What do you do with leftover Halloween candy?

[supercalifragilous]

My friend & I have our kids trade in their Halloween loot for a trip to the Dollar Tree (yes, it's like parents "buying" the candy from the kids). Problem is, we hit the motherlode this year, much more than needed to have our DHs take them to the office.

What do YOU do with leftover Halloween candy? I don't want to keep it around but thought it'd be a good idea for the kids to have a "feel good" moment and give them away. I was shocked that our local food banks, hospitals, and shelters are NOT accepting candy donations and I think the kids would miss the point if we just dropped it all off with some office building receptionist. Anyone have any ideas?

[maestramommy]

Well, in past years, I would take what I liked, and Dh took the rest to work:D Those were the good ole days. This year we bought pretzels, so Dh could still take some to work, otherwise I'm using them as snacks for the kids.

[lizajane]

um, i eat it?

[KpbS]

I packaged up DS1's candy and gave it to a friend. You could split it btw several kids--maybe someone you know couldn't go ToT last night?

Another friend gave a bunch to some friends who hosted a party as a thank you. They have a houseful of kids so I am sure it was appreciated.

[EllasMum]

:yeahthat: I'm with Liza!

[happy2bamom]

um, i eat it?

I'm fighting the urge to do this, but it has been a battle ALL day. I"m guessing that I'll give in and eat through what I like over the next couple of weeks (allowing the kids to have 1-2 pieces a day) and then throw the rest away.

[bethie_73]

We don't have much (were at a party so we didn't buy any), but we have a group who is sending candy etc to the troops.

[DrSally]

Good question! DH doesn't have an office to go to anymore as he consults. What to do with that extra candy? It's all sugary stuff too (nothing chocolate as DS has allergies). I'll eat a twix, kit kat, etc, but don't really like skittles and smarties. I wish I had someplace to give it too!

[o_mom]

um, i eat it?

:yeahthat:

I weed out anything I don't want them having - gum, in particular and a few other choking hazzards - and those get pitched. I eat more than I should and it 'evaporates' over a few nights.

The leftovers of what we handed out are mine, all mine. I had a specific order of how DH was to hand it out, saving the Take5 bars for last (curses on the Bzz Agent promo). That should cover my chocolate stash for a few weeks.

If we had far too much, I'm not sure what I'd do. The amounts we toss are small at this point. We probably went to 15-20 houses and they were tired.

[ett]

:yeahthat: I'm with Liza!

Me too! :)

[kijip]

We don't have left overs from giving out to ToT-ers since my husband and I make a point of giving each kid a ton, more so if it is late so we have nothing as far as leftover there (we go and pass out at a friend's house and buy candy for that). So "all" we have (it's a lot) is what T collected ToT-ing. We just let him keep it. Sometime in December, the leftovers get thrown away since he loses interest in it quickly and it sits around. He ate a 3 or 4 pieces last night and opened about three different suckers, licked them a few times and threw them away. Today he has eaten one tootsie roll and one mini bag of skittles. I don't see the need to make it more special than it is by limiting it. J and I pick though it some (I toss jawbreakers out in the garbage) and eat some but I feel pretty good about just letting him have it and self regulate.

[mom2one]

I recently moved from IL to TX, so I am not sure what is done here. In IL, I know people collected leftover/unwanted candy for different organizations. They would take the candy and make small goody bags of candy for kids in need. A neighbor of mine helped do this once, and talked about how long the line was of children who would not get any candy otherwise and how grateful they were. My neighbor would email everyone she knew asking us to donate our leftover candy. She was also a collection person and had a box on her front porch to just leave your donations in.
I am not sure how you go about finding this out for your area. It might take making a few phone calls. Women's shelters, soup kitchens, might also like some of your leftover stuff.
HTH someone.

[mdb78]

um, i eat it?

That's my answer. :)

[BaileyBea]

I think I was watching the Today show yesterday and they had people making Ice cream pies and mixing the ice cream and cut up candy bars together and then freezing for a few hours before serving. I thought this maybe a fun thing to do.

But otherwise.. I make DH take it to work.

Nancy

[SnuggleBuggles]

Send it off to dh's office after having it around the house for a few days. Ds gets nothing in exchange for this. Often I will keep a small amount of candy at home but he really loses interest quickly.

Beth

[Momof3Labs]

Perhaps a nursing home would take it to share with some of the residents?

[DrSally]

I was wondering if a food bank would want it or not since it's not that nutritious, KWIM. I could see it going both ways.

[amldaley]

Is "save it for next year and give it out at the door to other trick or treaters" the wrong answer?

Ok, seriously, I love pp's care pkg to troops idea - but be careful not to send anything that melts. Also, find out if there is a Wounded Warrior program around you or a Fisher House.

[supercalifragilous]

Oops! Duplicate post.

[supercalifragilous]

We not only had our own leftover candy, but we "bought" our kids' collected candy for a trip to the Dollar Store, so we had a huge bin of candy to give away.

We ended up calling up senior "assisted living" residences to see if the kids could go door-to-door to pass out candy to the residents. Although many places said no (diabetics, dentures, etc.), we finally found one that said yes, so the kids got in their costumes and did a backwards trick-or-treat: our Give-and-Treat drive.

It was great to see all the smiling faces on the old residents as they opened their doors to the kids. The kids had a blast giving their candy away. I think we'll do this every year!

[s7714]

Is "save it for next year and give it out at the door to other trick or treaters" the wrong answer?

:D I admit I do that with the stuff that has a "best by" date that's a year or two down the road. Those gummy candy things have surprisingly long shelf lives apparently! But usually we pick out the stuff we will eat and then send the majority of it off to DH's office though.

[DrSally]

We not only had our own leftover candy, but we "bought" our kids' collected candy for a trip to the Dollar Store, so we had a huge bin of candy to give away.

We ended up calling up senior "assisted living" residences to see if the kids could go door-to-door to pass out candy to the residents. Although many places said no (diabetics, dentures, etc.), we finally found one that said yes, so the kids got in their costumes and did a backwards trick-or-treat: our Give-and-Treat drive.

It was great to see all the smiling faces on the old residents as they opened their doors to the kids. The kids had a blast giving their candy away. I think we'll do this every year!

This sounds like a lot of fun, although I did wonder if it might not be accepted at a nursing home type place b/c of the above reasons. The residents prob just enjoyed the surprise visit whether they ate the candy or not.

[DDowning]

The Halloween Fairy is coming tonight to take it all away. ;-)