Goblins, ghouls, and ghosts…large amounts of Halloween candy spooks many parents. While kids like sweets, research shows children between 3 to14 are just as likely to choose non-candy fun-treats as they might candy.
Finding Halloween fun-treats is as easy as going to your local super market. Your tricksters will cackle and delight over balloons, stickers, whistles, miniature toys, vampire fangs, glow in the dark skeletons, rubber spiders and temporary tattoos. Home made Halloween coupons gives music downloads, books, or things your children enjoy. These are a few of the Top 15 Fun-Treats for Halloween 2012.
Fun-treats eliminates ghoulish Halloween nightmares of lurking leftover candy saying “eat me,” extra calories resulting in a haunting weight gain, and sugar digging away at the surface of our kids’ teeth. Fun-treats keep from year to year and are reusable. Just box and give to next year’s tricksters.
At the hauntings end, some sweets will undoubtedly have made their way into your home. Some candy is fine. Every day has some “discretionary” calories that can be used for sweets. But no day has enough extra calories for super-sized candy.
A miniature Snicker’s candy bar has 45 calories – okay fine. But the king-size Snickers with Almonds has 440 calories, that’s a meal but with out all the nutrition. Choosing the fun size candy bars can help reduce empty calories from sugar, but still hide approximately 230 calories.
When candy is left out, no garlic or talisman will keep the candy-vamps away. But taking candy away from kids can have terrorizing results. Instead, have your kids categorize candy into their favorites, that which is okay, and that which they don’t like. Toss or donate the disliked candy. The rest can be portioned into 250 calories or less – about the calories of having a fun-size candy bar, a piece of hard candy, and a gumball, put into small sealable plastic bags, and kept in the freezer.
Halloween parties are popular alternatives to door-to-door trick or treating. Activity-treats like bobbing for apples or peel your own grapes for eyeballs are fun to do and eat! Make scary-faced pizzas by arranging olives, sliced green, red, and yellow peppers, mushrooms, and pepperoni on top individual English muffin halves pre topped with sauce.
Fill in with a few gory delights can include blood shot eyeballs made of radishes and pimento stuffed olives, witches fingers made of bread sticks with an almond fingernail, and spider web dip – a spooky version of layered Mexican dip.
Celebrate seasonal favorites of plain or cheese coated popcorn, oatmeal and fruit based cookies, and chocolaty-pumpkin squares. Wash it all down with Witches Brew—apple cider, orange juice and cinnamon sticks, delicious hot or cold.
Halloween doesn’t have to be gobs of candy. Trickers and treaters alike will enjoy the variety of non-candy fun-treats and home-parties favorites.
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