Healthy Alternatives To Halloween Candy

It's that time of year again! The kids you know-those of friends, nieces and nephews, grandkids, or your own-are undoubtedly getting ready for the Halloween festivities. Like it or not-they'll most likely be receiving a ton of candy in their plastic pumpkins, cauldrons, and baggies. That means the house may be filled with junk food for a while, and a lot of it! However, as a thoughtful and concerned parent, you're probably seeking ways to limit that sugary intake and also teach your children to start making healthy choices.

Due to a lack of regimented physical fitness programs in our schools and the constant presence of fast food, colas, and chemically infused snacks of every sort, childhood obesity is reaching epidemic proportions. Therefore, with the diet dilemma already looming, kids really don't need an extra boost of empty calories from their trick-or-treating. Chocolate and toffee-filled confections, simulated gummy-objects of varied species, and suckers and lollipops of every hue may delight young eyes; but, ultimately, they just add to the waistline and contribute to tooth decay. Don't give up hope though-you can help your kids in many ways simultaneously by providing them with healthier alternatives to the usual frightful feasting:

Books and Kid Magazines - What better gift to bestow upon a fresh, open mind than a wonderful book? Great literature allows kids to create different worlds, fantastic creatures, and amazing adventures inside their own minds instead of merely viewing characters and situations passively via the television and electronic games. You can possibly work out a deal with a local bargain-book haven to purchase appropriate tomes by the pound or you can contact book or magazine publishing companies directly to inquire about remaindered items that would otherwise be defaced and thrown away. Plus, once they're finished reading them, children can recycle the media by giving them to friends or by donating them to a public library or book drive!

Healthful Snacks - Instead of sugar-loaded treats, give out individually wrapped packages of non-salted crackers, raw nuts and seeds, little boxes of raisins, or anything else you can think of to avoid the fat, chocolate, and artificial preservatives and other chemicals.

Party Favor Packs - Again, shop at local thrift stores or online for outstanding deals on activity packs. These packs can include mini coloring books and crayons, watercolors, sidewalk chalk, puzzle books, tiny toys, pretend jewelry/makeup, and many other non-food related items. Sometimes, large retail chains run specials on crayons and other craft materials during "back to school". The idea is to help your kids expand their imagination, not their waistline! Plus, they'll surely enjoy these types of treats far longer than they would a few handfuls of crème-filled cookies, rubbery simulated-fruit snakes, and enamel-corroding jawbreakers.

Stickers - Kids love to put stickers on their notebooks, diaries, your refrigerator, drawings, family pets, each other, and everywhere else a sticker will stick. You can purchase bulk packages of stickers at discount stores and give an individual sheet or small portion of them to each child. Stickers are available in a variety of colors, shapes, and themes so each child can get something different. The best part-you can buy tons of stickers for the same price as just a few bags of candy!

So when those cute little costumed kiddies ring your doorbell, it's a perfect time to show your true consideration for them by giving them something that will benefit them. Kids really don't need all that sugar every time a holiday arrives, and you'll also be modeling for other parents a better way of doing things. Maybe you'll even start a new trend in your neighborhood-the giving of real gifts during Halloween instead of a bunch of sweet, gooey garbage. Show the little goblins, super-heroes, witches, and rock stars you really care and make a "sweet" impression in their young lives!