My mom & I are going to "Trunk or Treat" this evening at church. Mom loves kids & loves giving out candy to them & seeing all of their costumes, so I take her...It starts at 5pm with a soup & grilled cheese supper (last year there were 15 large crock pots with various soups you could help your self to) for the volunteers. I am taking Zack so I have a good excuse for not going in to eat hehe!

Back to my story...We have been buying a $20 bag of candy every week for the past 4 weeks to prepare for this event. Let me tell you we have a lot of candy!

I opened all 4 of those big bags up & dumped it all out on the table & then we took some snack size zip lock baggies & put 3 different pieces of candy in each little baggie. (Mom wanted to do this to make passing out the candy easier) While I was standing there helping her do this I kept thinking to myself "How can I give this candy to kids when I consider it poison for myself?"

I know Halloween is a long time tradition & kids everywhere love it...but I can't help but think my mom & I are adding to the growing number of children with weight issues! And this really bothers me...a lot!!! If it were not for taking my mom I just would not participate but since I am taking her I feel somewhat guilty kinda like I am a fraud or something.

I would love to give out apples or cuties but who can afford that lol

Am I silly to feel this way, I would not say this out loud in a public place for fear of being flogged to death lol but I wanted to ask you all here what your thoughts are about this.

Thank you in advance for your responces!

You already have the candy, so might as well pass it out. Next year you might want to take a look at non-food treats. When I was a kid I hated the people who gave pencils, but at least they were useful. So were the nickels that 1 neighbor passed out - a nickel went a lot farther 50+ years ago! Oriental Trading has a lot of very cheap things - stickers, small plastic animals, key chains, & so on. Tell your mom you're worried about the kids' teeth.

I wonder how many children are like mine were. Our diet was far from healthy back then, but they didn't care much for the candy. They liked to weigh it, gloat over it, then eat only a few pieces they liked. I ate most of the candy.

You're not crazy Charms and I have to admit that I've thought the same thing. I've even LOOKED for non-candy alternatives to hand out but have repeatedly decided that alternatives simply cost more than I'm willing to spend.

If kids only gorge on candy once a year, they're unlikely to be harmed. Plus, my couple of pieces of taffy in their bag aren't going to make a difference one way or the other. Ultimately, it's their parents' responsibilities to monitor the amount of sweets they eat, not only on Halloween but year-round.

Halloween is a social event in our neighborhood with neighbors setting up tables outdoors along the street and gathering in small clusters to visit while handing out candy as kids come by. (Avoids the whole bell-ringing thing and ensures no "nasty tricks" left on the porches of folks who aren't home.)

Neighbors will look out after your house if you happen not to be home on Halloween, but, if you're home and not out and joining in the candy giving, you're considered somewhat of a scrooge (kind of mixing my holidays here but you know what i mean )

So, I've swallowed my conscience for the past couple of years and handed out candy with the rest of the neighbors in my immediate vicinity.

But THIS year, a new neighbors (whom I had not chanced to meet before) joined us...an articulate friendly woman in her 60's... in a wheelchair because she has one leg cut off above the knee and the other at the shin! Both limbs lost to diabetes! She and her husband recently moved in with their son because, at approximately 300 lbs, she is too heavy for her aging husband to lift anymore. She was handing out candy too - with no sign that doing so was causing her any second thoughts. But her situation really put the whole Halloween candy thing into sharper relief for me.

Next year, I MAY just decide that I can't be home on Halloween.

I had a great time at Trunk or Treat but my mom (who actually gave out the candy) had a great time! And that made me happy!

However, I am considering not going to it next year.

We did not have kids come to our house this year because we live in the country & the houses are too far apart for walking so they go into the towns.

The poor diabetic lady passing out candy made me sad for her...if I were in your shoes I would be thinking about not being home next year too!

Thank you so much for your thoughts!

One night a year did not cause the childhood obesity epidemic.
One bucket of candy, even if kids gorge on it, does not cause obesity.

I feel no guilt handing out candy like...candy. I have diabetes but most people don't. I can't eat junk food in moderation but most people can. Halloween is a fun opportunity to socialize with my neighbors and share an experience. The kids are hilarious. I love decorating the house and sometimes we even dress up ourselves. All in all a great night.

Pass out non-food treats if that works for you, but I don't ever want to punish other people because I can't control myself with a package of peanut butter cups. They aren't poisonous to them.


Editing to add: We didn't do Halloween (or any holidays, really) for a long time because we were in pain. We can't have children, and seeing them like that just broke us down. But that's MY pain, MY experience, not theirs. So maybe my feeling about candy is like that - I can't have children OR candy but projecting my experience onto others is unfair, and withdrawing from life is no good either. We can celebrate, too, if not in exactly the same way. Does that make sense?

