I did not raise my kids in the US, so did not face this with them, but I do remember my mom hating Halloween. I was a fat kid, and she felt that the holiday was a disaster. I resented her attitude, and loved enjoying the candy for weeks. Her attempts to talk me out of trick or treating, or to not eat the candy made me want it all that much more. So if we are talking about damage control, it's imprtant to see the big picture and consider a child's psyche and future implications of our behavior for the child. Sometimes what we consider wise and rationale just leaves our kids angry and feeling as if they have no control. Sadly, sometimes just being like everyone else is the best way to go.

well growing up we were allowed to keep the candy in our rooms and use our own good judgment about how much we should eat and when- and you know what? neither me nor my brother are overweight and the candy often lasted until way after the new year most of the time till Easter. It became a contest of sorts to see who could make theirs last the longest. I think that especially with older kids we really need to give them the power to decide. As for the younger kids rationing may be the best way. You give them  a few peices at lunch and tell them that is it for the whole day and let them decide how fast to gobble it down- teaches them self control.

This list sounds like it should be titled "What to steal from your kids halloween candy that will make you feel the least guilty". But seriously, after that first night with all the excitement most kids don't have a problem eating a more reasonable amount of candy in the following days/weeks. Then again when I was a kid I couldn't seem to stop myself and my candy was always gone long before my brothers.

Honestly, the age and maturity of the child should factor in more than anything when you decide how much control your child should have over when and how much they can eat. Honestly I think it would have helped me to have my parents dole out a certain amount each day so I could learn to savor a small amount of sweets, instead of indulging until I was sick. I struggled with weight through junior high/high school and still struggle with my eating habits on stressful days. I'm by no means blaming it on halloween candy, but it's those little lessons you learn through life that help shape your habits as an adult.

I think Halloween is Halloween. Most kids have good eating habits throughout the whole year (appart from birthdays and holidays) and that's just what Halloween is, a holiday. My best souvenirs are from Halloween and my mother never pressured us in being guilty for eating too much candy on that night. If you wish for your child to eat less candy, then buy a jack'o'lantern that's small kids sized and go back home when it's filled up. that way, it won't be a pillow case full ! (just don't include the chips in the jack'o since they take all the place and it wouldn't be fair for the kid. Bring a grocery bag where you can put them until you get home !

When I was a kid my mom would confiscate our candy and then dole it out to us in small portions , many times making it last until Christmas.  Well, my brother and I would constantly get in trouble trying to find our candy, begging her for our candy, whining about our candy... after all, we went door to door begging for it, it was ours, right?  And that is hardly the time of year when kids need to have a stash of candy, what with Thanksgiving and Christmas back to back.

My kiddo- I let her gorge on it that first night, then I encourage her to take it to school to trade and share with her friends, I let her have at it for her snack after school, and if I'm lucky, it's gone within three days to a week, and the whole thing is over, I don't have to hear about it anymore, and I'm not tempted to be a bad mother and raid her chocolate stash after she's gone to bed at night and have a little gorging session, myself.  Personally, I just want it gone as fast as possible!  She has a few days of bad choices and bellyaches and then I get her right back on the healthy eating train with me.  

Let kids be kids- they've got to at least sometimes, right?  Halloween comes but once a year!

I agreee with Kurichan. What awful candies to give out! I LOVE mini snickers, candy corn and mini hersheys. That's what I give out, and indulge in myself....just one! (at a time)

I do not care for the advice in the article one bit! Aren't we always talking about making healthy lifestyle choices and not being extreme in any one area so that the healthy lifestyle isn't difficult too stick to? Halloween is my favorite holiday and if I have to give up enjoying it to it's fullest (which includes mini Twix and Reese's) then I will give up right now! My plan is to have an awesome Halloween, split all of my kid's chocolate between me and hubby (our kid likes only those candies listed ) and recover the next day by returning to calorie counting and healthy food choices. One night is not going to ruin my efforts! Also by allowing my son to go hog wild with candy OD on Halloween night he gets a lot of it out of the way and is usually bored with it in a few days, we take the left overs to work and school.

