Halloween candy alternatives

by Martha Edwards (Subscribe to Martha Edwards's posts)
Oct 24th 2007 10:09AM

Hand out a toothbrush or dental floss for Halloween this year, you're bound to end up with your house toilet-papered or egged. But that doesn't mean you have to contribute to the expanding waistlines of America's youth. Here are some candy alternatives I've heard about through the grapevine in the past little while:

Recreation passes. In my city, you can buy books of passes to any parks and rec facilities around town, most of which have a pool, an exercise room, a playroom and drop-in classes. Each pass costs $1 so it's expensive if you live in an area where you get hundreds of trick-or-treaters.
Small toys. Here, teeny-tiny Winnie-the-pooh dolls with interchangeable plastic costumes are all the rage, so I suspect they would be very well-received by kids. But they don't have to be expensive. Remember how excited kids get when they get to choose between troll dolls and cheap plastic rings at the Dentists' office?
Temporary tattoos and stickers. Kids love stickers and tattoos. That's about all there is to it.

Have any additional ideas? Please share. What are you giving out this Halloween?

Comments (3)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Christina 10-24-2007 @ 12:04PM

Oh good lord, it's Halloween.

"But that doesn't mean you have to contribute to the expanding waistlines of America's youth." How smug is that?

Give the kids a break and let them have their fun and candy.

TN 10-24-2007 @ 12:04PM

My Husband and I put together good bags for the kids. They are a fun treat the kids get to open with fun stuff and a tiny bit of candy. Each bag has 2 Halloween pencils, a plastic Halloween ring, some other random plastic Halloween toy, and just so we are not totally no fun there is a pack of sugar free hot cocoa, and 1 mini toostie roll. All together the bags cost about 80 cents a piece since we bought everything after Halloween last year on %90 discount.

trp 10-27-2007 @ 6:54PM

For years I have been handing out new #2 pencils. Little kids love them, jr high kids save a quarter, and older kids--well, who cares?--they're too old to trick-or-treat anyway! They are as tamper-proof as you can get, and parents always thank me for them.