Halloween and the Candy Fairy
The Candy Fairy is a fun solution for less candy consumption at Halloween. The Candy Fairy allows kids to “help” others and learn about giving.
Times are rough out there. The government inefficiencies have hit everyone hard.
Candy City has an energy crisis. They’re at the point of rationing.
You can help. You can help the citizens of Candy City. Candy City powers their homes and businesses with sugar and candy. Halloween is their “black Friday” when everyone can finally relax a bit.
If you leave your bucket of candy on the front porch and go hide in your room, the Candy Fair will take it away to convert it to energy. In gratitude, she will leave you a lovely present – a thank you present if you will.
Jack believes with his whole heart in the Candy Fairy. He doesn’t want her fair city to go dark, and for the poor fairy families to live a cold life. He also knows that candy is delicious, but not great for him. He picks out his 20 favorite pieces of candy (the number increases a bit every year as you age), leaves the bucket on the porch, and returns to find a fabulous new toy for him. A win for everyone.
Like all holiday “spirits” the Candy Fairy can live in our hearts, or not. We get the choice to believe or not. To this day, I still remember one of the best Christmases we had growing up. It was a white Christmas (so rare in Seattle), and Santa left footprints and reindeer prints all over the yard, and we even saw snowy footprints leading from the fireplace to the tree.
Was I harmed by that memory? Nope, I keep it close and cherish it to this day.
Let’s talk candy. And sugar. I don’t hate candy. I’m not the type of person who will say “I love to have a piece of imported dark Belgium chocolate every two or three days”. F that.
If there is a Milky Way dark insight, I’m on it like Donkey Kong.
Halloween isn’t a bad thing. You get to dress up and pretend and get free stuff. It’s pretty cool! However, too much candy and sugar is not cool. My child already has enough energy, the addition of sugar is not needed. I have the feeling that a lot of parents also feel like that.
We don’t get a TON of trick-or-treaters at our house, so we have no need for a ton of items to give out. I’m ok with spending a bit more than if I just bought some fun-sized candy at the grocery store. We have done Goldfish crackers, fruit leather, and mini Play Dohs (Costco has them for under $14) in the past. Hands down, the kids prefer the glow sticks that you can get 20/$1 at the dollar store.
Am I still giving out processed packaged items? You bet. Is it slightly better than a ton of candy? For sure.
Will it piss off the Candy Fair and the dwellers in Candy City? Definitely.
Time to tighten your belts ladies, and conserve that candy. Jack will share.
I had 4 kids. My solution was not quite as creative as yours, but it was enthusiastically received. After trick or treating we all sat in a circle. Kids sorted their candy. I bought what they didn’t want for dimes on a dollar. We live in a generous neighborhood, so it was a ton of candy. As they sold more and more of their loot, they saw their money pot get bigger and bigger. They always ended up with a handful or 2 of candy and $5-$15. It was worth not seeing hoarded candy in the bedroom 6 mths later. Like you, sometimes we gave out candy, but most often things I could buy cheap at Costco. The bought candy was donated to a local orphanage (a program run by the grade school). By the way, my kids are 27-36, so this was a few years ago. Love your candy fairy story!
Grrrr – *block party*, sorry typo!
I know this comment is waaaay after Halloween; but I binge blog read and then don’t read for months, only to binge one night until all hours again – an intervention has been planned by concerned family members…
We hand out mini bottles of bubbles like the ones handed out at weddings and such until 6 p.m. or so then go trick or treating. While handing out bubbles we also host a “blow big glow in the dark bubbles” fun on the front stoop with large bubble wands for the littles to stop and play with a bit. It’s a winner winner chicken dinner with the littles and the bigs.
We manage the expectations of the little one by only walking the few blocks in our ‘hood on the way to the black party a few streets over. Only hitting a few streets worth of houses teaches our little that there is enough for everyone and keeps the scarcity mindset from taking over. She has never had the expectation of a huge amount of swag and besides the bouncy housey siren call cannot be ignored.
Halloween here has really morphed into a social event for the adults too. There are fire stands and wine/beer drinking outside. Dog treats are handed out to the dogs walking in costumes – and yes, there are a LOT of costumed doggies tied to strollers on Halloween!!! The coffee shop opens in the evening and serves warn apple cider and the corner bars serve (first one free!) shots for the bigs and candy for the littles.
In our neighborhood of Chicago only a few houses still hand out candy for Halloween (unlike my childhood). Pencils are a hit (especially sparkly or Halloween themed), glowsticks, STICKERS (squeals of joy can be heard for blocks with stickers), little mini activity books, dollar store toys, rubber band type bracelets, and for the last two years we have noticed many houses just give a nickle to each trick or treater (inflation – I used to only RARELY get pennies). Apparently with the rise of nut, dairy, and wheat allergies/sensitivities candy can be almost a taunt to those children who can’t eat it. Additionally, most any families absolutely forbid the consumption of HFCS and some choose to be gluten free – even on Halloween. It is just easier to hand out other swag – not that some don’t still give candy.
What a great idea!
I am with you on the “not giving out candy, yet not giving out toothbrushes” thing. I went to the dollar store and got a bunch of 10-packs of glowstick bracelets and necklaces. I figure it’s a win-win. Glow sticks are awesome, plus parents can see their kiddos better at night. Score.
I make a little bag up for the itty bitty kiddies. They get stickers, bubbles and stamps (like fairies, cars, spiderman etc) and a glow stick. For the bigger kiddos they get glow sticks. Everyone also gets a bag of chips. I have 2 with autism and candy with anything artificial in it makes them bonkers, so I think this is a fun alternative for other children. And when my son wants something from our “halloween bowl”, he’s getting a bag of chips and stickers hehe
I get alot of trick or treaters, and for the last two years, when the grocery store has a sale on a case of those little chip/ cracker / pretzel etc bags, I have bought one or two. I put out a big bowl of them and then some candy in another bowl and tell the kids to pick which they’d like. The chips /pretzels etc always goes first.
THIS year we had 5 children attending the local parade where they throw candy to the kids. HA ! Each kid got a little bit of candy after the parade and I have this huge stash here that I am just going to use for the trick or treaters! We did not want the kids gorging on this candy for 2 weeks then having the halloween candy …they mostly eat healthy foods.. so this worked out great thus far
Lots of fun ideas on this post and its comments! Last year, we gave away big rainbow swirly lollipops that had a Halloweeny owl sticker on them that said something like “Happy Halloween! from the ___ family.” Those were a big hit!
This year I made little goody bags with sugar candies (no corn syrup, woo) and put a button / pin in each bag. The pins have ghosts, witches, bats, owls, etc. on them or some just say “BOO!” 🙂