That does. I had to give up socializing after church for a while because I couldn't handle the doughnuts. It wouldn't have been fair of me if I had insisted they just serve coffee so I wouldn't be tempted. I can handle it now. I can now watch people eating doughnuts without feeling like I'm going to go out of control.

If I lived in town, tho, I would go with the teal pumpkin thing & give out non-food items so type 1 kids & those with allergies can still have some fun.

Honestly, I agree responsibility is on parents to monitor kid's intake. Celebrating a holiday won't change the epidemic of childhood obesity.

But studies have shown kids like non sugary options like fake tattoos, Halloween Chapsticks, stickers, bubbles, etc.... Even more

Either way, make sure to get rid of leftovers ASAP!

Unopened bags can be donated to deployed troops and their kids

To clarify my original post here...I had no trouble with the Halloween candy at all, as a matter of fact we purchased 1-$20 bag a week for 5 weeks & it was here in the house until halloween & I did not even consider eating it!

I DO think candy & anything with high frutrose corn syrup in it poison to everyone! Maybe not 1 piece today but it is accumulate & bad for health! Sugar is addictive in everyone! AND I saw a lot of chubby kids that night that are prime candidates for early type 2 diabetes that is happening in America teenagers a lot!

I too was not able to carry a baby to term & I know the pain you are talking about! I love kids & love seeing them having fun! I just don't like the idea of ME adding to the sugar bomb plaguing our world today. The day I started this thread I was feeling particularly guilty about it & was looking for some input!

We don't get many kids (this year they got chips) but I have in the past given out colouring books and crayons from the dollar store.

Coloring books what a great idea!

1. I suggested throwing away leftovers as a general tip to others reading thread- glad it isn't tempting you

2. I also agree it's posoin, still it's about dose. A treat here isn't problem. It is the huge amounts kids get daily via soda, cookies, yogurts, even salad dressing.
ALSO, type II diabetes remains VERY uncommon in youth. It is actually uptick in 30s and 40s we need to worry about....once type II was only seen in people in 60s or 70s. Honestly, complications take a long time to take effect. Going blind or losing foot is very sad at 80, but if diagnosed at 35.... And losing vision at 50..... That is brutal.....

This is the essence of the issue. My kids are now adults, and I remember being very conscientious about limiting sweets, but the issue is that when they went to school, a generous parent sends in a batch of Halloween cookies dotted with candies for the class, after school at a friend's house it's treats, juice and oranges at sport games with some providing sweets for all the kids after the games. It seems to never end. Yeah, we would make candy quickly disappear after Halloween, but it's all the other times where snacks with HFCS and sugar seem to be the norm nowadays that we couldn't control. So many think this is normal. I believe this is a grave issue that must be combated by the parents, but it often feels like spitting into the wind!

I'd check out the Teal Pumpkin movement. It was started as a way to give kids with allergies a nice halloween, but one could subvert the movement to help move an unhealthy tradition in a new direction:

https://www.foodallergy.org/teal-pu...ct#.WBzthC0rJhE

I give out candy and I don't feel bad about it. The way I see it, I'm an addict. Lots of people aren't and they should be able to have a treat if they want it. I considered it a personal victory that I could hand out all kinds of candy this Halloween and not have a single piece. If you really feel bad about giving out candy, you could buy a bunch of Halloween themed junky stuff - pencils, parachute guys, creepy fingers, skeletons, stickers, tattoos, etc. Oriental Trading has a ton of that kind of stuff and a lot of it is very cheap, e.g. 48 fang whistles for $5.48. We use it in the treat bags for our Cub Scout Halloween party. I spent $38.90 (had a code for free shipping) and filled 48 bags, but we did also put in 3 pieces of candy and Halloween pencils from BJ's in each one.

edited to add: One big downside about Oriental Trading is the cheapest shipping is very, very slow so give yourself at least two full weeks for stuff to arrive. Party stores seem to have similar type stuff, although their selection doesn't seem as extensive and most items are sold in sixes or tens rather than in bulk.

Tess - Thank you for pointing out Oriental Trading Company. I had never heard of them. Great Resource. They have the kinds of non-candy treats that I've thought about handing out for years but kept deciding were a bit too expensive... but they have them in bulk amounts for enough less than my local dollar stores that I can pick out things that fall into my "per child budget" for Halloween give-aways.

No more "guilt" about handing out candy and contributing to tooth decay, childhood obesity, and diabetes. THANK YOU!