Halloween: Candy and Chocolate and….Fruit Leathers?

I’ve never been a huge fan of Halloween.  I know…weird.

As a child, I dreaded coming up with a clever costume.  This became an even bigger challenge when I wanted the costume to be easy, comfortable, and of course, cute.

Oddly, with these requirements, year after year I ended as a football player with my brother’s jersey and shoulder pads…or of course, there was always the hobo.

As an adult, with a 6-year-old son who can’t WAIT for Halloween, I’ve had to change my ways.  I’ve embraced the Halloween traditions, and this year will be going as Princess Lea to accompany Max in his Star Wars costume.  Not sure how I’m going to pull off those crazy buns on the side of my head!

I have another concern this Halloween.  As a Nutritionist, I struggle with what to hand out to trick-or-treaters.  When I ask my niece and nephew for ideas, they roll their eyes when I suggest things like naturally sweetened jelly beans or fruit leathers.

The reason I ask them, and not Max, is because Max never really cared about Halloween candy.  It wasn’t that I brainwashed him out of it!  It’s just that we don’t keep candy in the house, and it’s never offered as dessert or as a reward.   So if I’d suggested fruit leathers, he’d have said, “Sure mom, that sounds great.”

But times have changed.  This year I told Max I wanted to hand out something healthy, and he looked at me with total horror and said, “Mom, no one is going to come to our house if they know you are handing out fruit leathers!”

At first I thought, “Okay, who got to my son and told him to like candy?!”

Then, in moving away from this irrational thinking, I realized I needed to look at Halloween differently if I was going to meet Max where he is.

So I applied my philosophy of “Small Change, Big Impact”, and asked, “What are the small changes that we can make on the day of Halloween, that will have big impact results the day after?”

If Max and I can take on these small changes, then I can celebrate with him and have fun, knowing that we are still being mindful of our choices.

Here’s what I came up with.  Please feel free to use them with your family:

• Choose your 10 favorite pieces of candy, and limit to one piece per day until the10 pieces are gone. No, this is not torture. This is discipline and this is love. Sugar decreases immunity and is linked to increased rates of obesity and diabetes in children.

• Max, having been exposed to candy more often through school and friends, has a love for Kit Kat’s and Hershey’s kisses.  So, I’ll stick to our rule, making sure that candy is offered after the veggies are eaten.

• Set an example by handing out alternatives to traditional candy. Consider non-edible treats like stickers or Pokemon cards. Girls will grab for the stickers, where boys will choose the cards.

• If you hand out edible treats, try little organic chocolates (where part of the money goes to benefit the rainforest), individual packages of hot cocoa, or spare change and coins. Some kids actually collect money for charity on Halloween night!

• Parents should have a good idea of what their kids have collected and how much candy they are eating on that one occasion.  Remember, you are in control of the process.  Allow your kids to celebrate, but don’t use Halloween as an excuse to let your kids go outside what you know to be best.

• Kids often follow in their parents’ footsteps, so if you don’t pig out on Halloween, you’re more likely to set limits for your kids too.

Here are some quotes from some of Max’s friends when we asked them what happened last year when they ate too much candy:
“I felt sick all night,” said Ethan, 7.

“I got a huge headache after eating way too much candy and had to go to sleep early,” said Peyton, 11.

“My whole body felt really bad, I laid in bed until I felt better, and didn’t do that again,” said Aliyah, 10.

“When I had eaten extremely too much candy, I puked on my dad when he answered the door,” Jakob, 6.

Luckily, Max has limits and he really does savor one Kit Kat and calls it quits.

We decided that this year we’ll hand out Hershey’s kisses.  I’m pushing for dark chocolate, Max wants “regular”…so we’re still in debate.  At least I’m not “that mom” who embarrasses her son by handing out fruit leathers (although, go for it if you can get away with it).

Have fun!