With Halloween just about a week away, many of you may be dreading having to go out and buy candy for the trick-or-treaters as well as having all that candy in the house after the kids get back with it...
What's a girl to do?
Well, I have some GREAT ideas to share...
There are a ton of treats that are not 'food based'...we'll start with the newest fab this year...play doh.
The folks at Play Doh wised up and realized how many people feel like they're feeding the childhood obesity beast...they put Play Doh in little 1 ounce jars and are selling them in packs of 20, 25, 40 and 50! I bought mine today at Target, 25 for $4.99. Yep, it may be a tad more than you're wanting to spend on the neighborhood kids, but is it worth it to keep candy/junk in your house? 
Temporary Tattoos. Kids LOVE these things. Here are some 'Dora' ones I found on the Oriental Trading Company Website. 
Stickers! I found some great stickers today at Target, 20 sheets for $1.99. Often you can find them even cheaper. Here are a couple examples from Oriental Trading Company.
Bubbles. Kids love bubbles! Plus, this time of year you can find them at up to 75% off as stores are trying to clear their shelves for Holiday merchandise.
Pirate stuff. Boys (and girls) are still gaga for pirates, the craze reached fever pitch during the Pirates of the Caribbean movies & is still going strong.
Crayons. Crayons, coloring books, anything art related will make kids smile.
Kaleidoscopes. I'm even fascinated with a kaleidoscope! You can find them at dollar stores or Oriental Trading Company.
Puzzles. Little puzzle boards (like a 1-dimensional rubik's cube) will keep kids busy. You can even find holiday themed ones.
Clappers. Sure the noise will drive you crazy, but then again at least they aren't eating sugar...
Water. You can give a bottle of water, or better yet, give a BPA-free reusable bottle to encourage kids to drink more water (of course, if you get 100+ trick-or-treaters this could bankrupt you!)
If you MUST give out candy, research has shown that choosing just ONE kind of candy will help you eat less, the rationale being that if you have 5 different kinds of candy (kit kat, reeses cups, snickers, milky way, M&M's...those aren't my favorites or anything...haha) you will feel inclined to 'try' each kind instead of keeping it to one piece total. Interesting...
Another option is giving out candy you don't like. To me, that's kind of like throwing a party and serving food you don't like or re-gifting crappy wine...
Finally a few don't: do not give out homemade candy apples, homemade brownie, apples, popcorn balls, etc. Parents won't let kids eat homemade treats (unless they know you really really well) and the time and expense just isn't worth it for something that won't be appreciated.
What other ideas do you have???????
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