I think it was Chris Rock who said that Halloween is the one holiday that you can’t fake if you are a poor kid. A kid can lie their way through the other holidays (“I got a transformer for Christmas — it’s at home!”) but a child can’t really fake a costume.
At my school there is a uniform policy. It means that kids must wear white on top and dark on the bottom. It evens the playing field. Halloween is one of the few days they can get out of uniform. I feel for the kids who can’t dress up, although some might not dress up for religious reasons. I saw some kids with orange shirts and that was a good compromise. One kid from a big family was still in uniform yesterday at school and I’m sure the family can’t afford to get every child a costume.
There were a couple classes where the teacher took away the party due to bad classroom behavior (they had to earn it, but they didn’t). I felt really bad for those kids. They looked so depressed walking in the hallway and seeing all the other kids dressed up. I’m hoping those classrooms can earn a Thanksgiving party…
Aside from the costume, Halloween is a candy holiday. Other celebrations throughout the year can be geared away from junky snacks, but Halloween puts teachers in a tricky spot. I gave out pumpkin stickers, Halloween-themed pencils and Halloween-themed pencil erasers. They were a hit with my students. What was under my control was not candy-related.
After seeing the sad kids from the couple classrooms who didn’t “earn” a party, I don’t think it’s appropriate to deny them the party especially if the whole school is dressing up and each classroom is having some kind of event. It seems mean considering my school’s general attitude towards Halloween. Doing a Halloween-themed craft is a great way to make the holiday less about getting as much candy as possible. Teachers, how do you manage Halloween? How does your school handle it?
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The internal debate I had was whether or not to let my son go trick or treating. We went last year but my son was so little that it was just cool to carry a plastic pumpkin and have people drop things into it. Now that he knows and remembers things, he will ask to eat the candy right away. Even if we take the goodies away overnight, he will ask us where they went.
I was leaning towards not doing it, but my husband wants to go. We really had fun going around the neighborhood last year: I like the community feel. It’s always freezing on Halloween though. But we’re going to give it a shot. Wish us well — we’re sure to have a tantrum or two on our hands! I’ll comment on Sunday night about what ended up transpiring. What are you doing for Halloween, if anything?
My parents didn't do this, but many of my little cousins have restrictions on how much of their Halloween candy they can have per day (maybe three pieces?), and it basically just replaces any sort of dinner. I think I also recall that this went on for only a short amount of time before the rest of the candy magically "disappeared."
I think there's a good lesson in this. Labeling certain foods as "bad" or "off limits" can lead to disordered views of food. On the other hand, limiting the amount of treat a child can get in a day probably helps with the life lesson that moderation is the key to enjoying food healthily. I usually avoid HFCS and artificial dyes like the plague, but around Halloween I let myself have a couple fun-sized candies as a holiday treat.
We have food allergies in our house (egg,soy,nut). That cuts down on the candy that can actually be consumed……to just about nothing. I am certainly not anti sweets, but I think it's important to have the right sweets, and the right portions (read not filled with food dyes, or in quantities that would fill a pillowcase).
We are making some sweets this year, baked pears, homemade mint patties, and chocolate covered pretzels. Even so the kids have already brought home some candy. They will get to leave that candy out tomorrow during nap time and when they wake up it is going to be replaced by toys and allergy friendly treats. This is our first year doing this, so I hope it goes well.
My girls are in a uniform school too. The school planned parties for all the classes but they were not allowed to wear costumes. However, they could wear halloween socks and hair clips. I don't have an issue with the kids not wearing their costumes to school. I understand weach school has its own rules. And, this school has a list of party approved foods. No home baked goods, no candy, no dyes, no HFCS, no transfats & the list goes on. So when I picked them up yesterday they were not on a sugar high. They had fruit and all fruit ice pops & pizza for lunch! It was great! Happy Halloween!!
