http://www.care2.com/greenliving/halloween-sugar-free-treats.html
Real Halloween Treats, not Sugary Tricks
Anyone with young children has probably seen first-hand the effects of Halloween candy overload on sensitive systems. Yipes! But we don’t want to be killjoys: trick-or-treating is a magical part of the Halloween experience. So here are some great ideas for alternatives to the candy bars and other sugary horrors that will fill most kids’ trick-or-treat bags this Halloween.
These easy-to-find imaginative treats won’t add to the sugar load, only to the fun!
Food Treats
These make healthier alternatives to the usual glut of sugary stuff:
Small boxes of organic raisins
Bags of trail mix or peanuts in the shell
Envelopes of instant cocoa
Organic mozzarella sticks
All-natural 100 percent juice boxes
Healthy chewing gum (natural flavors and sweeteners, no dyes)
Sun Drops (sort of like dye-free M&Ms)
Small boxes of healthy cookies or crackers
Non-Food Treats
I live in a village where she gets upwards of 150 trick-or-treaters. If you get mobbed at Halloween, you could try my method: I cleaned out her piggy bank and doled out the spare change. My little ghoulies and ghosties were thrilled.
Other fun ideas for non-edibles include rubber spiders, stickers, small packets of crayons or markers, pencils with fun-shaped erasers, miniature pumpkins, or small charms. Look in your local dollar store for fun and inexpensive goodies.
Happy Halloween!
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5 comments
add your comment »For the school party I would bring pencil and straws. Yea MY kids hated it but the other kids loved it. They got to use the pencils for more than that day and they liked using the straws for their drinks at the party. Now that they are older they tell me they hated until a friend would tell them that is was cool that I brought that stuff cause they always get candy and more candy at trick or treating. This also was a low income area and they would take their straws home and use them there too....... This area also didn't have trick or treating they had to go to other areas for that. Like grandmas area. Most of the time my family had parties with other kids in the area with food and games and silliness.......
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All the stories that circulate about the tainted candy/razor blades in apples, etc. every year are just that--Stories. They are urban legends.
There aren't crazed lunatics out there, poisoning candy or putting needles in fruit. The only verified case of a child being poisoned by Halloween candy was over 30 years ago in Houston. The culprit wasn't some crazy stranger--it was his own father who wanted his life insurance.
Every year those stories circulate and the ones that are reported turn out to be hoaxes, most likely made up by the child who is reporting them.
When my child was trick-or-treating back in the 80s/early 90s, we always checked his candy because we didn't know about snopes.com or the urban legends site, and I hadn't read Jan Brunvand's books about urban legends yet.
If anything looked suspicious, I ate it. (Those M&Ms ALWAYS looked suspicious!) I'm still here.
We're smarter and more informed now. Hospitals don't ex-ray candy anymore. Stop worrying about the crazed lunatics.
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I like the idea of the veggies/fruit BUT if my kids were to receive these from trick-or-treating they WOULD go straight into the trash. God only knows what a person dipped them into. Even your seemingly harmless neighbor could be some crazed lunatic. Sorry I trust no one. Better safe than sorry. They do have those in produce in lunch pre-wrapped packages of carrots-but cost a lot.
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This is a fantaastic idea! just be wary about giving out peanuts, as many children are allergic, yet don't know it. But good idea with the spare change and the rasins! you could even make up a little bag of carrot/apple/pear sticks too!
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Personally, I prefer the idea of giving out loose change and a small piece of good quality chocolate. I'm not a big fan of the small dollar store stuff because it will likely end up in the landfill. This is also the issue I have with the goody bags people give out at birthdays. To add to Cait's list, older kids might like a small bag of microwavable popcorn.
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