Please don't ruin Halloween, I feel it is attacked enough, especially in my community, for being "evil". Thanksgiving is far worse for healthy eating and not nearly as fun!

Most of those candies, even with the low calorie counts to justify eating them, contain chemical food dyes, which have been shown to cause allergic reactions in some and hyperactivity in children.  If I knew the dangers when my kids were little I don't think I'd allow all that colorful crap. Well maybe just one or two on Halloween only.

I usually buy candy that I do not like myself so that I won't be tempted, if I did by something that I liked I would take it to work on Nov. 1 and put it in the office candy dish which was not near me. This year I have purchased small packages of pretzels that are right now in a sealed container and won't be opened until Sunday, October 31 so I think I am pretty safe this year as are the kids. Cheryl Ahuja, Marietta GA

Mary_RD...coming from another RD, I completely agree!  Besides the nutrition/weight issue, I've had several dentist recommend letting them eat all they want on Halloween rather than rationing it that night and then putting the rest away.  What they've said is that it is better for their teeth to eat it at once than a little every day. 

One really neat idea that a dentist in my area does is a "candy buyback". Kids can bring in their candy and "sell" it to the dentist for $1 per pound. I believe last year he sent the candy overseas to the troops. So after one night of munching on sweets... the kids are eager to sell their candy and go to the store!

It's funny, I loved candy as a kid, especially chocolate. My kids, on the other hand, don;t like chocolate, only most of the disgusting artifically colored, corn syrup filled goo listed in this article! (my personal "favorite" is when a bag of junk like that has a proud label proclaiming "fat free"!) To each his own, I guess!

My kids can let a bowl full of candy sit for days, weeks, months, until I finally get rid of it. (Luckily these days I get rid of it by bringing it in to work rather than shovelling it in my mouth!) I believe one of the reasons why they have little interest in candy is because it;s never been a forbidden food or doled out in our house. Kids being kids saying you can only have one piece makes it so much more appealing! Mine are allowed to eat all they want, they'll eat a lot the first night, less and less over the next few days, and finally it will just sit there.

Just my two cents!

Laura

I never cared much about the candy as a kid.  I got excited for the McDonald's certificates!  My mom had us convinced that McDonald's was far too expensive (but somehow the local diner was not...) so the only time that we got to go was when we had the certificates.  She could not use the "expensive" excuse if we had free hamburger and cookie coupons!

Well i don't have children, so i won't be handing out any candy, or going trick or treating. I will just go to a deli/corner store, and by 1 bite size candy, and maybe 1 lollipop. Another alternative is to find some popcorn that i can pop that has no butter. That will be great for the scary movies i watch.

Thanks for the tips!!!!!

I agree with having candy on hand helps children see that you will have to deal with it every day of your life!  My brother and his wife always forbid candy in their home so when their kids visited grandma, it was a free for all!  They looked everywhere for it..  When I had children of my own, I used the same technique of having it available and with the exception of M&Ms, we all could walk away from the temptations of candy that appeared in our house.  Empowerment is key because it is something we (kids as well) all have to see and be able to make a wise decision about for the rest of our lives.

Giving candy power is the ultimate downfall.

happy Halloween and if we could only get rid of the Reese's pumpkins I could skip it!!

I think it's a good opportunity to teach your children portion control, there's no reason to have to completely avoid a certain food that happens a couple times a year, you just have to adjust your choices, have one snickers mini ( not 5), I'm not even sure why all the sugar filled candies listed are so much better, yes they have less calories but they're a dentists dream and a perfect sendoff to a diabetic lifestyle. Teach the kiddos that some junk food is ok as long as it's in small amounts on rare occasions.

Original Post by: 13lisa

Most of those candies, even with the low calorie counts to justify eating them, contain chemical food dyes, which have been shown to cause allergic reactions in some and hyperactivity in children.  If I knew the dangers when my kids were little I don't think I'd allow all that colorful crap. Well maybe just one or two on Halloween only.

Don't most of the foods we eat contain harmful chemical food dyes? And I'm pretty sure that sugar and caffeine also causes hyperactivity in children.

Just sayin'.