My son is 6 and is not going trick-or-treating this year. He has never been ToT properly. We go to organized events where he gets candy, but is't just a little. I can't have a lot of candy in the house because *I* can't control my own impulses (binge eater) and my son whines too much when it's around. One piece is never enough for him if it's here. So I don't keep it here.
Instead, we're going to a haunted house tonight. Tomorrow, we'll watch spooky movies. All week long, we've been making spooky foods that are still fairly healthy. Last weekend, we went to a local school fund raiser that had Halloween & fall activities, as well as very limited trick or treating.
I really wish I could do my house up in Roseanne & Dan Connor fashion every year, but we don't really have kids in the neighborhood (in 11 years, we've never had a trick or treater!) so we try to focus on making memories rather than getting and eating candy.
I am a substitute teacher at my son's school, so I get to have both a teacher's and a parent's perspective. Our elementary school has a Halloween parade. Most kids wear costumes, but everyone gets to be in the parade whether they are costumed or not. Costume weapons are prohibited. Class parents prepare a short party (45 minutes long) with games, crafts, and snacks. Our school has a very specific food policy which is in place all the time. No peanuts or nut-containing items. Ever. Nothing can be baked or made at home; everything should come with an ingredient label. Food items cannot have sugar listed as the first ingredient, and items cannot have more than 8 grams of fat per serving. That pretty much rules out any type of candy or cupcake. (However, much to my surprise, I've discovered that Twinkies "fit the bill" to the above rules. Weird.) Our party yesterday included watermelon, grapes, pretzels, and popcorn. It was nice to see that many kids asked for seconds on the watermelon. Treatbags contained pencils, fake spiders, tattoos, and other trinket-type items. These rules apply to birthday snacks, too, and it also affected the PTO since we can no longer hold our annual bakesale. Many parents complain that it's hard to find store-bought, pre-packaged items that are fun and yummy yet comply with the rules. But the policy is becoming the norm at our school, and people are getting used to it. Teachers seem not mind it at all, although I know the vice principal keeps a private stash of chocolate in her office for the teachers!
I help with the candy sugar high issue by having the "Trick or Treat" fairy come. My son gets to eat one piece of candy when he gets home from trick or treating, then he gets to pick out five pieces to keep. The rest get left for the trick or treat fairy, who takes the candy and leaves a small toy or book. He's only four, so this has worked for a couple years…we'll see how long it lasts. I think it's a great way to celebrate Halloween without dealing with him begging me for candy for weeks.
Jennifer – I like the fairy idea. What do you do with the candy? Throw it away? I hate to waste anything, even if it's junk LOL
May not be the best way, but we go to the tailgate trick or treat, let the kiddo get a bucket full, let her gorge on the the junk for that night and the next day and then it disappears. She's 4. We tell her that she's eaten it all, and she has a fuzzy recollection of eating it and puts up a mild fuss of wanting more but there not being any and then it's over.
We don't have classes, and school is a half day. We have a division wide Halloween parade. Even if kids don't dress up (for whatever reason) they participate. It takes about an hour to march around school and then change out of costumes. Parents volunteer and the kids have about 2 1/2 hours of Fall Festival-games and a whole lot of fun. This is not a day the students have to earn. Individual teachers have their own system for compliment parties.
Posting anonymous today . . .
I am a kindergarten teacher. Of the 8 elem. schools in my district, 6 of them DO celebrate Halloween . . . 2 do not.
In ours, EVERY class has a party of some sort and the whole school K-5 marches in a parade. The teachers help any child who does not have a costume. I have a bunch of spares, and also encourage children to wear PJs and bring a teddy and be a "baby" if they do not have something.
The children BRING their costumes to school, and put them on for the last hour of the school day for the parade and party.
I try to focus on healthier treats. My class made spiders out of chocolate-pumpkin muffins using pretzels and dried fruit. They were a HIT
I just have to make a comment about your assumption that the large family couldn't afford to get costumes for all of their kids. I live in a community with a lot of large families. Most of them do not have a great money problem because they are good at managing their money. I think "large family=poor" is a faulty assumption.
