How To Prevent Halloween from becoming a Nutritional Nightmare
Imagine sitting down to eat a five-pound bag of sugar!!! That’s exactly what many of you and your children will do on Halloween.
While Halloween is an exciting night for kids, this night does not have to scare off good nutrition habits. So, how do you keep the holiday fun but make sure that you or your children do not overdo it when it comes to candy consumption?
The Most Important Step you can Take….
Set guidelines in advance of this special night.
1. Create a Candy Plan -
YOU can help your children control their candy consumption by having them dump all of their “goodies” onto the kitchen table (or floor) and then sorting them into three different piles:
- their favorites
- the ones they think are just so-so
- and ones they don’t really care for.
The goal of the three piles is to allow kids the chance to designate their favorites and give you the chance to combine candy into smaller packages so it’s not all eaten at one time.
2. Don’t Forget Dinner -
Some kids feel the need to try to eat all the candy on Halloween night, making for a barrage of calories, not to mention upset stomachs. Eating a full, nutritious dinner before trick-or-treating will also help reduce your little one’s appetite for Halloween handouts.
3. The Power of Choice -
Give your children the opportunity to learn about making healthier choices. Teach them to read and understand nutrition labels on their candy treats. When it’s their choice to “have” or “have not,” the temptations are usually not as great.
Focus on portion control rather than forbidding a little splurge! By allowing treats in moderation rather than eliminate them, children learn the importance of balanced eating will be better-equipped to manage their own diet as adults.
Fit Yummy Mummy Favorite!!!
4. The Halloween Fairy –
A creative twist to minimizing the sugar intake.
When the trick or treating is all over, spread the candy out on the kitchen table and have your child choose a few goodies he/she would like to keep and eat. Leave the rest of the candy in the middle of the kitchen table for the Halloween Fairy to take away. When your child wakes in the morning, the candy is gone and a surprise is sitting in its place.
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Tags: halloween candy, halloween sugar, halloween survival, healthy halloween tips
Great tips Holly! I Love handing out the little wedding bubbles for Halloween. Kids love bubbles, you can get 12 for $1 at the Dollar store and decorate with Halloween stickers!
We may try that candy fairy this year…
Thank you Holly for these great ideas. I knew I wanted Halloween to be different this year, I just wasn’t sure what to do. We are not going Trick or Treating but going to the church for a Harvest Festival and I had already planned to have dinner before going. There will be candy but also, games, and contests, and rides. I love the idea of putting their favorites and a pile and getting rid of the rest.
Thanks to good nutrition, I haven’t even been tempted by candy this year. But I am making Saturday a PI day and picking some of my favorites to enjoy also. I may not want any but I still have to plan, right?!?
The Halloween Fairy is a little more ruthless and sneaky in our house: each day when the kids leave for school, that naughty fairy takes a handful of candy and throws it in the trash can.
Once our girls have sorted through and selected their favorites, we take the rest to a local dentist who pays by the pound for the candy and sends the loot to troops overseas. We pull out the food scale and the girls often delve into their “keep” pile to reach the next pound on the scale because it means cash for them.
This could be done at home, too. Tell the kids you’ll buy their candy from them and send it to someone stationed overseas.
Thank you for all these ideas, Holly. We also have a local dentist who will give you a $1 per 1 pound of candy you bring in. He also gives the kids a little light up toothbrush and regular toothbrushes for the adults.
To help limit the candy deluge we also limit the # of houses we go to. Just our block, no where else. It may be a harder sell as they get older but hopefully they will have more nutition sense and moderation skills by then. The candy fairy comes out after bedtime in our house. But I like the idea of them selling their candy, more of a lesson for them I think. Then they could by a non-consumable treat (coloring stuff etc). Yep I really like that. Thanks
Great ideas! I love Halloween, more for the costumes and fun decorations then the treats. We go to our local zoo and they give out prizes instead of just candy. But I like the idea of decorating the yard for when my little ones are older. Thanks for the tips Holly!
We also limit the number of houses we go to – just a few family & neighbours. This way not only do I know that the candy they are getting is safe, we aren’t getting too much to deal with. We make a big deal of showing off their costumes and not such a big deal about the candy.
I love the great candy tips!
Another great way to get rid of all of the candy is to donate it to your child’s school! I know that I am collecting candy to use for special occasions for my students. I know candy isn’t always the best reward, but it is a nice treat every now and again for students.
The school I worked at last year actually donated the candy to schools that were in less fortunate areas. This is always an idea! The students wanted to send it overseas to soldiers, but there became a problem of the candy melting and we were told that rats could even get into it before it got to them.
Plenty of creative ideas other than slapping those candy calories right back on my body! (And I only had 3 pieces of candy the WHOLE day today – yippe!) : )