This year I have bought Old Dutch Popcorn Twists to give out.  Only 60 calories per bag and just cornmeal, oil & salt in the ingredient list. (Not sure if Popcorn Twists are only a Canadian thing)

I agree, let kids be kids, that's when the best memories are made!  ;)  It's only one day a year and to take that away from the kids, especially when all the other kids are having fun, just doesn't seem fair.  It's like taking the kid out of being a kid.  Yes, they have to learn to be healthy, but again I agree that forbidding an item is not the key.  For one, they will never learn to deal with it, for two, once they are free there's a chance they will rebel and gorge on all those things they were never allowed to have.  Personally, when my sister and I were kids, all those candies listed in this article were the ones we did not like.  When we got down to just those ones, we ate them, but we did not really enjoy them.  Those are the most pointless calories. 

I believe in providing kids with everything they need to become happy, successful adults and a large part of that is giving them happy, fulfilling childhoods. 

you always want what you can't have right?  So why tell the kids they can't have it (after all, you did just let them go out and get it right?).  All that seems to lead to is whining and begging...and not teaching the kids to make their own choices.  When we get home from trick -or- treat (first off, we don't limit the amount of candy, we limit the number of houses the kids visit) all the candy goes in one big bowl.  And yes....free for all.....but what ends up happening, is the kids will eat a tiny bite and decide they don't like it...so in the trash it goes. I just put the trash can right next to the table. So how does this help with decision making? well, the kids learn they don't have to eat it just for the sake of eating it because they 'think' they want it or just eathing it because it's their only choice (ie telling them they can only pick out one piece). How many of us will sit and eat an entire serving of a desert that we don't absolutely LOVE because...well...that's what's available, rather than just saying, no I don't like it, and leaving it go uneaten (just not worth the calories).  I'd rather see piece after piece end up in the trash.  They end up picking out what few pieces they really like, trying the other stuff and discovering what they DON'T like, and in the end, learning that if they don't like something, even if it's a sweet, there's no need to eat it. End of begging, and no gorging.  The next day, the candy is so picked through, there's hardly anything left that they want.  Halloween is done, and the leftovers are given away, or tossed.

Good grief - take Halloween away from a kid? You might as well take away Christmas and Birthday Parties too! This is ridiculous and absurd.

Besides the blow pops, the candies you have listed are the ones we end up throwing away at Christmas time.

My kids have learned over the years to control their Halloween candy intake. They will usually eat a lot on that special night but after that it is like 1-3 pieces per day (depending on the size of the piece of candy). This is self control at its best and I feel will only help them in the future. I mean, if they can have a bowl of chocolate and sweets sitting there and only eat 2 pieces - I think that is awesome! I know a lot of adults that can't do that!

Part of the joy of the holiday is checking out the goods they have received and bartering/trading with their brothers and sisters (I will give you three hershey kisses for your snickers bar) - another good learning opportunity.

Other options besides candy aren't bad, but remember - how many pencils or rubber balls does a kid really need? Consumable are best.

One word ROCKETS!!

at 25 calories per 7g roll, and free of dairy, nuts, and most allergens, it is the perfect candy for Halloween ( and any other occasion)

I agree with other people, let kids eat what they want for a few days. However, I don't have kids.

That said, if you go the chocolate route, I'd just ask that people consider that they buy environmentally friendly chocolates and fair trade chocolates rather than snickers and twix.  Mars and Hersheys use low quality chocolate, and their sources can come from farms in Africa that use child slave labor to harvest the cocoa beans.

http://www.johnrobbins.info/blog/is-there-slavery-in-your-ch ocolate/

http://vision.ucsd.edu/~kbranson/stopchocolateslavery/newsan dinformation.html

cruelty free chocolate: 

http://scathinglywrongrightwingnutz.blogspot.com/2009/04/cru elty-free-chocolate-tastes-better.html

Never ceases to amaze me how many diufferent opinions these articles bring out.  I enjoy reading everyone's comments regardless of whether I agree or not--always interesting and sometimes entertaining :) Anyways, I think the idea behind the article is good, but overall, it comes down to it being a family decision regarding what to eat or give out.  I'm never home on Halloween, but if I was, I would totally give out wax lips!  They are hysterical :) But if I was a kid, I'd probably trade them for Skittles :)

Not only should you consider calories but you might also want to check out the ingredients in Halloween candy... I say leave the trick or treating to the kids

Hmm... We don't celebrate Halloween in my country, but we have "the Night of Souls" on the same day. Old traditions tell us to put a candle on our windows so that "the souls of your ancestors, who fly around on that night, could know you remember them and still care". And that's it, no big glitzy-glammy eating-holiday like it is in USA.

