Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween (or what to do with all the candy?)

About 4 hours or so until the big night of Trick or Treating begins. R is giddy, G is playing along, not really knowing what this whole mess is all about and I am about to go finish the rest of our Pumpkin Cookies to take to some neighbors tonight.

The cookies were a huge hit at the preschool party yesterday. Here is a picture of R and some of his classroom buddies:


R is the one scavenging in his treat bag, wearing the yellow fire fighter jacket. After the parade, we went into his classroom to help get his costume off so the teachers could begin the day. G, convinced he is 1 going on 5, decided that pre-K circle time was for him too:


Notice his, "what are you looking at, mommy?" glare.

Last year we let R have a fair amount of candy on Halloween night and then rationed him to one or two pieces a day after nap/quiet time each day, as long as he was on fairly good behavior. Of course, a few pieces here and there mysteriously disappeared every now and then, usually during nap time.

What's your take on Halloween candy? I have heard of all sorts of approaches, but what I described above worked for us last year.

Sweet Eats,
SPC

12 comments:

Cheffie-Mom said...

Happy Halloween! My youngest is 14. So we will not be trick or treating this year. We did make tons of pumpkin seeds last night! Yummy! It was too much fun! Adorable pics!

Slacker Mama said...

We are very similar to you guys. Tonight's a free-for-all. After that, a piece or two a day. I also will remove a piece or two a day to help things along -- generally stuff they won't eat (Necco Waffers) or I'm totally against/choking hazards (hard candies).

Apparently, this has sunk in with E...at the b-day party on Saturday, the Belle impersonator asked if everyone liked candy. She raised her hand and yelled, "I do but I'm only allowed one treat a day." Go figure!

JerseyBaby said...

Thta's exactly what we do. Gorge tonight, and then move to a piece or two a day plan until it is gone and/or disappears.
Happy treating!

Tabitha Blue said...

Yeah, I like the eating a good amount that night... then a piece or two day after that. They don't need that much candy. :) And... I might have a piece or two myself!

Deep in the Heart said...

We're on the same schedule. I'll probably steal Slacker Mama's idea of churning the left overs into ice cream. Mmmm. Whopper ice cream is my fave.

Love the picture of G. Talk about a picture saying a thousand words.

Slacker Mama said...

Oh...Jenn just reminded me of The Great Heath Bar Surplus of '04. Man those were some good batches of ice cream.

Of course...we do have 3 boxes of Thin Mints in the house. A sleeve is all you need for a batch. MMMMMMM!

Sweet Pea Chef said...

Oh, I could do some serious ice cream making damage. Good idea!

Renee said...

Last year we rationed the candy out and we (the parents) ate a good bit of it. I will let them each have some tonight and then hide the rest and probably give them each one piece after dinner (if they have eaten well and behaved well).

I love the preschool pictures. In Wesley's class of 12 kids, three were Spider Man. My less than two year old daughter always wants to join his class.

The Mrs. said...

So cute!!!! Landon's not into candy so no troubles there yet...but I will be rationing for sure!

Anonymous said...

I PLAN to ration, but execution may be difficult. My oldest is 10 and they are very aware of how many pieces they have every minute. I did start though saying if they leave a candy wrapper on the floor, they owe me a piece of candy.

emstitt said...

I secretly remove my favorites for personal rewards for being a good Mom. :) We'll let her have one piece of candy a day after that. She trick or treated three times (once at my Grandma's nursing home, once in Hilliard, once in Columbus), so there is a lot to choose from!

Amer21 said...

I guess I'm lucky that Evan can't have the chocolate because of his milk allergies. What he can't have I eat!! He did get some candy that he likes but we do try to limit it. He actually forgets he has it and requests some now and then. He's probably a little young still to appreciate it all. Suckers and gummy bear-like-things are his favorite these days. Skittles too!! Looks like you guys had fun.