How Many Calories ... in a few stolen sweets from your child's Halloween loot?

There was a time in my life when Halloween was my favourite day of the year -- besides my birthday, of course. It was the rare day my anti-sugar parents would permit me to gorge on sweets. Well, mostly. After returning from trick-or-treating, I was permitted 10 minutes to scarf down as much as I could before my folks hid my plastic trick-or-treating pumpkin -- then I was rationed two sweets a day with my lunch until the candy was gone (unless I found the secret hiding spot). Ahh, the good old days.

These days, I have the opposite problem -- instead of wanting to be surrounded by candy, I'm trying to stay away from it. It's not that hard, considering I don't have kids yet and am therefore not tempted by what they bring home. But you parents out there might not be so lucky. A bite of this and a nibble of that can really add up. Don't believe me?

The answer, of course, depends on just how much candy you swipe, but according to this article on About.com, there are 928 calories in the following:

• Small handful of jelly beans (about 25)
• Small handful of candy corn (about 20)
• Two caramels
• Two Hershey Kisses
• One mini Tootsie Roll
• One full-sized, one fun-sized, and one mini candy bar
• One Reese's Peanut Butter Cup
• One fun-sized packet of M&Ms
  
  

That seems like a lot of candy ... or is it? Many of us could mindlessly eat this much -- but get this: To walk off 928 calories, you'd need to walk nearly 10 miles.

So on Friday, when your little one brings home a smorgasbord of sweet treats, pick one or two small goodies ... and stop there. Those mini sweets might not seem like much but clearly, they really add up.