I am knocking at your door, not for some treats for my goody bag, because man-o-man, we have PLENTY of candies around the Jones abode! Thanks to great trick-or-treating weather and uber generous neighbors, the kiddos made out in boatloads this year!
We seriously have chocolates, gummies, suckers and chewies coming out of our ears around here.... And I honestly have no idea what to do with them all! I have no intentions of letting my fantastic threesome chomp down ALL of these goodies... but for now, I just tucked them all in a basket on the top shelf of our kiddie cabinet.
I am crossing my fingers it's not discovered, or at least that the kiddos don't try to ninja their way onto the counters and to the very top shelf of the cupboard...
I am looking for some additional advice from all of your creative minds out there. Any other ways to store all the sugar that was horded on Halloween? What are your uber awesome parenting tricks?
I'm not sure what to do about all this candy as we don't have any little ones to trick or treat and some would say we are to old :( but i love this kiddie cabinet you speak of, please tell me more. I also love those white dishes, where are they from and are they plastic?
ReplyDeleteWe have the same problem! We always make graham cracker houses at Christmas and buy a lot of candy for that project but this year I think we'll use our leftover Halloween candy. I also found this link on Baby Center for some more ideas:
ReplyDeletehttp://blogs.babycenter.com/life_and_home/10-delicious-ways-to-use-leftover-halloween-candy/
I also love Bakerella's (bakerella.com) site and might try using some of the candy for creative mini-treats from her site. :)
Ooh, I'm eyeing your Dots...I love them. I usually take a bunch and bring them into work and then I stash the rest high up like you did.
ReplyDeleteI heard an idea from someone last night that I really liked. She plays the "Switch Witch" with her little one. They pick out only his favorite pieces of candy to keep and lay out the rest on the table. Then in the middle of the night the Switch Witch comes and takes all the candy and replaces it with another treat (maybe a small toy or something). It's kind of a neat idea especially for the younger kids who can't possibly eat all the candy they get at Halloween. This way they get a little bit of candy (only their favorites) and a toy!
ReplyDeleteWe do the same as Anonymous, except it's the Great Pumpkin who comes to the house. Son gets to pick 10 pieces of candy, and the rest gets left outside his bedroom door. During the night the GP comes and takes his candy leaving (educational) toy(s) behind.
ReplyDeleteCheck with your local dentists. Some will buy the candy from the children.
ReplyDeleteMy mom always kept our candy hidden in her closet. Tucking them inside a random shoebox made it nearly impossible to find! We were allotted one piece per day and i'm pretty certain my dad ate most of it! haha
ReplyDeletexoxo
Jenn L @ Peas & Crayons
There are some great recipes in the October Real Simple magazine (I'm sure you can find the recipes on their website) for some of the candy at least. My husband is a teacher, so he takes all our extra candy to school to share with the staff.
ReplyDeleteput some in the freezer, snickers out of the freezer = heavenly. plus it takes longer to eat, longer to enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who was collecting leftover Halloween candy to send to the military. I just dropped off a huge bag. I think you can find out more online. I think there is one website called www.opgratitude.com that gives info on sending. We kept some for ourselves but talked with the girls about sharing it with others...win/win. :-)
ReplyDeleteThose DOTS do look really tempting. I keep ours in basket where they can get to it if they like. Usually the novelty wears off and I can dispose of it or save for gingerbread houses. My kids are older though and I don't worry about them over eating it. I don't like having it around me though. I'm the problem!! lol!!!
ReplyDeletePetie over at Inspired Nesting had some good ideas for leftover candy recipes.
http://www.inspirednesting.com/2010/11/leftover-halloween-candy-recipes.html
Maybe I'm a bad parent- but, I do let my kids eat it. Not all in one day, of course. At night I hide and and we play the HOT/COLD game to find where I hid it. :)
ReplyDeleteI heard a good tip about storing chocolate - sorry, can't remember which blog I read it on. Chocolate will keep in the freezer for up to 9 months. This mom stashes the chocolate in the freezer and uses it for stocking stuffers and then again at Easter. I'd have to exercise a lot of self-control to fully utilize this frugal tip.
ReplyDeleteOh, and Amber, you are NOT a bad mom. :)
I know this sounds probably wasteful, but one year I let them eat it for a day then I threw the rest away. My friend plays a game with hers. She has 7 children so in order to get the house clean. She calls it "Candy Fest" She pours all of their candy in one bucket. The kids clean the house she sets the timer for 5 min. and then the kids are aloud to gorge on candy for the 5 min and she also has a clean house. I did this one year and it worked out pretty well too.
