5 Things to Do With Leftover Halloween Candy

If you end up with an astounding amount of candy that your kids bring home at Halloween and don’t know what to do with it, we have some ideas!

My kids love Halloween, as do I. Our neighborhood goes all out and most of the hundreds of homes give out candy, kids are trick-or-treating at every age, and neighbors get to hang out by fire pits in their driveways and drink an adult beverage. What this means is that my kids get a lot of candy, like mountains of it. I never know what to do with all that candy. I let them eat some, I sneak my favorites (hello, Peanut Butter Cups and Sour Patch Kids) to eat when they aren’t looking, and my kids usually will eat a few pieces here and there for the next few months. 

One study showed that the average American eats 3.4 pounds of candy on Halloween. All those bite-size Snickers bars and bags of candy corn add up apparently. But for kids, the numbers are astounding. The same study revealed they eat up to 7,000 calories and three cups of sugar on Halloween alone. You know who really suffers? All those teachers the next day at school who are dealing with kids probably still on sugar overload. Thoughts and prayers.

There has to be a better way to handle all this candy, right? Since I don’t have all the answers, I asked my best resource: our Kidding Around readers. 

And they delivered! 

So let’s get to it. These are the best ideas our readers offered on how to handle the Halloween candy overload. 

Switch Witch

I had zero idea what this was until several readers suggested it. The Switch Witch is basically giving your kid(s) a small gift in exchange for the majority of the candy they get. This can be especially helpful if your child has an allergy – they can still collect candy but get a cool gift instead of a boatload of stuff that makes them sick (side note: look for homes with teal pumpkins when trick or treating with a child who has allergies – these homes will have non-candy items. This is what my family does and it’s always a hit)

These are a few ideas of how to make the Switch Witch work for your family:

“I tell my kiddo that the switch a witch eats up the candy and in exchange will use her magic to make him a gift. In our house he gets to pick five pieces of candy and the rest he can give to the switch a witch with the idea that the more candy she gets the bigger gifts she can make him. I typically do a costume or art supplies or legos. About the same size or a bit smaller then a birthday present you buy for a kid’s birthday.”

“I do the Switch Witch for my daughter who is allergic to dairy, peanut, tree nuts & sesame. She leaves her Halloween candy out for the Switch Witch & in exchange she/he leaves safe candy &/or a book, new toy, etc.”

Let Them Eat It

This is an option I know a lot of parents do which I had never even considered: let the kids eat as much candy as they want. Just go ahead and jump in the deep end. Our readers say this option essentially gives kids too much of a good thing and they are so sick of candy after Halloween. 

These are a few suggestions from our readers on how to handle this option:

“I let my daughter eat whatever she wants. It’s her candy and she won’t eat to the point of making herself sick, so I let her learn what her body wants and stop when she’s done (which is usually pretty quickly because she’s really good about that).”

“My son eats what he wants, but the novelty wears off within a day. Then we have old candy come Valentine’s Day.”

“If you’re not letting your kids go into a diabetic coma just one night of the year, are you really letting them enjoy childhood? Lol!! Mine usually get sick of it before long and I hide it in a bag and pass some out here and there and take a bunch myself lol.”

Trade It for Money

This is a good way to teach kids about ways that money works. There are a few local dentists where kids can bring in their candy by the pound and get a few dollars. This can work at home also where kids exchange their candy for money. 

Donate It

Some families will let their kids choose a handful of their favorite candy and then donate the rest to send overseas to the military or use it in Operation Christmas Child or Box of Joy.

“We will donate most of it to a local church for use in Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child boxes and also to the Blue Star Mothers for care packages sent to Troops.”

Use the Candy for Christmas or Gingerbread Houses

Other parents will sneakily steal some of the candy and reuse it for Christmas stockings. And not-so-sneaky parents will use leftover candy for candy houses or for use when they construct Gingerbread houses during Christmastime. 

“Let them have a little the night of and maybe the next day, and save the rest to divvy up into the Christmas stockings.”

“Let them eat it and then whatever is left in December is used on our gingerbread houses.”

What do you do with the tons of Halloween candy your kids bring home?

Where is all that Halloween candy coming from this year? Make your Halloween Plans

Haven’t made your Halloween plans yet? Here’s our HUGE list of Trick or treat and Halloween Events Around Greenville, SC.