Halloween candy. It should be so simple. You buy. You give it out. You sneak a few here and there. But Halloween candy seems to be complicated these days and even have its own politics.
When do you buy your candy? The day before or two weeks before?
What do you buy? The good stuff everyone likes or Smarties (gag)?
Where do you store it? In plain view or do you hide it from the kids and the spouse?
How much do you buy? Enough for leftovers?
Do you hand each kid one or let them become greedy by digging in for two fistfuls?
See, it’s not so easy. As I sit here sneaking in the “good candy” (aka Hershey’s Miniatures and Reese Peanut Butter Cups) that my family hasn’t discovered I bought yet, I’ll give you a little tour of my candy politics.
Before I had kids, I bought candy WAY before Halloween. It used to call to me from the Halloween aisle. Buy me. I’m a good price. I may not be here next week. Then I had kids and discovered the candy was gone by Halloween and I was five pounds fatter. And, true to American consumerism practices, Halloween candy is still at Target on Halloween only 50% off because the Christmas stuff is going up next!
So when you’re buying candy, do you buy the good stuff that you can eat afterwards if there’s leftovers that says “I’m a nice neighbor who gives yummy treats.” Or do you buy the really cheap bags of gross candy that any kid would still enjoy in mid-November. Well, I opt for a mix. Mostly junky candy and a few bags of the good stuff for the people I like. How’s that for selective candy distribution.
I make sure to buy just about what I think will be given out. Last year we ran out, so this year I bought about the same. Because Murphy’s Law says that if I bought more, no one would come. This way if kids keep coming, I’ll just shut off the light and risk having my house egged. (Do people do that anymore?)
The candy is usually stored on the top shelf somewhere. But I hear stories about how my husband managed to climb up to the top of a similar shelf one morning and help himself. This year, since I bought the candy late, I risked putting it on our super cool Halloween tin and no one—but me—has touched it.
Oh, and as for handing out or letting kids dig in…I give kid each one piece. Really, must I help support the expanding level of greed of kids these days. Some will tell me they’re allergic to peanuts and ask to pick out something….this I allow. But otherwise, I’m quite turned off by those who come in double fisting it for sweets. [She says as she takes the last bite of candy.]
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4 comments:
I can eat a whole bag of Smarties by myself, so I had to stop buying them because obviously I had no self-control! I'm amazed my teeth didn't rot out when I was a kid. We hand out the mini candy bars because huz can take leftovers to the office and we know they'll be gone.
I've been really careful to stay away from the Halloween candy so far but it's not easy. My kid hasn't ever had candy so I'm afraid to start now. He won't even eat cookies or brownies when I try to give them to him, I'm pretty sure he's not my son.
I had to have Dave hide the candy so I would stop eating it...he hid it with the nutri-system food. No chance of me looking there, that's for sure!
I hid the candy and forgot about it in all the craziness of a new baby! The boys each got to pick one piece of candy. Bonus for them since someone was handing out "big" packages of flip top chewy sweettarts. Oh well...The boys then left their candy on the kitchen table in their plastic pumpkins. "The Great Pumpkin" comes on Halloween night, takes their candy and leaves them a small gift. This also gets them in bed after all of the mayhem since he only comes when kids are asleep.
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