Most years we do not have a lot of candy left over after all the ghosts and goblins invade our home. The past couple of years I have ran out way too early and feared retribution. Trust me, we have some four and five year olds in our neighborhood that strike fear in even the biggest man! There have been a few times when we thought we would have some candy left over...........................then the doorbell would ring around 11:00 in the evening. Who the heck? Ahhhhh parents just getting off work also want their kids to partake in the Halloween festivities. To open the door or not. Of course I open the door! And then do a quick dump of all the candy into their bags leaving nothing for us but the straggling empty wrappers or broken pieces that stick to the bottom of the bowl. "Sigh" The answer might be just to buy an extra bag just for us!
If you are one of the lucky ones who has left over candy at the end of the night, Parenting.com has some great tips on what to do with it.
Bake it into cakes. Try peanut butter cup cookies or brownies with fun size candy bars inside. Or just put it on top of cakes and cupcakes, or stir it into icing.
Make it a (sort of) healthy snack. Fill celery stalks with cream cheese and top with Peanut M&Ms.
DIY trail mix. Open bags of little candies like M&Ms and make your own trail mix by adding pretzels, nuts, and dried fruit.
Bring it to the Thanksgiving table. Remember how your mom used to make yams with marshmallows? Try using leftover candy corn.
Pair it with wine. The chocolate, caramel, nuttiness of Snickers go great with tawny ports, and the cookie-like Twix goes well with a smooth Scotch, suggests StarChefs.com, among other ideas.
Make homemade flavored vodka. Just drop it in a bottle and let it soak for awhile to make your own homemade, creatively flavored alcohol.
Keep some in your purse. Save it for when you need a sugar fix—or your kid needs to be bribed.
Use it to wrap gifts. Save pretty wrappers to decorate boxes, or garnish boxes with candies. Try stuffing it in gift bags in lieu of tissue paper, or put it inside coffee mugs or any other gifts that could use some filling.
Make an advent calendar for November. Put candy in Dixie cups and cover with tissue. On the tissue, write numbers 1-30, and place the cups sideways on a large poster board to form a calendar. Let kids punch through the tissue to get their treat each day.
Use it as a learning tool. Let kids practice counting or do their math homework with little Reese ’s Peanut Butter Cups or Hershey ’s Kisses.
Turn it into a science experiment. Kimberly Crandell
Use it for holiday décor.
- Save and use next year for a Halloween wreath.
- Use it to make super-sweet Christmas ornaments.
- Save it for decorating a gingerbread house.
- Use the wrappers for Christmas cards or decoupage.
- Make a board game and use the candy as playing pieces.
- Create DIY candy necklaces.
- Stuff it into a piñata.
Bring it into the office. It will disappear in no time.
Donate it. Bring to nursing homes, doctor's offices, and women shelters.
Send it overseas. Groups like Operation Shoebox, which supports our troops, will gladly take donations.
Let your kids make a care package and send it to their grandparents. Your parents(most likely) were not running around the neighborhood begging for treats in a witch hat, like your kids were.
Or My Favorite: You can always just eat it.
