It's All In the Strategy

For most of my adult, Halloween-candy-giving life, I have struggled with . . . not eating the treats before the trick-or-treaters arrived.  Over the years, I tried all kinds of things to prevent myself from snacking on Snickers bars, but none of these strategies were terribly effective.  For example, I tried storing the candy in the freezer . . . only to discover that frozen Snickers bars are nearly as tasty as room-termperature Snickers bars.  I tried buying my candy at the last moment . . . only to discover that the pent-up desire for a snack-size Snickers bars is even stronger when I wait to the last moment.

Anyway.

After years and years of struggling, I have hit upon a Candy Strategy that Works!  
(A 3-part strategy, of course.)

1 -- Buy ONLY as much candy as you will need to give out.  Don't buy extras-just-in-case.  And if you do run out?  Big win!  Turn out your lights and call it quits.

2 -- Have a plan for "donating" your leftover candy (your office candy jar?  an upcoming curling tournament?  your art class? so many possibilities. . . ).  Think about who might actually WANT it (or even just tolerate having it) and bag it up for them as soon as your trick-or-treaters call it a night - and then go put it in your car so you can deliver it the next day.  The key here is to get it out of your house!

The best strategy of all, though?

3 -- Step away from the Snickers bars!  Only buy candy you don't like and won't eat!  As you can see in the photo of my treat bowl - all ready for this evening - there is no chocolate.  None.  Only (sugar-bomb) Skittles, Nerds (what even ARE those?), (mouth-destroying) Sweet Tarts and Sour Patch Kids, (tasteless) Twizzlers, and the like.  NOT my candy!  Biggest WIN ever!

How about you?  What's your best strategy for avoiding Halloween candy?  (Or . . . is it your guilty pleasure???)

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Happy Halloween!  I hope your day is full of treats!

(Tom and I dressed as "robbers" for a Halloween party last weekend.)

Comments

[Vera]

OMG - love your robber costumes! Fun. I give in and eat the candy even if I shouldn't. And for the record, I love Twizzlers and Sour Patch Kids! Also chocolate. We always have candy in the house because Fletch will often have a small piece for dessert after dinner. I don't usually have any, but once in awhile....

Meanwhile, the island in our main kitchen at work will be covered with candy tomorrow. Everyone brings in their leftovers (and some parents even eliminate a lot from their children's hauls!). I will do my best to stay out of the kitchen tomorrow....

[Vicki]

I've been successfully ignoring the Halloween candy at the store(s) since it appeared right after the back-to-school sales ended... and now I'm empty-handed!! How's that for a strategy?? Haha!

[Kat]

I am grinning and nodding along on this post! Exactly. If you bring in nothing you like, the temptation suddenly, well... is just not there!

(Oh, and I could donate my leftovers to said curling team.... just sayin')

[Margene]

I am all for #3, although Smith will eat anything. The best strategy we've found is to not be home on Halloween. It's a good night out to go for fine dining. :)

[Carole]

When it comes to candy I can take it or leave it so I don't really struggle with the Halloween candy temptation. I mean, I'll eat a snickers or a reese's but I'm not too tempted to go overboard. We hardly get any trick or treaters and this year it's very windy and rainy here so the only ones I expect are my neighbors 3 kids and Jackie. Nevertheless, I've got two boxes of full size Milky Way and Snickers plus a bag of Dum Dums for Jackie. Dale will take all the leftovers when he goes hunting so it doesn't get wasted! Happy Halloween, you and Tom are adorable in your costumes!

[Geri]

I love trick or treaters but sadly our neighborhood have only a couple of kiddos in that age bracket. Couple that with living on a narrow country road that leads to a much safer ( for walking) development and we no longer have trick or treaters. I do have some small Hersey bars in the freezer but will keep them there until needed. Great for s’mores with the grandkids on Thanksgiving at the fire pit! Love your costumes!

[Sybil]

Loved the costumes. Like u I stay away from the candy I like M M Peanut.

[Jane]

I really prefer good quality dark chocolate so staying out of it isn't too difficult. That said, I bought one bag of Junior Mints this year because I like one or two as an after dinner mint.

[Patty]

#3 for the win! I only buy candy I won't eat as well. Love those costumes...have a great weekend Kym! xo

[Sarah]

Bonus: All the candy you bought to give out is nut free, making those with allergies very happy!

I am thankful that I don't have the candy sitting around beforehand anymore. We rarely get kids down to our end of a dead-end street, plus for the past several years we've both gone out with our daughter and then to a party. Of course, this does nothing to keep me from eating the candy that comes home with us, especially when she doesn't eat the Snickers!

[Mary]

What a great pair y'all make!! We don't get many trick or treaters in our little community, so we buy just a little and make sure it's the snack size of something we like ... We give generously to anyone who rings our doorbell (we had about a half dozen kids this year with two rings) and neither of us is tempted to eat more than one or two of the snack sized leftovers (at one sitting anyway ... I'll be dining on peanut m and m's for "dessert" for a few weeks :-)

All that said, when Charlie shared his haul with us (via FaceTime after trick or treating), the ones he was most excited about were the ones without chocolate. He was allowed ONE before bed and he chose Sourpatch kids. So maybe we will modify our approach next year and buy a little of a snack size that HE (and his brother) are likely to love...

[Dee]

OMG ....you bought ALL my favorites. Seriously!!!!

My strategy ......long, unlit driveway. We don't get any trick-or-treaters. Sadly, I don't think the rest of the neighborhood did either. The weather was just so bad.