Luckily, we will be out of town visiting family on Halloween.  My son is only 16 months old, so he is going to go to our family's houses while we are there and he will get one piece of candy each day for a week, then we are throwing out the rest of the candy.  If he was older and knew what was going on, I'd let him do a free-for-all the first night and then decide what to do with the rest (depending on his age), but at 16 months old, one bite-size candy bar is PLENTY!

Honestly, I think this is a stupid article. I read the Daily Blog each morning, and always get something good out of it, but I find this article to be a "negative downer."

If we are all doing it right, being healthy, eating properly, and exercising, what is wrong with eating what we really want 2 days out of the year? Those delicious mini chocolate bars should be savored as a special treat that only comes once a year, and that the kids worked hard for, putting together creative costumes and stomping the sidewalks all night ringing doorbells and being nice to the neighbors. If the child has a weight problem, letting them have at the whole bag at once isn't a good idea, I agree with that, but if your kid is healthy, let them revel in their spoils, I say!

I agree that the candies listed in this article are a waste of money, and a waste of time for the kids. who get them If you don't want to give out good candy, give out a toy, that's a good idea, or at least throw 'em a bag of pretzels. Geez.

OK, done being mean. I just love Halloween so much, I think it deserves some respect. Last night I cracked open my bags (I bought 300 pieces of only the "good" stuff this year!) to send some to my sis, and only ate two mini-sized pieces of candy myself. It's just a matter of self control.

xx Rant over! xx 

Let the kids have just Halloween to eat all they want. Usually ends up being the good stuff, and then after they bring it to school, share, and trade, in about a week it's pretty much only the junk candy no one wants. And therefore it's thrown away.

I'm just appalled that this article actually suggested giving sugar free candy to kids.  Given the horrible intestinal issues they can cause even in adults, this seems like a HORRIBLE idea.

     I was raised in a food intensive home! All year long there were containers on the counter with candy and cookies and ice cream in the fridge. One the other hand there were healthy snacks that mom made special for me and those are the foods I crave the most still. She always baked my favorite breads and had all kinds of healthy spreads. Hot cinnamon raisin bread and cream cheese sandwiches beat Twinkies any day. My mother used food coloring and would ask me what my favorite color of the day was and all of snacks were that color. I remember I had a phase where I ate green eggs and pastrami (we are Jewish there was no ham in the house) and all my vegetables had to be blue. You need to make healthy foods attractive and interesting to kids.

     There has to be a balance or your kids will pig out on sugar when it is there to make up for not having it. If you open my fridge today (and I am a big time snacker) I have baby carrot stix and crab meat stix and healthy dips and a box of cream puffs. As long as my waist is under 33 I am happy

Halloween is fun.  As a child my brother and I would come home and dump out our candy, sort everything by type and color and compare to see who got the most and who got the best.  Then we would trade according to our preferences.  My son did the sorting thing too when he was young.  It is funny.  It was more of a game.  We never ate very much of the candy before just tossing it out.  I guess you could say we felt like pirates dividing out our bounty.  Isn't that what Halloween is all about.  Pretending and having fun.

That said, I think it is unrealistic to think that most kids today make heathly choices when it comes to food - any food, candy included.  If that were the case there would not be a record number of over weight children and teens today.  No, Halloween candy for a day or two or even a week isn't going to hurt, but we as adults need to teach our kids healthy habits throughout the year so that they do make healthy choices the majority of the time.  One year my son had his choice of anything in a bowl filled with all kinds of candy and a couple of boxes of raisins.  He picked the raisins.  Once he picked a tomato over a snickers bar (not at Halloween).  So, if we raise them to eat healthy, they will make the right choices at least most of the time, and what else can we really ask.