1-Hand-me-down costumes.
2-Buy one at the thrift store.
3-Be creative.
One of my own children is being a pirate by wearing black pants, a white shirt with his dad's red tie around the waist. A belt buckled over his shoulder and a pirate hat completes the look, and I didn't pay a dime.
Having four kids myself, I vote that it is more likely that the mom forgot or that they don't celebrate Halloween than that they just couldn't afford one. Just my 2 cents . . .
My school did not allow any food at the classroom Halloween parties. There was a goodie bag that they all got with some candy in it that was approved for all allergies beforehand. For Valentine's Day parties, it's a fitness day talking about ways to make your heart healthy.
My family was also in the 'few pieces a day, oops it's all gone' camp. I think it's a good compromise.
On a related note about whether candy is 'bad', check out this NYT article about a woman who has ended up studying the history of candy, and is now the 'candy professor'
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/27/dining/27candy.html?_r=1
Me and my fellow lunch ladies dressed up (pics on my blog)and the kids loved it! We turned the lights out in the kitchen and just had the lights on over the servers. We also played scary sound effects music and the teachers on cafeteria duty let the kids dance to the Monster Mash. It was fun!
The way it used to be when I was a kid was we got to eat our loot that night only. There were pretty much no restrictions on how much candy we were allowed to eat ON Halloween. If we made ourselves sick, we had to deal with it. After Halloween was over, the rest of the candy got rounded up. I'm not sure what my mom did with it, but I suspect it was donated.
We do a fall fun festival with some sort of theme. The students participate in different stations. This year we watched a juggler, played musical gourds (think hot potato with gourds), ran harvest races, created pumpkins out of lunch sacks and guessed what was in the mystery bags. We have done a festival for over ten years. I certainly prefer it to trying to get all the students in their costumes and trying to provide costumes for those that don't have them. We also had several students that could not participate in Halloween activities due to cultural and religious reasons. The parents also "Booed" us with pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies and orange drink earlier in the week. Other classes were "Booed" with candy or other treats. We still have Winter and Valentine parties later in the year.
I coordinate our school's reward activities and this is the first year we allowed kids to wear costumes. Each class has to earn it through a "Green Slip Challenge." The kids earn individual green slips all year that are used for drawings and class stores. A few times a year we have challenges and the teachers post their classes behavior goals outside the door. Other staff members then try and catch the classes meeting their goal and give them a class green slip. If they earn enough, they get the rewards.
I teach at a very poor school and we knew that not everyone would have a costume (or parents who cared enough to figure one out from stuff at home), so we called it Dress Up Day. Kids could wear a costume or dress up in their nicest clothes. I think next year we will limit the costumes to the last hour of the day. Some of the teachers were complaining. I was mostly surprised at how few kids dressed up. They talked all week about their costumes, and then only about half my kids came dressed up.
My nieces are in a uniform school. They got to wear whatever they liked to school EXCEPT their costumes… but they then changed into their costumes before the Halloween parade.
Every year I loudly complain about how stupid this all is. Either let them wear their costumes or not, but stop wasting time with this nonsense mid-day!
At my school, we keep the Halloween celebrations *extremely* brief. School starts at 8:10, as usual. Halloween parade at 8:30. As soon as the parade is over, kids must change out of costume and be back in class by about 9:15. There are no parties and candy is banned from the whole school campus, regardless of the holiday.
It's a little dismal, but it's equal for everyone and some learning can actually get accomplished before the candy coma sets in.
