No Halloween Candy - take the pledge with me!

[cfmama]

I live in a very affluent neighborhood. My neighbors not only DO hand out chips on halloween (lots and LOTS AND LOTS of snack sized chips) but full sized cans of pop, FULL sized chocolate bars, full sized packs of gum etc.

The halloween fairy ALSO comes here that night and last year my husband took ALL of the candy to the library (his work) the next day! I was 1 month into my journey and allowed myself a small bag of bbq chips and a mini coffee crisp.

So this year I will allow myself the same. And then the next day it will all go away!

[WaterRat]

The halloween fairy ALSO comes here that night and last year my husband took ALL of the candy to the library (his work) the next day! I was 1 month into my journey and allowed myself a small bag of bbq chips and a mini coffee crisp.

Great idea - except for the library part. I work in a library, and I don't want any here. And coffee crisps are my favorite.....

[BlueToBlue]

Sure, I'm in, but Halloween candy isn't much of a problem for me. We don't have kids and I hand out toys to the trick-or-treaters, so there's no Halloween candy in the house to tempt me. I wish everything were so easy.

If anyone is looking for an alternative to candy to hand out to trick or treaters, The Oriental Trading Company is a great source for cheap toys in bulk.

[WaterRat]

I have a bachelor friend who saves his pennies all year and then lets the trick-or-treaters take a handful for their bag! Easy - which is what bachelors like.

[alinnell]

My Mom used to give out two nickels to each trick or treater. She figured two nickels to a small kid was "bigger" than one dime.

[Thighs Be Gone]

Hey, for the record I didn't give out candy last year. I gave out GLOW bracelets. I bought a TON from Oriental Trading company and popped them together just before trick or treat. I can say the kids were coming from all around to get to "the house with the bracelets."

I may do the bracelets again--or else it will be pretzels.

High quality or not I plan to "smack me DOWN" some old-fashioned MARY JANES. I also like those SUPER CHEWY peanut butter things that are in the orange and black solid wrappers.

[Shannon in ATL]

Barbara - the toys are a great idea! I need to check them out.

[time2lose]

I take the pledge too. My husband and son are in charge of the Halloween candy and they make it disappear at the end of the night. A bigger problem is work where the candy is already sitting out. I am training my eyes to not even look there!

[saef]

I'm in. No Halloween candy for me. I have just moved into an apartment complex where there are very few children, so I don't know what the holiday is like there. But I know what the aftermath is like at my office. Adults bring in their leftover candy -- or candy they're afraid to be alone with ;-) -- and their kids' excess candy, and there is candy everywhere, in the break room, on peoples' desks. For me, it's like walking through a field full of landmines.

Since when did Halloween become all about candy, anyway? We've done to it what we have done to Christmas. My mother tells me about trick or treating in the 1950s. They actually did tricks on peoples' doorsteps. They were likely to get an apple or a popcorn ball, if they were lucky. And the candy manufacturers hadn't gotten in on the fun-size craze yet & fully "monetized" the holiday & exploited its profit-making potential.

I think maybe I'm going to try to find a different way to observe Halloween, as a sort of fall & harvest festival & a Day of the Dead, like our neighbors to the south, in Mexico. As someone who's been on this earth for a little while, I do have my dead, whom I loved dearly, and still love, and I'd like to honor them. And also, to me, this crisp sunny period of weather is the most gorgeous time of the year. I cannot get enough of it. Both these feelings have nothing to do with gorging on cheap mass market candy bars.

[iriswhispers]

ACK! It's not even October yet and I've broken the pledge!! My wonderful mother sent me a "fall" package and what do I find but a bag of Brach's fall mix.... oh dear... and I was quite hungry having not eaten dinner yet. I must confess that I ate over half the bag. But I am suffering from a rather upset stomach now, if that somehow makes it better - the remorse is there.

And it was delicious.

[midwife]

Well, Iris, my kids brought home goody bags from the pinata at the birthday party last night. Mini twix were involved. I thought about this challenge, checked the wrappers to make sure they weren't "Halloween" mini Twix, and chomped down. Pretty sad, huh?

[Mudpie]

I tried to give out bags of mini chips one year ( to prevent the chocolate bar problem) and I had to buy a second box to replace all the bags I ate.

This year Halloween is on Saturday so I'm buying the darn candy on that day. I can resist it very well at the grocery and drug stores as Halloween has it's own section that I don't go near!!!

And I remember getting home made popcorn balls and candy apples as a kid (before the time of razor blades and rat poison). One lady handed out comic books!!! My cousin (an avid comics fan) went to her house 4 times one year, switching costumes with me in the process. At several houses we had to do a trick (inside the house) before we were given the treats.

It's still my favorite holiday but it has changed very much since I was a trick or treater.

Dagmar

[iriswhispers]

Good point midwife, it was labeled "fall" mix, not Halloween!

Dagmar, I love halloween too!

[WaterRat]

Hmmm, lots of "hair splitting" here! We have Halloween decorated cupcakes at work (the 2 bite size). A cupcake is not candy, right? I haven't had one.

[Megan1982]

It's only September 30! We can do it, we can do it!

And there's already Christmas stuff at the Dollar store already - not just Thanksgiving, but Christmas. The holidays are right around the corner! I'll get through Halloween first.