Every year people everywhere face the same major issue.  What to do with their leftover Halloween candy!

I know it may not sound like a big deal, but when you are on a mission to be healthy and lose some unwanted weight, it’s an important problem that must be solved.

Not only is it at home leftover from the trick-or-treaters who didn’t clean you out, your co-workers, or your husbands co-workers, unload their stash at work. 

It seems like post-Halloween, everywhere you turn there’s a huge candy bowl staring you in the face daring you not to take a piece.  Giving in to its taunts is usually what ends up happening.

Tonight I will walk the streets with my kids, and we will come home with a pile as high as Mt. Everest I’m sure. Full sized, bite sized, mini-bars full of sugar, fat, and chocolate (which I can’t resist).

How do you survive the loads of candy all around you? Especially in your home?

One year I polled the readers of my blog and came up with some of their favorite things to do with their leftover Halloween candy. 

I’m not one to keep a good thing to myself, so I thought I’d share my top 5 with you! For the rest of this awesome list of mind blowing ideas, head on over to Fit Moms Fit Kids Club for more things to do with your leftover Halloween candy.

 

What to Do With Your Leftover Halloween Candy

5.  Craft it!  I love crafty things.  One family tradition we have is making our own Gingerbread houses each year.  I like to save some of the small leftover Halloween candy for decorating them. Not only does it save you money, but you’ll save some calories because you won’t be eating it.

4.  Study It!  Being a homeschooling mom of 2, I know how to make EVERYTHING into a learning experience. From ants, to wood, to the air we breath, you can learn something from it.  So take your leftover Halloween candy and do some cool science experiments out of it. You can learn about density, acid, oil, and other cool things from candy. 

Here’s a few to get your started. Don’t have kids? Borrow your neighbors, best friends, or go to a shelter and share the experience with the homeless kids there.

3.  Send it!  Check to see if your local dentist participates in a Halloween candy buy back program.  You bring your candy to the dentist office and they “buy back” your candy from you with either money, gift cards, services, or prizes.  After they collect all the candy they send it to the troops! What a great exchange, and our service men and women love it!

2.  Gift it!  Let everyone in your family take a small plastic sandwich sized bag worth of candy out of the mega pile. Then take a family trip to your local homeless shelter and give the rest of your stash to the men, women, and children staying there. Not only will this be a great experience for your family and lesson in giving, but you will put a huge smile on everyone’s faces.

1.  Switch it!  One of my favorite ideas was one called “The Switch Witch”.  Again, everyone picks our their favorite candy, but the rest they will hang in their bags on their bedroom door.  At night when they are asleep, the “Switch Witch” comes and takes the candy away, and leaves them one of their favorite toys. 

One year, my friend Sarah left a note from the Switch Witch along with a bag of candy.  The note asked the kids to help her out – because she is so busy – instructing the kids to take the candy to the homeless shelter. What a great idea!

Of course, most of our favorite things to do with our Halloween candy is to Eat It, but hopefully with this list of alternatives, and more here, you will stay the course and decide to choose to make the healthy choice instead.

Make it a Healthy day-

Annett