Moms Talk: Halloween Candy Madness

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This week's question:

How do you handle Halloween candy in your homes? Is it a free for all after trick-or-treating? Does it all get donated? Do you trick-or-treat at all?

At our house we do not open that gigantic bag of Halloween candy until the 31st (I may open it around lunchtime and sneak a few treats, but absolutely NOT before the 31st!). Any leftover candy goes directly to my husband's office on November 1st - I want it out of the house!

Our children are young so they don't go to very many houses -- maybe a dozen at most -- and they only take one or two pieces, so they don't really collect that much candy. We keep it somewhere high in their little pumpkin pails and let them choose a piece or two at a time. We aren't crazy about monitoring the candy consumption but it is definitely not a free for all.

Yes, yes, we trick or treat. The amount of loot that our little ones will get -- a three-year-old and a one-and-a-half-year-old -- will be inherently limited by their little legs and the fact that they’ll only make it to a handful of houses. I imagine our seven-year-old will collect quite a bit more. 

In our house we limit desert to only a few evenings a week – Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday to be exact – so as to eliminate the nightly request for desert and the frequent wining when that request is not granted. Knowing they only get desert those nights means they don’t ask on the other nights. Leading up to Halloween we have very little in our house in the way of desert selections. I think there’s a little ice cream in the fridge and maybe a lollipop or two in the cabinets.

I ate the last two popsicles late night earlier this week, don’t tell. So, the kids will enjoy a piece or two of their trick-or-treat candy on Halloween and then we’ll use the remaining candy for desert on our dedicated desert nights. They can have one piece on any of those nights. Inevitably, the interest in it wanes over time and I end up throwing out or taking to work the remains of the candy, but I imagine they’ll enjoy it for a few weeks. 

Jennifer Nordin: My kids are young enough that we can limit trick-or-treating to just a handful of houses, which means just a handful of candy. For them, it's just as fun to see the kids in costume come to our door. We'll let them have a few pieces of candy on Halloween night, and then put the rest away for later. 

"Later" may never arrive because they often forget what's in the pantry. And if they do remember, I will let them have one or two pieces, if I haven't eaten all the candy first!

Amy Zawatsky: We happen to love sweets in our home. Both my husband and I grew up having dessert every night after dinner. Therefore, Halloween is pretty exciting. 

In the past, our daughter seemed to "forget" about the candy after a few days, but now that she is seven-years-old, this will probably change.

Normally, we allow her to have one or two sweets per day. After a meal, she has to have a fruit with her "sweet." We also try to teach our daughter not to label foods or candy as "good" or "bad." 

It's kind of like, "Stay out of the cookie jar..." then the kids run to the jar when mom isn't looking.   

Regarding donating the candy, I always mentally plan to donate a large portion of our candy, but have not yet followed through.  I think this Halloween would be a good time to start!

Still curious about parenting during Halloween? And if your child has a with Heidi Klum.