I know someone who trades his kids' candies for money. Maybe you can do something like that. A trade for candies for a donation to helping other kids, or maybe trading up for a bigger treat like homemade cookies or something that your son really enjoys doing. Like candy currency 🙂
The last few years I have had my son (now 5) pick out 1-2(depending on candy size) pieces of candy per day for the next week (maybe less). Last year I made a calendar of the next week on paper so he could lay out what he wanted and see "I get this Monday…" I don't remember what i told him I did with the rest- maybe take it to kids who didn't get any candy? (I know there are things you can do with it but really we just ate it when he wasn't around :)). We'll probably do the same this year, at least this way he is picking the stuff he actually likes and not just eating it cause it's "candy"
There are so many ways to dress up for Halloween on a budget. You can actually wear black pants, black shoes, and a black long sleeve shirt; Then take a black short sleeve shirt and make a head wrap out of it and you're a ninja! (there is a youtube video on this that I found, its called be a ninja in 30 seconds.) You can also go to Goodwill to look for Halloween costumes, they usually have things you can get for cheap. Its all about being creative and looking around.
As for the candy issue, I don't think parents should not let their kids go trick or treating. Its a fun holiday where kids get to dress up and get sweets; I don't see any harm in it. Limiting your kids candy is definitely smart though. When I was younger my teachers would hand out gift bags on Halloween which contained things such as pencils, erasers, notepads, stickers, etc. as well as a few pieces of candy. Halloween costumes were never allowed.
Serena, there are a number of reasons why parents might not let their kids go trick-or-treating Off the top of my head, I can think of:
1. Their neighborhood might actually be dangerous. It might not be safe to go out on Halloween.
2. The child may have serious allergies that prevent him/her from eating the candy, and the parents may know from experience that the disappointment is not worth it.
3. The family may feel that the holiday is contrary to their religious beliefs, either that it "promotes evil" or that they should only observe holidays set out in their religious book or whatnot. (It's not my place or yours to judge the validity of their beliefs.)
4. They might live in an area where few, if any, celebrate the holiday. Alternatively, they may live in a very rural area where it's simply not worth the cost of gas to get to a place where you can trick-or-treat.
5. They may, as a family, prefer to celebrate in other ways, such as having a party or watching scary movies at home.
I'm a teacher in a poor school district. My students also wear school uniforms and Halloween is a treat for our students. This year I had only 1 student who did not have a costume and another whose mother was supposed to come with the rest of her costume and never showed up. I always feel bad for the students without one. Some teachers go out during lunch to buy costumes. I honestly cannot afford that.
In my classroom I also have a healthy party. I bought pretzels, goldfish and real apple juice and mini cupcakes. Only one student brought something to the party and it was popcorn. I try to give them something less junky since they get that everywhere else. They love it and never complain.
Lastly I give each student a halloween pencil, eraser and tattoo instead of candy. It is something they like (I have first graders) and they'll use those pencils until they are too small. I'd rather spend my money on that than a piece of candy.
After we eat we play freeze dance and have a great time.
I forgot to add that at my school students MUST come to school in uniform. We don't get changed until 1pm, school parade at 1:40pm followed by classroom parties and dismissal at 3:15pm. We keep the celebration short so that we can still get through the curriculum during the day and limit the craziness.
I made my kids "Monster Smoothies" for our Halloween party in the classroom. They also got to make an Oreo spider as the craft. So it was a balance of a healthy smoothie with a treat. The Monster had banana, milk, pineapple, and spinach blended together. You can see the pic over at http://recessmoments.posterous.com/witchs-brew
@Lil'Misa:
What you might do, if you take this seriously, is this year after Halloween, hit up Freecycle and pick up some old costumes – especially boy costumes (you can get girl costumes from dance recitals in the summer, if necessary). Go to thrift stores (I got a whole costume for each niece at $5 each at the local thrift store. With accessories and makeup they were dressed up for the same price as a single NEW costume in stores!), garage sales, ask friends with kids (even send home a quiet note to parents explaining you want some spare costumes for future years, would they mind donating theirs – you might get a few other teachers doing this too, if they're spending their own money during their lunch hour), and then you'll be set for future years.