I agree that this article is leaning just a bit too much into Food Police territory.  Candy is the final pleasure of Halloween, coming after dressing up and knocking on strangers' doors at night. 

My parents allowed my brother and me to portion out our candy to ourselves as we pleased.  (And she's admitted she always got a kick out of watching us divide the candy into piles -- chocolate, fruity, hard, gum, etc -- and then watch us trade what we didn't like for what we did.)  And we always ended up with a little baggie of candy that neither of us liked *cough*peanutbuttertaffycough* and that was up for grabs for our parents.

I think we did learn how to budget our treats because of it.  A couple years it even turned into a competition to see who could make their candy lat the longest -- no freezer necessary. 

• Sugar-free candy – your dentist will love you!  There are sugar-free Twizzlers (33 calories each),  jelly beans, lollipops, and more 

It's a bad idea to give children (or anyone else, in my opinion) sugar-free candy. The sugar is replaced with "fake" sweeteners such as sucralose, xylitol, aspartame. Many sugar-free candies have unpleasant side effects, such as producing gas, cramping, bloating and diarrhea. Why would anyone want to give that to their children? The fact that it's sugar-free often gives people an erroneous sense of safety that they can eat more of it. The warning labels about limiting portions (and the side effects, if there are warnings at all) are teeny tiny on the back of the bag. 

Original Post by: citikid78

     I was raised in a food intensive home! All year long there were containers on the counter with candy and cookies and ice cream in the fridge. One the other hand there were healthy snacks that mom made special for me and those are the foods I crave the most still. She always baked my favorite breads and had all kinds of healthy spreads. Hot cinnamon raisin bread and cream cheese sandwiches beat Twinkies any day. My mother used food coloring and would ask me what my favorite color of the day was and all of snacks were that color. I remember I had a phase where I ate green eggs and pastrami (we are Jewish there was no ham in the house) and all my vegetables had to be blue. You need to make healthy foods attractive and interesting to kids.

     There has to be a balance or your kids will pig out on sugar when it is there to make up for not having it. If you open my fridge today (and I am a big time snacker) I have baby carrot stix and crab meat stix and healthy dips and a box of cream puffs. As long as my waist is under 33 I am happy

What a cool mother you had!  And smart too!

While I agree that all that candy is probably bad for us (well, I was a candy-collecting monster once too!), this rockin' awesome holiday doesn't need any changing.  What really needs change is the attitude of the families that send their kids out to collect it.  My sister and I were active kids, playing outside, did a couple of sports at various times (gymnastics, swimming, horsebacking) and Halloween's candy-induced coma-ness never hindered our healthy growth.

From what I've seen of kids today (and the not so distant past - I did a lot of baby sitting and have plenty of friends who have children now), parents are quite lenient on the subject of playing computer games, video games, watching tv, etc.  Now, I LOVE video games, movies and the like, but that's no excuse for giving in and not kicking them out to do something.  I know that not all families have the same opportunities, but there is always time for active play in some venue:  school-sponsored after school activities (that often offer playground type stuff), school sports, non-school sports, playing outside in the backyard.  These things are often fun for kids (they were for me and I'm better for it).  Take your kids to a playground or park, walk your dog with them, just play with them around the house and keep screen-type activities to a minimum.

And it's not just what they do, it's what they eat.  You are the example that your kids will follow because not only are they watching you eat, you're buying the food!  Make smart choices for your family!  While a lot of the food we ate was probably considered only moderately healthy (my parents liked making casseroles and meaty things), we ate healthy portions, and kept snack food to a minimum (it was sometimes used as a treat when we behaved).  My favorite example of this includes 2 things:  

The first was noticing a family in front of me at a movie theater, a grandmother, mother, and her 3 year old-ish son.  The mother and grandmother were definitely obese, while the 3 year old was chubby by normal 3-year-old standards (we're all some kind of chubby that young!).  What struck me was that the mother and grandmother were eating 1 large tub of popcorn EACH.  They produced a THIRD tub and gave it to the son.  This is the kind of food choices that child will now be dealing with his entire life under his mom's roof.  He will be obese by the time he's in high school if his mom doesn't make better food choices for him.  

