Alternatives to Halloween Candy

Rating: 5 after 4 votes

If you’re a parent you may be worrying about how much
candy your child will be bringing home this Halloween. Candy not only has very little nutritional value, it is bad for your teeth band can cause nasty tummy aches when eaten in excess. If you’re looking for something different to hand out to trick-or-treaters this year, here are some alternative ideas.

Nabisco has 100 calorie pack individual packages that trick-or-treaters will find enjoyable to their palates. Teddy Grahams and chocolate covered pretzels are my two favorites, but they have a whole line to choose from.
Individual packages of nuts or trail mixes are nutritionally beneficial to your ghosts and goblins. They not only taste good are good for you.

Microwave popcorn packages are a great option. You can buy them in many different flavors, but if you’re looking for healthier alternatives skip the extra or movie butter kind.
Nabisco Handi-Snack offers a variety of healthy choices. A few examples that I particularly like are:
Breadsticks and cheese
Cheese dunk ‘ems
Ritz cheese and crackers

These individual packages are a tasty choice. Fairly inexpensive, they are a great fit for children.
While not quite as healthy as some of the other options above, many restaurants, such as McDonald’s & Wendy’s, sell coupon certificates or books you can substitute with. You can purchase gift certificates for your trick-or-treaters and by using your Arch card and following some simple guidelines at the McDonald’s website you can not only give a non candy gift, you can also earn college rewards.

Non-Edible Gifts
If you visit a dollar store or a store that sells children’s books inexpensively, you can find non-edible gifts too. Items such as coloring books, crayons or audio books and more are great alternatives to sugar laden candy. Not only is this a healthier choice, it is educational as well. Some people even shop throughout the year to help spread the cost out.
A visit to your local dentist may be just what the doctor orders this Halloween. He may be able and willing to give you toothbrushes and toothpaste samples at a reduced rate to hand out to children. If you wanted you could even hand out sugarless gum.
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Permalink Reply by Jill on September 13, 2009 at 3:02pm: I don't mean to be difficult, but purchasing items from the dollar store (unless it's packs of things for a dollar) could be prohibitively expensive. I wouldn't want my kids to come home from trick-or-treating with a lot of stuff anyway - we already have way too much. Is it that terrible to have this one night a year when kids get to have candy? We limit what the kids can have at any one time - when my younger son is not able to ration it, we take it away and dole it out. These are all good ideas, but I think shopping throughout the year to spread out the cost makes Halloween as burdensome as Christmas.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Brigitte Henry on September 13, 2009 at 7:21pm: Jill You're not being difficult, you're just stating your opinion. :)

Jill said:
I don't mean to be difficult, but purchasing items from the dollar store (unless it's packs of things for a dollar) could be prohibitively expensive. I wouldn't want my kids to come home from trick-or-treating with a lot of stuff anyway - we already have way too much. Is it that terrible to have this one night a year when kids get to have candy? We limit what the kids can have at any one time - when my younger son is not able to ration it, we take it away and dole it out. These are all good ideas, but I think shopping throughout the year to spread out the cost makes Halloween as burdensome as Christmas.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Hanna on September 13, 2009 at 7:42pm: I struggle with Halloween too. I know it's only once a year, but I can't bring myself to allow my kids something I regard as poison, even just once... I am the difficult one here.. In the past they have been allowed to pick three treats to eat - and we bake (more nutritious) treats/cookies ourselves - plus make Halloween special with games, friends, dress up, pumpking carving decorating the house etc, to take the emphasis out of the candy - and make it a really fun and special night minus the treats.
So, for kids who come to the door, I buy the treat that seems to have the best and fewer ingredients - there are more and more options that are not so bad, every year.

The kids still go door to door, and we leave their bags of treats outside over night, and the candy is always gone in the morning.

For my older kids, who think it's unfair to not get as much candy as friends do (despite the fact that they do understand why) - we "buy" back their treats.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tami Ziegler on September 13, 2009 at 10:42pm: I have friends that have a party for Halloween versus their kids trick or treating. They still get a little candy since the parents of the kids attending usually bring something as well. Its usually a great get together for all.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Trish Natarajan on September 14, 2009 at 10:29am: I am the Halloween carzy momma in my neighborhood. I make goodie bags for toddler, with prepackaged animal crackers, . Older kids get to pick some from the girl or boy goodie bags, that have hairbows, headbands, stickers, pencils, notpads, fruit snacks, crackers, chips...but no candy.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dr Lisa Ramey on September 14, 2009 at 1:59pm: Great ideas and suggestions. As a mom and pediatrician this is always a struggle. Along with the items mentioned in your great blogs consider having the kids only get one piece of candy at each house. They then can have one piece of candy per day as long as they have had their 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. I always take a handful of candy to the office here and their to help get rid of some of the extra. I realize this may not be accepted by some but I also will accidently drop a handful in the garbage without my kids knowing each day it is trash collection day.
Everything in moderation is OK as long as we have stuck to the 80:20 rule. Eighty percent of the time we make wise choices, twenty percent of the time we have a treat. I convert this to more of a 90:10 rule, but it is what works for you. I think part of the problem in today's world is that our kids do not know what a "Treat" is because they have treats multiple times during the day. Our kids need to be more healthy.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Angela Moore on September 15, 2009 at 5:30am: Great suggestions! We do goodie bags for our friends' kids when we get together and we include crayons and mini games in there rather than all the candy. Some dentists even offer a deal where you can trade in your candy for money or prizes. Check with your local dentist to see if they offer that option.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by CammyJo on September 15, 2009 at 5:44am: I feel like a really bad mama with all your healthy suggestions. Am I the only one who digs through the bags to find the chocolate for herself? I thought Halloween was for the parents...you know, the one night the kids go foraging for food at the neighbors houses and bring it home for the family. ie - Mama. LOL

Seriously though, I must say my children are a bit older than some of yours. I've found it funny that they seem to always have candy left in their bags months after the big feast. We have always had the rule they had to ask before they ate. If they didn't, it all got trashed ('cept the good stuff. That went in mama's bag) :-); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Robin Hartman on September 15, 2009 at 7:48am: I've done crayons one year. You can get travel packs in the party favors section. Hobby Lobby has a great party supply section with 20 cent "prizes" that would be perfect for Halloween.

Also, if you want to do something crafty and green, try gathering all the broken crayons and melting them into fun molds. Here's a great tutorial: http://www.handmadenews.org/article/index.php?id=971; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dorathea Smith (Dotti) on September 15, 2009 at 8:04am: i have had alternatives for years..........toothbrushes, a piece of candy or gum..only 1 and a plastic bug or fingernails.....kids love it..........sometimes use plastic necklaces.........you can buy packages at the dollar store or carnival wearhouse.......less thank candy...........dotts; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by ImAHotMom on September 15, 2009 at 10:20am: My kids bring treats for their classmates to school and I don't like to giveout candies or chocolates so what I do is purchase small halloween toys at http://www.orientaltrading.com. They sell wholesale and I find their prices very reasonable.

Cherrie D. Bautista, CEC
"Empowering Moms To Feel Good About Themselves And Be Their Best!"
I'm A Hot Mom; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Polkadot Patch Boutique on September 17, 2009 at 5:03pm: We've done raisins and packages of pretzels. I would love to do other items too that aren't too junky and would be thrown away by the kids or parents.; ▶ Reply to This