It's become commonplace to say that your kid got too much candy at Halloween. I mean, it doesn't take much to be "too much." But this year I just have to say, "Damn." Laura brought in the kind of haul that is only obtainable if there's a golf cart involved. Normal Neighbor's husband is a golf pro, and they have some kind of super sized golf cart. After we did a circuit of our nearby street on foot, which was all Hank was really up for given the rain, steep driveways, and his short legs ("That's my last house," he announced towards the end), these three girls got chauffeured around by Mr. Normal.
Laura didn't get dropped back at home until 9. So that was my child ringing your doorbell at 8:45, after you thought, "Surely it's safe to turn off the porchlight." Laura admitted, "I think some people were surprised to see us." Mr. Normal is not one to cut a party short, I guess. So she got 200 pieces of candy. I know this because she got up at 5:45 on Sunday morning to inventory it. According to my dad, who was trying to snooze on the couch (whole nother story) she counted it aloud, piece by piece, before the sun was up.
And this is the good stuff, too. No gummy hotdogs or any of that crap in this bunch of loot. Matt and I got one look at it and were congratulating ourselves on living in such a nice neighborhood. And no Halloween would be complete without the semi-creepy guy in the other cul-de-sac who gave out full-sized candy bars. Actually, he gave Laura two full-sized candy bars.
So the question is, do you have some kind of clever system for managing the candy consumption, or do you just let it rip? Matt and I kind of fly by the seat of our pants. All the candy is up on top of the fridge, but when the kids have asked for a piece, I've let them pick one. This will likely continue for a few days, until I get sick of having the stuff around. One school of thought is to let them eat a lot the first couple of days, and then it starts to lose its lustre, then one night the unloved remnant-candy goes in the trash. What are y'all doing?
When I was at the pediatrician with Hank on Friday, the doctor said, "Tell him the Sugar Fairy needs the candy to build her candy castle!" I said, "Oh, is that the story you use?" She said, "No, I just throw it away." So today, my cleaner Fabienne came (on Monday instead of Tuesday), and I was ruminating on the massive stash of candy. I said, "I guess I could just throw it away after a week or so." She gave me a look of disbelief. Then, in her Hungarian accent, she screeched, "Throw eet away???" I said, "Well, what are you going to do?" She said, exasperated, "Keep it in a beeg jaaahr and EAT IT! For as LONG as it takes!"
So are you going to put your candy in a beeg jaaahr, dahlink?
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18 comments:
There is a dentist in Roswell who will buy the candy from you. He gives the kids a few dollars and sends the candy to the troops overseas. That might be a nice option instead of tossing it (or letting Linc eat it!!!).
I bake it into cookies and brownies and such. Then I freeze them to give away at Christmas to neighbors, co-workers and friends.
I say as long as they have Halloween candy, no one is bugging me to make dessert.
It goes into a plastic Target bag for each of them and they keep it close to their beds. Youngest showed me his stash in his lower desk drawer about 7 inches from his bed. They have learned that if they keep their Target bag laying around in sight a week or so after Halloween, the Hubs will throw it out. As long as they brush their teeth and floss (they've never had a cavity--Hi Dental Maven!)and don't eat it right before dinner and fork over their Almond Joys to me I have no problem.
Wait a minute...are gummy hotdogs considered cheap and craptastic?! My boyfriend and I had such (mild-mannered) fights over them (me pro, he against) but the kids went apeshit for 'em. To the point that one young charmer even heckled the b.f. for his disdain.
We decided next year, it was going to be 100=percent gummi meats. Now you've made me question everything.
We don't have that much - Oscar is only two so we only did about a dozen houses. WE let him have at it the first day and will ration it out over the next week or so.
Three things we've done in the past
1. Take it to the office
2. Take it to your local firehouse
3. Send it to the troops
Two years ago, they trick-or-treated with their best pals endlessly, they shut the trick-or-treat down. It was very punk-rock & they were highly-motivated by this: they were going to sell it.