The second example is my parent's choice to buy non-sugar cereal for my and my sister as children.  I ended up eating plain Cherrios for breakfast almost every day (sometimes Rice Crispies, Special K, or Wheaties) while I lived with them.  We got sugar cereal as a treat (when it was on sale :p), but not very often.  To this day I eat a healthy portion of Cherrios and milk almost every day for breakfast.  Every now and then I'll eat sugar cereal, but can really only have it for one day, then I crave my non-sugar Cherrio goodness.  I'm really thankful that my parents did that for me.  I can only imagine 27 years of sugar cereal vs. Cherrios every day.  Thats a LOT of extra sugar!

I know I wrote a lot, but I strongly believe that parents don't often do enough to ensure that their kids are healthy.  (Even those parents that can only get cheap crap food can make sure their kids have small portions - calories are calories and if you eat a recommended amount, no matter how unhealthy, you won't gain like you would if you indulged yourself all the time).  My point?  You may have already picked it up:  One day of crazy-delicious snacks isn't going to harm your kids, especially if you help by doling out the candy over time in small amounts, like at dessert time, or for doing a good job... on whatever.  Parents, you need to be the food role model in your child's life.  Other parents, schools, etc. shouldn't have to take over that role from you (although sometimes they do indirectly - like making school lunches healthier).  It's up to YOU to teach your kids good eating habits.  Ok, I think I'm done.  Sorry it's so long, but I hope these thoughts resonate with some of you!

p.s.  Sugar candy like the smarties and sweettarts you described are my absolute favorite Halloween candy.  I would eat them all day if I could.  So much for damage control for some of us! :D

Isn't Calorie Count all about making healthy living and losing weight a lifestyle? If so, this story is sort of contradictory. Make a choice to have some of your favorite Halloween candy once in a while. Build it into your calories for the day. If you're looking for candy that's "healthy", these aren't the things you want to have. They're lower in calories than some of the chocolatey stuff, but most of them are filled with sugar, which will spike your blood sugar and you will be practically lethargic a few hours after eating them. There's nothing wrong with eating them, but saying that these are better than others is sort of incorrect.

You can still eat candy and sweets, in moderation, and still lose weight. I am an example of this! Have your candy, but know when to quit. Plan to have it and plan on how much you can have without damaging your good work. Don't make it something forbidden - you'll just want it more and binge on it.

To the Author of this article: KUDOS!!!  It is about time that someone address one of the many issues facing our young people.  Thank you for providing some of the numerous healthier alternatives for this fun ritual.  I would like to add that chips, popcorn, and pretzels (which were both mentioned in the comment thread) are great ideas to add to a ghoul's "pillow case" as well. 

To Everyone Else: Obesity in children is on the rise and most all of your comments center on allowing children to go bonkers on sugar.  Wow!  As a former classroom teacher (and I think I may speak for all teachers), NO, we DO NOT want your child to bring the Halloween treats for lunch, to trade with their peers, or to sneak a piece in class.   Look at it this way, if you want your child to grow up and make healthy choices, teach them to make healthy choices.  Gorging out on candy is not a healthy thing to do no matter who you are, how "good" you've followed your (insert fad diet name here) this month, or how much you weigh.  This issue shows me exactly why obesity is so prevalent in our country.  Look at how many of you have emotional attachments to eating candy...it's just candy.  That is not good and it's not healthy.  We were not designed to eat to "feel good", we eat to survive/thrive.  Once that mentality is restored, the rest is easy.  Do I think chocolate and sugary sweets are "horrible" and the "devil"?  No.  Do I think we should ban all sugary treats? No.   Eating candy (even one day out of the year) until you acquire a stomach ache: Gluttony.  I just believe you all are overreacting to a Dietitian's desire to help the world become less focused on emotional eating.  A number of you keep saying that it's just one day a year, but in reality, is it just one day?  Birthday's are full of sugary treats and goodie bags along with Valentine's Day, Easter, Christmas, Fall and Spring Celebrations (for elementary age children)...see the pattern.  Take a good long look at this again...if you allow your child to collect the candy, that's fine, but why do they have to eat it all?  Why do they have to eat most of it?  Why freeze it?  Is candy really that hard to get?  Is it a hot commodity, a vanishing resource?  Really people, really. 