ReplyDeleteDitto on Kathy's idea. I don't have kids but I do have a ton of candy left over that I didn't give out to trick-or-treaters. The radio station in my city is doing a "treats for troups" collection so to save me from myself, that's where my candy is going...well, some of it at least...
ReplyDeleteI'm also eager to hear about those dishes. Super cute.
Funny! I read your post this morning, and in the afternoon I got an email from Parenting.com with ideas!
ReplyDeleteHere's the link!
http://www.parenting.com/new/blogs/show-and-tell/25-things-do-all-halloween-candy?cid=enews110210
I let my six year old preform experiments with his...with supervision of course. We put them in water and let them sit overnigth and see what they look like in the morning, or microwave one to see what happens to it. He thinks it is pretty fun and he doesn't eat it all. Win win.
ReplyDeleteNoodles & Co. is giving a free small bowl to kids 12 and under if they bring in candy to trade. :o) Check www.noodles.com for locations.
ReplyDeleteMail it to me, problem solved! :)
ReplyDeleteOur church sponsors a "Room at the Inn" for the homeless every Tuesday night during from November through March. The church loves to take our leftover candy for the overnight guests to munch on, and the caretakers pack lunches, with added candy treats, for the guests to take with them the next morning when they leave.
ReplyDeleteYou all have given me SO many incredible, can't wait to try them, caring and creative ideas!! THANK YOU for all your comments {today and always}!
ReplyDeletexoxo,
Jen
I noticed your white dishes - did they replace the colored plastic dishes? I would love to hear more about the changes you made for your family following concerns about BPA. I am always looking for kid friendly alternatives.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Emily
Yes, it was definitely a BPA driven change in the kiddie cabinet, I will make sure to get a post written up about that asap! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks again everyone!
xo,
Jen
We let our 3 children (4th is not old enough yet) choose 10-15 pieces of candy and then leave the rest for The Great Pumpkin. The Great Pumpkin then leaves a small gift in return for all the wonderful candy it receives and takes it to the kids who weren't able to go trick-or-treating (so the story goes). The parents then secretly get to choose what they like and hide it for later - and I haven't yet figured out what to do with all the rest of it - throw it away? give it away? to whom? Anyway, that's what we do!
ReplyDeleteI read a teaching blog and she wrote a post with some experiments you can try with candy. She also includes info about a way you can donate leftover candy to troops overseas.
ReplyDeletehttp://blogs.scholastic.com/top_teaching/2010/11/candy-experiemnts-get-rid-of-your-halloween-candy.html
Can I ask one question then to you women that throw the candy out? Why do you even take the kids out trick-or-treating if you don't let them eat it?
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you just take your kids to a few houses? Then, I think the candy-problem is solved.
sorry if some one said this already, but i recently heard of the candy fairy.
ReplyDeletekids get to pick out like 10 of their favorite candies, the rest is left in a bag somewhere at bedtime. similar to the tooth fairy, she comes halloween night after the kids are sleeping. and exchange the candy for money, or a special prize gift for each kid. the candy fairy then takes it to the less fortunate.
some parents i'm sure eat it themselves, or store it to be divied out throughout the year, or do donates it to food banks.
You could try doing something like a "Friday Box" - a dessert treat one night a week?
ReplyDeleteI posted a comment about one we used to have when I was a kid ... here http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/2010/02/february-featured-space-kitchen-snack.html
:-)
Amber, I agree completely. My kids get to eat their candy, though obviously not all of it at one time. Each of our kids gets a bowl to keep their candy in... and it sits on top of the fridge until after dinner time, or treat time at which time they get to eat a few pieces. Better to not let them gather so much candy than to take away what they've been given.
ReplyDeleteI know I'm late to this post but I just saw it and wanted to tell you what I do with my kids' MASSIVE holiday candy stash.
ReplyDeleteI regift.
For Christmas, I "sprinkle" some extra candy in the gift bags. Shove some in their stockings.
For Valentine's Day, I make goodie baskets for my own kids as well as my two nieces. I incorporate leftover candy in their baskets {as well as Valentinish candy, of course}.
Just make sure you regift the stuff that ISN'T seasonal. You don't want to be caught giving Halloween Reeses on Valentine's Day. :)
As a young girl, I loved playing with Barbies...So, my dad would give me the option of 'trading in' the majority of my Halloween candy for a Barbie doll, coloring book, or something...I always liked that idea, and will definitely do that when I have my own children someday!
ReplyDelete