After Trick-or-Treating: What to Do with the Mountains of Candy

By NYMetroParents Staff October 26, 2013

I can remember my first year of being a new mom, holding my sweet little Cowardly Lion in my arms, then only three weeks old. I silently vowed to myself that I would protect him from all the bad things in the world, including the loads of sugar that goes hand-in-hand with Halloween. Now here we are, five years later, and my opinions have certainly changed! [caption id="attachment_5736" align="alignleft" width="261"]

The author's son gets into the spooky spirit[/caption] I wholeheartedly understand the concern that parents have with shielding our kids from sugar—after all, too much isn't very good for us. But there are also times, like Halloween, where kids just want be kids, and we should let them enjoy themselves. Our little ones are going to grow up with vivid memories from their childhood, and since my son's first Halloween, I've vowed to make sure that his memories are wonderful. I don’t want my little man to think of Halloween and instantly picture me dumping his candy bag in the garbage. So on this very special night, my son is allowed to break the rules and indulge a little! But on Nov. 1, we need to get back on track and revisit our normal, healthy routine. What’s a mom to do with all that candy?! I know: There are mountains of it. In order to make sure our little ones aren’t living on a sugar high for the next two weeks straight, we need to figure out some way to navigate the Candy Land that our homes turn into. Here are some easy tricks that I have learned over the years to avoid these problems:

Freeze the pieces you want to keep. We all know that all Halloween candy are NOT treated equally. Let your kids go through their stash and choose their top 10 favorites, throw them in a large ziplock bag with their name on it, and stick it in the freezer. (Ed. note: Bonus: We think Reese's Cups taste even better frozen!)
Sell it. Yes, you read that correctly! There is a wonderful program called Halloween Candy BuyBack that actually allows kids to sell their candy back for $1 per pound that can be redeemed through coupons, gift cards, or dental goodie bags!
Donate it. There are numerous places that would be really happy to take your unwanted Halloween candy such as local firehouses, shelters, or even your local police station.
Experiment with it. It might sound crazy, but you will get sick of eating all that Halloween candy, and will want to do something else with it (since there is SO much!). There are many websites online that are filled with tutorials for fun science experiments that you can do with the whole family to get rid of all the extra Halloween candy.

What do you do with the mountain of leftover Halloween Candy? About the Author: Allison Cooper is a freelance writer living in New York City with her husband and 5 year old son. She is the founder and head writer for the website Project Motherhood, where she blogs about balancing her love for family, fashion, and living in the big city. You can connect with Allison on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

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