Managing Your Kids' Candy Craze on Halloween

I don’t know about other households, but my kids (ages 9, 3 and 1) have been talking about Halloween since July. In fact, my daughter decided she wanted to be a witch this year and we ordered her costume back in August. If you ask kids what their favorite part about Halloween is—besides dressing up in cool costumes—their answer is mostly likely going to revolve around … you guessed it: candy!

I know one of the biggest challenges I have at my house is figuring out how to keep the candy to a minimum. I’m fine with letting my kids pick out a few of their favorite pieces (we usually let them keep 10 pieces), but I can’t
have 4 pounds of candy just hanging out at my house. That screams cavities, poor eating habits and too much temptation for me. So instead of doing a bunch of research online, I decided to conduct my own research and ask moms and dads how they manage their Halloween candy.

Becki from Scripps Ranch said:

“I can’t let my kids have a bunch of candy in the house because I will just eat it all. That’s not good for me or for my relationships with my kids. They aren’t too happy when I eat their candy. I allow my kids, to pick out 15 pieces of candy and then I buy the rest off of them. I will give them each $5. They are thrilled to have a little candy and money and I’m thrilled because I get the candy out of the house. I usually donate it to a charity collecting Halloween candy.”

Molly from Rancho Bernardo explained that she gives her kids a few pieces of candy and lets them eat it over the course of the next week, but after that the candy finds its way into the trash or a donation center.

A busy mother of five (including triplets) in San Diego said:

“My philosophy is may be different than most. I let my kids have their Halloween candy. They can sort it, put it into piles, whatever they want to do. I know that they are going to be crazy for candy for a few days, but every year my kids just get over their candy. I just found a bag of candy from last year in my son’s room. He forgot it was there and never ate it.”

Jim from San Diego said:

“We take our kids to a community trick-or-treating event on Halloween afternoon, then we take most of the candy they collect and give it out to other trick-or-treaters that night. That way we don’t end up with too much candy. I always let my kids have a bag of candy at the end of the night, but then we donate the rest.”

There are lots of different ways to manage your candy, but at the end of the day you have to do what is best for your family. I suggest deciding what your game plan is before the candy starts flowing in, that way your kids are not surprised or shocked if the candy suddenly starts disappearing. The last thing you need it is a fight on your hands with a kid loaded up with sugar.

If they know what is coming and know the expectations, then they will be more likely to comply with the plan.