Is it possible to have a fun, delicious, even indulgent Halloween and still take care of our kids’ health?
Part of me wants to say “Go!!! Have fun!! Eat All The Things!!!” It’s just one day of the year after all. And then I remember that we’re in the middle of a global pandemic. That sugar suppresses their immune systems [1] [2], is highly addictive [3], interrupts their sleep [4], can lead to a host of chronic illnesses, and turns them into true monsters (costume unnecessary). That sugar has literally NO health benefit and many, many downsides. Particularly for kids.
Have I become old, curmudgeonly, and a total kill-joy?
Perhaps.
I hear the stories of my husband as a kid, binging on all his candy in one night, throwing it all up, and then stealing from his more will-powered old brother in the days to come. It’s funny, but also kind of disturbing. I didn’t puke as a kid but I certainly overindulged until I felt absolutely disgusting. My father would make his famous “Halloween Meltdown” where he’d melt all the remaining candy (mostly chocolate) with a huge gob of butter and a pint of heavy cream and turn this into the most decadent chocolate sauce over ice cream. (Confession – we tried that a couple of years ago for sentimental reasons and not even the kids would eat it. It was totally over-the-top.)
Here’s the deal: I am a parent who wants my kids to have a great time on Halloween AND to keep them healthy. Over the last few years I’ve found some creative ways to do that. If this is something I spend time fretting about, I’m going to bet some of you do as well, and so here are our strategies for keeping the fun but minimizing the damage of Halloween:
- Allocating the number of treats they get by their age.
This was my strategy of choice for the first few years of parenting, and it worked really well. At age 3, they get to choose three candies from their stash, and eat one each day for 3 days. At age 5, five candies from the stash, eaten over 5 days. This meant they got the candy but didn’t go crazy on it all at once and also had the delight of getting more each year. - Offering the “Switch Witch”
This is something we added into our strategy about three years ago as an option. If the kid wants to forgo their candy (they get a treat on Halloween itself but we’re talking about the candy in the days that follow), then they have the option of a toy. The toy (which thus far has been a lego set) will last longer and be far more satisfying in the long term, and it inspires a conversation about immediate vs. delayed gratification. We always give them the choice and so far, to my great delight, they’ve chosen the toy every year we’ve offered it.
- Give out healthier options that still feel indulgent.
While we have no control over what others give out on Halloween, we can definitely switch things up ourselves to healthier options. Several candy manufacturers have caught on to us health-conscious parents and have stepped up. Some of our favorites include:
- Unreal – these are some of our favorites as they are healthier riffs on classic candies like peanut butter cups and M&Ms (or Smarties for the Canadians among us).These still use sugar, but at least 51% less of it than the treats they’re reproducing. Their ingredients are simple, sustainable, organic and GMO-free. And they use things like beet juice and spirulina for truly natural coloring.
- YumEarth – Like the Unreal brand, these candies are still candy and contain sugar, but less of it and natural sources. They’re also allergen friendly (no peanuts, gluten, tree nuts, milk, fish, shellfish, egg or soy), never use high fructose corn syrup or artificial dyes, non-gmo and vegan.
- Justin’s Dark Chocolate Peanut butter cups are another favorite. They’re made with cleaner organic ingredients and less sugar.
What you’re not seeing on this list are the zero-sugar or xylitol/stevia sweetened things, and this is for several reasons. For one, in our experience, kids just don’t like them. And if they don’t enjoy them, what’s the point? Next, these zero-calorie sweeteners aren’t well tolerated by some sensitive digestive systems, and if they already don’t like them that’s insult to injury if it causes digestive distress. Our first year “doing” Halloween we got a bunch of xylitol-sweetened, naturally-colored lollipops and the fact that the entire bag was still there the following year and we literally couldn’t give them away tells you pretty much everything you need to know.
You’re also not seeing other things like coco-roons or probiotic balls or other truly healthy options. Remember you’re buying these for kids in the neighborhood, they’re much more expensive, and in our experience, they often get tossed in favor of the sweeter, more conventional candy. So it ends up being an expensive experiment with little upside.
A strategy we’ve seen and not adopted ourselves is to give out non-food items. Part of me really likes this, but a bigger part of me hates all the choch-kies that end up cluttering up the house and ultimately filling up landfill, so we haven’t gone that direction either.
What are your healthier Halloween strategies?