To the Author of this article: KUDOS!!!  It is about time that someone address one of the many issues facing our young people.  Thank you for providing some of the numerous healthier alternatives for this fun ritual.  I would like to add that chips, popcorn, and pretzels (which were both mentioned in the comment thread) are great ideas to add to a ghoul's "pillow case" as well. 

To Everyone Else: Obesity in children is on the rise and most all of your comments center on allowing children to go bonkers on sugar.  Wow!  As a former classroom teacher (and I think I may speak for all teachers), NO, we DO NOT want your child to bring the Halloween treats for lunch, to trade with their peers, or to sneak a piece in class.   Look at it this way, if you want your child to grow up and make healthy choices, teach them to make healthy choices.  Gorging out on candy is not a healthy thing to do no matter who you are, how "good" you've followed your (insert fad diet name here) this month, or how much you weigh.  This issue shows me exactly why obesity is so prevalent in our country.  Look at how many of you have emotional attachments to eating candy...it's just candy.  That is not good and it's not healthy.  We were not designed to eat to "feel good", we eat to survive/thrive.  Once that mentality is restored, the rest is easy.  Do I think chocolate and sugary sweets are "horrible" and the "devil"?  No.  Do I think we should ban all sugary treats? No.   Eating candy (even one day out of the year) until you acquire a stomach ache: Gluttony.  I just believe you all are overreacting to a Dietitian's desire to help the world become less focused on emotional eating.  A number of you keep saying that it's just one day a year, but in reality, is it just one day?  Birthday's are full of sugary treats and goodie bags along with Valentine's Day, Easter, Christmas, Fall and Spring Celebrations (for elementary age children)...see the pattern.  Take a good long look at this again...if you allow your child to collect the candy, that's fine, but why do they have to eat it all?  Why do they have to eat most of it?  Why freeze it?  Is candy really that hard to get?  Is it a hot commodity, a vanishing resource?  Really people, really.

Sorry about the double message...work computers/user error...lol!

I agree with most people on here that Halloween is supposed to be fun for kids and a time for some candy. I have to be honest in saying that I have a candy jar on top of my refridgerator that just gets tossed at every holiday. My very intelligent pediatrician is actually the one that suggested it when my daughter was just 2 years old. You need to let kids have some candy so that they don't feel deprived and go out seeking it. I let both my children have their candy for a few days and then it goes into the candy jar. I try not to ever tell them NO that they cannot have a piece and I must say they rarely ask for it. In fact, my son will go through all his candy and decide on like 10 things he likes and give the rest away. My daughter is 12 years old and she gives all her cousins the candy from her trick or treat bag that they ask for and only reserves a few pieces for herself. I think by not making it a big deal and having a healthy lifestyle in general keeps from candy overload. Sadly, the neighbor children and relatives that aren't allowed to have candy are the ones that beg for my candy jar and have issues with food. I think by making it a big deal and depriving them, it has had the opposite effect that their parents would like.  I do have to put it away in a cupboard when some of them come over or it will be a problem with their parents.  

I am a 52 year old woman.  My mother was obsessed with being thin and wanted all her children to be thin too.  She hid all of the candy and other treats in the house behind locked cupboards and doors - and doled out what she considered to be "appropriate" portions for us to eat.

Needless to say, we never learned any kind of self-regulation (like "listening" to your body for cues as to what you are wanting to eat) and we all ended up with weight issues as adults.

I decided to take the approach with my children to let them always have complete access to all foods (including candy, cookies, ice-cream, etc.) and I encouraged them to "listen to their bodies" to determine what they were hungry for.  For instance:  Do you want something salty? sweet? hot? cold? etc.  At 23 and 24 years old they don't have any food or weight issues, so I am very glad that I took this approach.  

Original Post by: ashleycole

One really neat idea that a dentist in my area does is a "candy buyback". Kids can bring in their candy and "sell" it to the dentist for $1 per pound. I believe last year he sent the candy overseas to the troops. So after one night of munching on sweets... the kids are eager to sell their candy and go to the store!