We were leaving on vacation November 2, so I was last-minutey & could not get them in time to the $1/lb dentist in the township over, but found an orthodontist on our regular route who was $3/lb. Three dollars, Becky. So I felt unguilty and set them loose in the office and (are you sitting down?) they had between them TWENTY-FOUR pounds of loot.
(Stay seated, honey)
They paid up. $72 I was clutching in my hand, and when we got to the sidewalk, I said, "Kids! Run! Before they figure out what happened!"
And I cannot lie. I felt too ashamed to take them back last year. I mean!
What happened last year & I expect will happen again this year is in a week or so, Mr Man will go in & get what he wants & then we will keep that around and the rest will be forgotten about the minute I start the holiday baking, joy & delight, etc. It sounds like you should give yr Eastern Bloc housekeeper a huge geeft, you know? Hey, what happened with your bureau-dusty sitch?
mine have a week to eat their candy then I toss it. i don't get why sending troops left over halloween candy is admirable. what am I missing? I would feel bad eating some kids second hand candy his mother probably took away from him/her
Yeah, we raked in a crapload PLUS had five entire unopened bags leftover. My kids only eat Dum Dums so it's up to us to eat it all. I sat on the couch and gorged all effing day yesterday. Today, I made the decision to make it gone and gave a bag to the people at Checkers when I went for my daily Coke. I'll do the same again tomorrow until that crap is all gone.
I've heard of parents throwing a few pieces away every day so it's not noticeable to the kids.....
My mom used to buy it from me... I forget the deal we had worked out, but I remember feeling like I totally won--I got to eat a few pieces for the first few days and then I got some money to go buy a toy or something else I actually wanted more than the candy...
I'm using it to work on Mr. M's handwriting. "I would like a Reese's cup after dinner" neatly written and properly punctuated yields the requested object.
But it's slow going since he can only do one sentence (earn one piece) per day.
This year I threw half of it away, just like that. Yep, kawphooomp. I'm thinking I'll let them pick through the rest for a week or so and then it'll just disappear. Lord knows it's not like there's going to be a sugar shortage around here in the coming months, after all.
I bet you could donate it to a food pantry or somesuch, to ease any vicarious Hungarian guilt...
We've always told them that the Halloween Fairy needs candy to stay healthy and that if they leave it for her, she'll either leave money or a toy/book they've wanted for ages in it's place. Then hubby takes the candy to work with him and the guys divvy it up. Works here.
The kids are so cute! I love Laura's hairdo--she is quite the fashionista. Question-the little girl between Laura and Hank: what is her costume? Just wonderin'.
Fabienne's comment cracked me up! I guess to throw it out seems wasteful to her. Trick or treating isn't huge here and the kids were a bit sick, so we only went to about 4 or 5 houses. Even so, they haven't eaten all the candy. I'll toss it after a few more days.
I've never heard of people (dentists, etc.) buying candy!! Dude, why didn't they do that when we were kids?
I love the "sending it to the troops" idea, they can even make a card to send along with the stash.
Of course, you could save some to make candy houses out of for the Christmas holiday. Ask Kelly and Linc... we always had a gingerbread house party.
The little girl on the left is Kit Kittredge (the American Girl doll/movie character). It's hard to tell from this pic. She had a scooter she rode around that she'd done over to look like it was made from apple crates. Very cute.
And I like these ideas guys. Elle, your tale of candy selling ($72!!!!) emboldened me to ask our dentist today if they were buying candy. They just laughed. I think I might look around a little.
And SJN, putting some aside for xmas baking is a good idea. I'll definitely do that. And I also suspect that in a few more days, Laura would take money for the remainder of her candy. The girl likes money.
Annoyanceallowance, I would never tell anyone not to eat the gummy meats ("gummy meats" is hilarious). To each her own!
The kids were so cute in their costumes! I think I remember with our kids, when they were little, just letting the candy hang around till they got tired of it. Then I just threw out what was left. Does seem like a waste , though.
Gifts for the housekeeper, methinks.
I had a gross amount left over because I managed to miss all the trick-or-treaters when I was out with X (who ate his whole stash that evening - he's 2, after all). I've been eating a lot but I'll probably just toss it.
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