Halloween is a wonderful time of year for children who love playing dress up, visiting haunted houses, hearing ghastly tales, and devouring bags and bags of candy. Watching them tear through their bags can be a horror movie in itself though, considering rising food allergies, obesity, and the latest report from the USDA claiming the average child consumes 49 pounds of sugar every year.
Though Halloween is certainly not to blame, whether planning to hand out treats or hoping to reduce the increasing sugar rush as part of your civic duty to other parents, consider these ghoulishly awesome tips for what to hand out!
Pre-packaged snacks
Replace chocolate bars and lollipops with healthier choices like granola bars, dried fruit packs and fruit chews, which are usually high in fiber and protein, or foods rich in vitamins and nutrients like bagged pretzels, stringed cheese sticks or juice boxes and hot chocolate packets. As healthy alternatives to candy that are just as yummy and add variety to the mix, these treats will be über appreciated.
Halloween Themed Supplies
By handing out themed supplies like pencils, rulers, bookmarks, stickers, coloring books, and more, you don’t have to feel bad if you’re among the emergent group of parents who want to do their part to protect kids from food allergies and sugar rushes. As an effective alternative, kids will surely like it.
Cool (and maybe gross?) candy
In stores now, hand out (gross) candy thanks to Skybar’s Zombie Food which is brains, hearts and feet shaped chocolate bits filled with gooey red caramel, or a Box of Boogers, which is “snot” your average candy, especially with its texture! If the gross doesn’t charm you, there’s always Caramel Apple Twizzlers, which are apple-flavored and filled with caramel or Jolly Rancher Caramel Apple Lollipops sold by the bag.
Healthier (and less sugary) candy
Since you can’t really get rid of sugar from a Halloween diet, why not try relatively healthier options that come in under 100 calories, 6 grams of fat and just 10 grams of sugar per serving? Um, is there even such a thing? YES. From Hershey’s Special Dark that boasts antioxidant benefits; to the low in sugar Kit-Kat and Crunch; to everyone’s favorite PEZ candy packs, or even Peanut M&Ms, which boast protein, fiber, and calcium.
Halloween Toys
Forgo candy altogether and visit the dollar store or the bulk section of the grocery outlet for Halloween-esque knick-knacks like plastic jewelry, containers of bubbles, press-on-tattoos, Playdoh — anything small or inexpensive for kids to play with. Try not to find anything too small that might risk choking hazards.
Crafts Kits
Kids love building things and unleashing their creativity so by buying inexpensive craft kits at your local craft store or making your own, kids will have something festive and fun to design. A great idea to get started with is the ol’ beads and string, or how about a kit with glow sticks, twine and felt so that kids can make their very own glow stick brooms?
What are some of your favorite trick-or-treat goodies to give out every Halloween? Share with us in the comments below.
The Hudsucker 
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