it lasts. This seems to work great, seeing as they really aren't old enough not to gorge themselves.

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  23. My kiddos are 5 and 7 and I STILL don't want them to have all their candy. We let them have some on Halloween night (not a free for all but about 4 or 5 pieces) and then I put a bowl on the kitchen counter with each of their candy in it. Over the next week they can have a piece after school and one after dinner and then at night I throw away a few pieces as well. We have a policy that 2 weeks after the holiday all leftover candy is tossed. So at that point, I let them each pick two last pieces and then toss it.

    This only works because 1) they don't notice me throwing it out and 2) they are not "candy" kids who ask me for it all the time. It's a fine line because I don't want them to have too much sugar but I also don't want them to feel deprived. I know it will change as they get bigger but for us this works now. : )

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  24. I saw this last year and loved it!!

    http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/recipe-collections-favorites/desserts/10-ideas-halloween-candy-00000000042300/index.html

    "10 Ideas for Halloween Candy"

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  25. Ahhhhh, I love trick or treat, but hate the mass amounts of candy after. We go thru it and keep all that we like, and then I bring the rest into work and put in our lunchroom for who ever wants it. Gunner is allowed a couple pieces on trick or treat night, and then ONE piece a day, if he eats dinner good. Sounds horrible, I know, but when his belly is full of sugar it's torterous on all involved, and he just doesn't feel good. Now that he's 6 and I explain to him that he feels better when he has good food in his belly, it's helping. It's just not fair for kiddos to have a belly full of sugar.

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  26. I put most of it in 'the dessert bag' on the pantry floor. Then any time the kids would normally get a dessert or treat, they go and rifle through the bag and choose one.

    It has lasted all year in past years, and I go through it to throw out the old stuff before I add a new year's Halloween haul. Nothing really looks or tastes stale, I just like a fresh start.

    The parents choose quite a few of our favorites as a 'tax' and that goes into our treat box -- which also usually lasts a whole year.

    Chips are stored separately from the candy and used up sooner as ordinary shared snack food.

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May the Lord bless you and keep you safe today! Thanks for the comment, friends! :)