Hope everyone had fun last night! We had tons of fun. Bryce was soo excited to get a candy each time he would just squeal with delight. We saw quite a few Transformers out and about so the neighborhood was well protected. So now that we have two buckets full of candy it’s time to get creative on what to do with it.
Here are some creative ideas on what to do with all that candy your kids collected on Halloween:
- Donate it. There are many opportunities to donate your Halloween candy. Here are a few that I know of:
- Ronald McDonald House Charities accepts candy donations for kids. You can search for a local branch here.
- Many churches and other places of worship have candy drop-offs or accept candy donations.
- Operation Gratitude sends care packages to troops overseas.
- Any Soldier sends packages to individuals volunteers who then pass them on to soldiers who don’t get much mail. That soldier then shares his package with his troop.
- Other places to donate would be food pantries, pediatric wards, and nursing homes.
- Sell your candy. Our pediatric dentist participates in a candy buy back program every year. The dentists “buy” the candy from the kids with cash, coupons, toothbrushes, etc. The dentists then send the candy to Operation Gratitude or other Military groups. You can find a participating dentist by visiting http://www.halloweencandybuyback.com and entering your zip code in the upper right hand corner.
- Another option is to freeze your extra candy. Chocolate freezes very well and can be stored for up to a year in an airtight container (I use a ziploc bag.) This is also great because when you want a piece you have to wait for it to thaw 🙂
- Christmas is coming up and advent calendars are a perfect use for leftover candy. Make your own advent calendar or chain and count down to Christmas be enjoying one piece of candy a day. (You might want to let your kids take turns instead of having a piece every day.)
- We enjoy cookie decoratingparties during the holiday season. Pull out the candy that can be used to decorate cookies and save yourself the expense of buying them later on.
- Use it for crafts. Have your kids make a candy wreath by gluing packaged candies onto a wreath. Fun and decorative at the same time!
- Use the candy to decorate your gingerbread houses. Twix bars could be used for the logs on your log cabin gingerbread house. Snickers would make cute benches. Lollipops make perfect trees. Just use your imagination and your gingerbread house this year will be better than ever!
- Use the candy to bake with. There are lots of recipes that call for candy. You can use M&Ms and pretty much any chocolate candy bar to make delicious cookies. Just chop them up and throw it in your favorite cookie recipe or top your cupcakes with them. Yummy!
- Leftover candy is perfect for ice cream toppings as well. Almost every chocolate candy can be used as an ice cream topping. Just chop them up when you are ready to use.
- Share that candy! You can always take the candy to co-workers or send in with your spouse to his office.
I hope I was able to give you some good ideas for using your Halloween candy. I’d love to know how you use up your candy too.
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