I take all my son's candy and make a chain to count down to Thanksgiving (his birthday) and Christmas. It controls his consumption and he love to count down to things (he is almost 6). DH usually swipes his chocolate for his desk drawer at work. In our area there are several dentists that pay cash to kids for their halloween candy. I think it is like $1.00 a pound
My kiddo is only 21 months, with multiple life-threatening food allergies, and Celiac's, so we will be hosting a "Halloween Playdate" tomorrow where kiddos (and some parents) will come in costume, get their picture taken (by me) and then go off and play trains. We have local seasonal beer tastings for the adults and veggie plates, hummus, salsa, a few baked goods like GF choco chip pumpkin bread and GF flax banana muffins for the kiddos. Each kid will take home non-food items like bubbles and stickers.
I have NO idea how I will handle Halloween in the future when he realizes he can trick-o-treat (as we get a TON of Halloween visitors) due to the fact that most candy will have dairy, soy, tree nuts and peanuts as ingredients. My first thought is to give 4-5 neighbors "safe" stuff to give Miles…. any ideas?
As for trick-o-treaters, they will be getting juice-sweetened lollipops from YummyEarth, boxes of raisins and lots and lots of non-food toys- like tatoos, bouncy balls, pencils, gooey spiders, fangs, and more. We did this last year and I got a ton of "thank yous" and "cool" at my door…so we're trying it again this year.
My son got to wear his costume to school (and then change after the school-wide parade) this year. They had a party in his class, but one of the items on the party list was grapes, and one was juice (100%), so it wasn't too bad.
One of the best things about my son's preschool teacher was that she taught him about "Mr. Bones." If you leave all/most of your candy out for Mr. Bones on Halloween night (or the night after), then he will leave you a toy or book. My husband and I usually keep a small stash of his candy (to eat after my son goes to bed), and then I send the rest with him to his work.
I'm surprised your students are allowed a party for each holiday. In my son's school each class is allowed 1 party per year. Personally, I think it stinks that his class didn't do one for Halloween. The rule creates an odd situation where one group of kids might be wearing costumes because they elected to have a Halloween party.
I absolutely love Halloween and am only waiting to go 'all-out' with it because right now my kids are too scared of certain decorating options (they're 4 & 6). I'd NEVER skip trick or treating (even if this year I hate that it's a school night – we've been spoiled the last 2). As long as they eat the candy in moderation I don't see a problem. The only thing I hate is the candy we throw out since there's so much (seems like a waste).
How sad that some school's are limiting home baked foods! Poor kids are left with processed junk…
As kids, we combined all of our candy into bags and as a family kept some of it, but a majority went to some sort of charity that my mom found. She explained to us that not every kid was lucky enough to get to go trick or treating in costume. We loved giving these other kids candy and it took away the option of us gorging on tons of candy. The candy that we did keep was kept in the freezer and we had a limit of candy per day (we always managed to keep it until the spring!) This might be a good compromise between health and the fun that ya'll will have going trick or treating
My kids school does "storybook parade." It means that you dress up like a storybook character and carry the book with them. I am friends with the librarian, and she specifically tells the children that the goal is to not buy new things. Of course, we live in a realtively affluent area and some parents go all out.
As far as parties, we are only allowed 2 per year, because they take away from curriculum days.
I'm not a fan of Halloween myself, but my daughter has been brought up with sweets always available, along with advice about health and balance. She self-regulates very well, and I'd never consider taking her candy away from her. Candy and sweets have never been forbidden, so she just doesn't spend much time thinking about them. Most of it gets thrown out eventually.
My daughter, a sixth-grader, is choosing not to go trick-or-treating this year; she wants to stay home and watch spooky movies and TV instead. In the past, I've usually just let her eat whatever she wants from her Halloween candy haul – that lasts a couple of days and then she's over it and I throw the rest away. Her dentist actually does a Halloween candy buyback, which we've never availed ourselves of, but kids can take their candy to the office and get $1 a pound for it.
My daughter is only one, so we are not trick or treating, and plan to hand out nonfood items. I've had a hard time deciding because I don't want to give out landfill either, so it will probably be school supplies in the form of #2 pencils, hopefully recycled wood & made in the USA.
