Leftover Halloween Candy – How to Avoid the Candy Coma

You know this question whizzed through your head last night when your Happy Buddies come stomping through the door with their pillowcases stuffed to overflowing with candy –

What do I do with it all?

You want to be a cool mom and not strip them of their treasure entirely, but you also want to stay true to your convictions of raising healthy citizens of America (who still have teeth).

Where is the balance?

Here are a few ideas to help a momma out…

Bake It – Go HERE for a few of my favorite recipes that call for lots of candy!

Trail Mix It – Add some whole grain cereal, pretzels, nuts, and dried fruit to some of your leftover candy.  Go HERE for the recipe above!

Drink It – Toss a piece of chocolate into your morning coffee.  No one will ever know (wink!).

Advent It – Put 1 piece of candy in 22 different envelopes.  Let your Happy Buddies open one envelope a day to get their treat as you count down to Thanksgiving (or try the neat Advent project above – find instructions HERE).

Experiment It – There are some pretty fascinating things you can do with candy in the name of science.  Check out this site for lots of simple experiment suggestions!

Wreath It – This is just plain awesome.  Check it out HERE.

Save It – Save a bunch of candy for holiday activities such as Gingerbread House or Cookie Decorating like this Happy Home.

Craft It – You can make this adorable Thankful Turkey from Toddler Approved that uses leftover candy as a way to bless someone in the month of November.

Donate It – Send a giant bowl of leftover candy to work with your Happy Hubby, take it to the fire station, or find an organization that accepts candy and mails it to the troops serving overseas.  In fact, many dentists participate in the Halloween Candy Buy Back program where you get paid to turn in your candy and then the candy gets sent to the soldiers.

Potty It – Now I know where our next wave of Potty Treats are coming from!

Disappear It (The Skinny Turkey or Candy Fairy/Sugar Sprite Tradition) – This funny tradition found HERE (with FREE Printables!) lets your Happy Buddies give their candy to a skinny turkey in order to fatten him up for Thanksgiving.  Apparently he leaves behind non-candy treats like books, hair bows, small toys, etc. in exchange for the binge.  The Candy Fairy is also a similar tradition that you can read about HERE.

Eat It (unrestricted) – This mom lets her Happy Buddies eat an unlimited amount of candy for dinner one night (no restrictions) and then the rest gets thrown/given away.  You have to read about this and see the photos of her kids enjoying their freedom each year – it’s hilarious.

I’m pretty sure if I let the Happy Buddy do that, he’d take his newfound liberty straight to the hospital where we’d spend the month of November in a candy coma.

I hope you were able to find something here to help take some of the sugar off your shoulders!

Happy No-Candy-Coma-ing! 🙂