What a great idea!

This article listed very poor choices on alternatives for what to give kids on halloween.

Here are some other alternatives:

What about some other bags of nutitious items..such as..

1) Small bags of pretzels

2) small bags of rice cakes

3) what about those individually wrapped nutrition bars?

4) whatever happened to individually wrapped mozzarelacheese sticks?

5) individually wrapped cheese cracker snacks. I see them on the shelves all the time and kids love 'em!

6) Small bags of garlic chips

7) Small bags of baked potato(or other) chips

8) Is there a healthier version of slim jims maybe? lol

I'm not even a dad and can think of probably other substitutions. Also you would need to find out if kids might be allergic to peanuts(or nuts) and nutrasweet and other artificial sweetners in sugar-free items.

Most of those small bags mentioned above come in a very large bag at your price club or some other store..even at walmart and walgreens might carry them.

I think anything in moderation is great however I'm sure we don't want kids bouncing off the walls for a few days from all that sugar or to get sick from it. I think that was the situation why there are so many more diabetics these days(including myself but I'm an adult now) from kids bodies getting a huge jolt of sugar rush during the holidays. Let's take into consideration our kid's future health.

I still wouldnt consider small toys unless they're checked that they wont be a choking hazard. We wouldn't want that on our conscious.

I'm sure what I mentioned isn't the optimum for the holidays but it's a step down from refined sugar candy.

I am really surprised that so many people who commented think regulating candy is "ridiculous" and picking lower calorie options to give out is a bad idea. The author is trying to compromise and giving her advice on what type of candy (not rice cakes or popcorn) to give out, as she clearly explained her daughter did not want to be the weird house. And no where in the article (I read it three times) does she state to not allow children to have candy, so I'm not sure why so many calorie count members are griping about that, did you even read the article? Chill out, she's not coming to your house and taking all your snickers away. I think this is a good article, thank you for the helpful tips. Halloween isn't just about the candy, the dressing up and scaring your friends has always been my favorite part, forget candy I want to do that! And Kenyatta2379 you make a great point from a teacher's view that kids shouldn't bring candy into the classroom to distract them and get them all sugared up. Good article.

or check out reverse trick-or-treating, and give out free samples of fair trade chocolate to the adults who answer the door when your kiddo is out trick-or-treating: http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating-recipes/blogs/free-fa ir-trade-candy-for-halloween

I have five kids and we all joyously enjoyed Halloween!  Towards the end of our days,  (the five ranged between middle school and all of high school), they got candy by the bucket fills!)!  They Tricked or Treated at a small local Catholic College -- and sometimes because we went later than toddlers, the girls would just dump into their pillow case what ever they had left over --because they did not want it to tempt themselves!

I remember surveying my dining room, and saying --  OK guys, you are in charge--just take what you want each day--but not too much, because if you have to go to a Doctor -- it will be you who will have to pay for it!  (They all had paper routes!) 

This basically worked well all the years--nobody was chubby and nobody got chubby.

I found out that I had one enterprising child.  (I found this out many years later.)  My youngest went to school with a lot of kids whose parents did not let them trick or treat--so every day--he stuffed some candy from the dining room table in his back pack, and sold it at school!    I found out later he  made out quite well!

I do not think I want to buy candy that nobody wants to eat, that is just wasteful all around. When I was a kid I would have been bummed to have trick-or-treated for hours to wind up with that kind of candy.

I agree with moobydoo. I think most of the choices the author gave are the ones my kids readily and freely give away! Most people, including kids really only want a FEW pieces of GOOD candy....It's great if those are a few of the ones you'd really want. If people are that uncomfortable about giving out candy, then I say give out a toy or nickel or something instead. Better to have no candy, than give something no one wants. If you hand out pretzels or something like that, expect to get a lot of frowns.

I did go trick or treating a couple times and it was very exiting to see the baskets getting big with candy, I would eat some of it that  day but moslty I would spread it out over a long while and it would last me all the way to like april (no, it wasn't spoiled!)   

  Thinking about it though, I would rather get little toys than candy, after all whatever I ate would only last me until the next visit to the toilet but toys I could keep for years!