Next year, however, I'm thinking about doing reverse trick or treating (http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/cocoa/reversetrickortreating/reversetrickortreating.html). I don't plan to hand out the flyer from the link to the trick or treaters. They are only children as well, living in a world of our making. So I feel like it's a little much to burden them with the reality of human trafficking. They might be good for high school students, however, so I might wrap some on a few pencils in case we get older kids. But I do like the idea of reverse treating and so we get the fun of going around the neighborhood without bring candy home.
Our town has a Halloween parade that's basically the area marching bands + anyone in costume who wants to walk up and down the main street. All the kids had bags for goodies (whether in the parade or watching the parade), but I didn't actually see any candy being thrown. So that's something I could see us doing as well.
The Halloween fairy visits our house and whisks away junk candy, leaving a small toy behind. This year, our son has pretty much decided that he only wants to visit houses to show off his costume, not pick up candy, and then was worried if the Halloween fairy would still visit if he didn't have any treats to leave for her. YES!
As for what the Halloween fairy does with it…. I had thought about tossing them into the compost but then I wondered if I really wanted those chemical in my precious compost. So, I either take them to work or I toss them in the trash.
Christina D.–we go ahead and let our allergic kid trick or treat. He knows he isn't to eat anything that isn't approved before he eats it, and everything that isn't safe (and/or clearly labeled) goes to daddy (I have several allergies in common with ds). He ends up with what I consider the perfect amount of candy–it lasts for about a week at a few pieces a day. And he has a blast (he loves it when somebody just dumps a handful of candy in his bucket!), just going around getting stuff. He doesn't care that he won't be able to eat most of it.
Here's how we've been dealing with the excess candy situation since my daughter was 4 (she's now 10).
She gets to go trick-or-treating and get lots of loot just like all the other kids. And just like all the other kids, she gets to pull out her candy and sort and ooh and ahh. Then she gets to pick 5 pieces of candy to keep. She'll get one piece of candy for the next 5 nights (or later if she decides to skip a night). Additionally, on Halloween, she gets to eat a total of 3 pieces, either while out trick-or-treating or during the sorting.
The rest of the candy goes into a bag to be left for the Pumpkin Man. She hangs the bag on the doorknob inside the front door. When she checks in the morning, the candy is gone and a small, inexpensive present is waiting for her.
The candy usually ends up going to work and left in the staff room, where it quickly disappears.
At 10, she's done suspending her disbelief but she still looks forward to the visit from the pumpkin man!
I just don't agree with the idea that every kid/class should get parties when their behavior does not warrant one.
If we constantly give kids treats and parties and no consequences we will have a much larger problem than just school lunch.
I already teach in secondary schools and the kids never believe me when I say I will take a way a privilege. They are always shocked when things don't go through at the last minute. I would never go back on my word and give them a party or any privilege just because I felt bad.
There are many lessons for schools to teach and they are not all based on curriculum.
Look at this, everyone – "Halloween Candy Buy Back". Participating dentists (there are many in my area), will pay $1 per pound of candy you bring them and then send the candy to the troops overseas.
Instead of throwing the candy out, not letting the kids go trick-or-treating at all, etc. why not let them do some good? Explain that there are some men and women that don't have snack foods or candy and you are going to send them some. I would let them pick out some favorites to keep and take the rest to the dentist. They'll even make a dollar or two out of it!
http://www.halloweencandybuyback.com/index.html
I work as an ESL teacher at a Title 1 school. There is a strict No Costuems rule but it was called Treat Friday. The room parent for each room arranged for cupcakes to be served in the lunchroom to each class. The kids were so excited about it.
My own daughters (not at a Title 1 school) are in Kindergarten. They had Pumpkin Day. The cut into pumpkins and looked at the inside and planted some seeds on the playground. They decorated cookies and they made patterns with different types of candy. They also got to paint a pumpkin with their table. I thought it was cute.
We do let our girls go trick or treating. We eat an early dinner of chili. It's warm and filling. Then when they get home, they can eat for about 10 minutes. Then it's off to bed. After that I let them have a piece for dessert for a week and then we just throw the rest away.
I love all these comments! Thank you! I love all of the ideas for schools and I plan on suggesting them at my school. At my school they get to wear their costumes all day. It's incredibly distracting. The day is sort of a loss. After lunch all is lost.
The candy overload is a problem. And taking them to Daddy's office isn't always a great idea because there's already too much candy at the office. My husband gets tons of junky snacks at work this time of year. His office mates have mentioned wanting to lose weight so Halloween isn't helping.
Regarding taking away a party. I agree that privileges must be stripped in the face of bad behavior. However, considering my school culture of "all day costume, party all afternoon," it seems particularly cruel. I don't know what the right answer is to that one. I wouldn't have put the party on the line…
I was surprised by your comment about costumes. We had money growing up, but I've never bought a premade costume in my life. It was always whatever I could put together from the thrift store, or from what I had lying around the house.
My In laws did not feel like buying their children costumes . When i asked why not she said why bother. As I keep a costume play box for my children I asked if they could raid that she had no problem with it as long as she did not have to give up her smokes to buy them. Now with the trick or treat thing I always do a trunk or treat at a local church it is safer. We bring the candy home dump it into a big bowl and then they get 1 piece maybe 2 every day only if they eat there regular food. as long as it is not all eaten at once I feel it is alright in small doses and as this is how it has all ways been they do not fight me on it.
At the preschool/MDO I work at we have Fall parties (it is a church afterall) store bought treats. Cute crafts, pumpkins, owls, and lots of fun storybooks. There is a short party in the preschool, complete with dress up. Which is a bit of a hassle.
At my kids grade school it was a Fall party, can't be calling it Halloween now can we? It was the last 45 minutes to hour of the day. Store bought treats (because of allergy issues).
No dress up.
High school: 2 dress up days this week. One Gatsby party in English and One Historical party in History. Neither had much food.
There was soda. (that is 2 costumes in one week!)
When the kids were growing up we did the trick or treat thing around the neighborhood. How old they were = how many houses we visited. When really young the candy was somewhat limited. In grade school we started letting them self limit/regulate. I can remember throwing stuff out weeks later because it was just sitting around.
Of course we had to cull through the candy for the allergy inducing pieces. Peanut stuff wasn't allowed in the house. (unfortunately those are my favorite)
Now the youngest is 16. She dresses up to hand out candy. She gets a small bag of her favorite just for herself. She self regulates. I'm not going to worry about it. She eats healthy most of the time, I can't see her eating the whole bag at one sitting.
A word about dressing up not about making costumes or buying costumes but the value in letting small children dress up as something scary (to them)or even just someone different than themselves. To look in the mirror. To walk in the night (with a parent close by)to experience this is empowering and thrilling.
Small kids don't distinguish between reality and fantasy, They just ARE.
Halloween is a learning time too.
I'll always remember a 3 yr old looking up at me (remember I teach at a preschool) and in his serious face and voice telling me: "Ms. Viki, My Dad, HE is a Super Hero!" and It was True.
We don't acknowledge Halloween at all at our school. The students don't do uniforms, but costumes and face paint are forbidden. We used to have 'fall' parties, but even those are over. Due to some severe – life threatening – allergies, all parties have prescribed foods – and the entire school has the same foods for the same event.
This was the first year that my daughter didn't have a party at school. We go trick or treating and I never really hide it or anything. They get sick of the candy anyway,lol.
Our school does a charity were you can bring it your unused and unneeded candy to donmate to
children in other countries who may never had candy. I thought that was a sweet and very caring idea. We are a Girl Scout family and love to give to others anyway we can.
I wished our school did uniforms!!
There so affordable now. I find the only parents
who don't like the idea, like to show off what they can afford to buy their children. We're not
in the money but I make sure my daughter has nice cloths, but uniforms would be great!