How To Steal My Behind the Scenes Way for Your Halloween Treats To Be Prepared a Month Ahead!
Halloween Treats. How to ready them a month ahead, so the holiday is healthier and more fun!
To start off, consider the Halloween candy calorie chart from jumpstartmd.com.
Trick or Treat?….duh…CANDY
Are you like me? Sneaking “Fun-size” wee Halloween treats unaware of eating one after the other consuming more than a King Size bar of the same?
Psssst…..I have a FREEBIE TREAT for you in this post, so keep reading. It’s an Spooktacular Download Halloween Party Game that will prove great fun for your kids and family!
Halloween Memories…
Halloween has always been a special time in our home. Like the year I sewed a homemade Boy-In-The-Moon costume for Tyryn, our only child at the time.
Tyryn Whitney in “Boy-in-the-Moon” Halloween Costume
The year I created a Pumpkin Costume for our youngest son Skylyr’s Kindergarten Halloween parade.
Skylyr Winslow Age 5 Kindergarten Pumpkin Costume
Did I mention I don’t know how to sew?
I took wood shop; learning how to run a lathe as a statement of solidarity for girls being allowed to finally choose Woodworking over Home Economics.
The above pictured costumes, which my boys loved, made me mighty proud. {Hand stitching and a lot of hot glue.}
Now let’s talk candy
My boys loved to trick-or-treat and come home with all those Halloween treats!
The cheap, hollow orange plastic jack-o-lanterns for collecting Halloween treats were too soon ditched for empty pillowcases to hold a bigger stash.
Candy Irony
Ty-Ty and Skye would eat a few pieces of candy for two or three days…and then they would ask me to give it away or bin it. They were never big candy eaters.
Confession Time
Is it some kind of genetic super gene that made my kids not want refined, processed sugar? Sadly, I lacked that super gene. I was born a chocoholic and caramel diva.
Yep. I was the mother who would have to rush to buy more Halloween candy the day of, because I kept sneaking another few fun-size Milky Ways®, Snickers®, Rolos®, 3 Musketeers®…and the list goes on.
Today’s Tip is all about Preparation
Preparation of Halloween treats can keep this Holiday simple, so it stays fun!
Doing little things ahead of time will actually allow for more flexibility, less stress and helps break down what could be an overwhelming holiday into small doable pieces.
Download your Halloween FREEBIE – Spookfest Halloween Word Search Fun!
Halloween is a great holiday to practice on as it’s generally not as intense as Christmas or Hanukah with all the family guests, travel and gifts.
I figured out early in my Mamahood that actually preparing a month ahead of Halloween kept me organized, less stressed and healthier.
By the third or fourth week of September, Halloween and Halloween treats suddenly show up in stores.
Step 1: Buy candy you don’t like or even hate
It sounds so obvious, but buying fun size treats a month ahead, makes it easier to commit to not buying your favorite Halloween treats.
I hate gummy worms. I don’t like Smarties®. I don’t like Runts®. I don’t like Sweet Tarts®.
Step 2: Buy mini paper treat bags like these with 40 bags per pack.
Step 3: Pre-fill Halloween bags with Halloween treats.
Step 4: Store the treat filled bags in a handled basket in a closet.
Ready for Halloween! Pre-filled Halloween Treat Bags in Handled Basket
Halloween Pre-filled Treat Bags Stored in Closet a Month Before
Here’s what I pre-fill mini Halloween treat bags with: a Halloween pencil, a Halloween plastic spider ring, a couple packs of Smarties®, pack of sour gummy worms or gummy lifesavers, pack of runts® and pack of pretzels.
The afternoon of Halloween, take down your Halloween Treat Basket and ready it by the front door for Trick or Treaters.
What Halloween tips for a healthier and less stressed holiday do you have to share? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
Happy Halloween…a month early!
Download your Halloween FREEBIE – Spookfest Halloween Word Search Fun!
Halloween Stair Decorations Unique Yet Minimal
Hiya, I’m Jul’s Arthur, author of the book 25 Days of Holiday Organizing! I help women professionals & entrepreneurs STOP endlessly spinning their wheels stuck in anxiety and overwhelm with the chaos and clutter in their home, instead START simplifying, so everything has a place, they gain FREEDOM, CLARITY and easily step into their DREAM LIFE. Let me help you go from chaos to FREEDOM.
Your tip about buying candy you don’t like is genius! I LOVE reese’s peanut butter cups, so I tend to want to buy those at Halloween, but it just means I end up eating them all when there are tons left over.
Thanks so much for your appreciation! It took this ‘genius’ years to figure out such a simple remedy…simple solutions often make the biggest changes 🙂
I’m so impressed that you made those costumes without knowing how to sew! It gives me hope:-). I also am a chocolate addict, but I also love smarties and will take yours any day!
Thanks so much Angie, it is amazing the creativity a mother’s love can spark! Keeping those extra smarties for you!
Such great tips! Unfortunately, I too am a chocoholic and my boys DID inherit the gene 🙂 This sounds like a much better option for treats. Thank you!
Thanks so much Shann! Glad these tips inspire you. I sneak in healthy greens in smoothies, soups and salads for my boys and it seems to have paid off…they like Vegan and healthy recipes. I indulge occasionally in pure Cocao powder in smoothies and baking as opposed to my past Cadbury Fruit and Nut bars.
Oh, this post is so sweet (pun intended!) 🙂
Thanks for this, you’re right, if I don’t like them, I won’t eat them!!
I love how your mind works!
Those costumes! My mom always made our costumes when we were growing up and they were amazing 🙂
Well…lol I don’t think this mama will win any mama made costume awards, but they did in the hearts of my sons, do that is what matters to me! Being organized with the treats gave me time to make those costumes!
We’re doing “adult party bags” and I’ve been scrambling as to what candy to put in them and you just solved my problem.
I am thrilled I was able to help solve your problem of what candy to put in your Halloween treat bags. Looking at your site, what comes to mind along with candy is mini wine bottles: Woodbridge, Sutter etc sell 4 to a pack. Might be a bit pricey as gifts depending on how many party attendees. Mayhap you can get a wholesale price for a case? I know you are likely a wine connoisseur, and I am not in the least, so forgive if I am recommending wine that is very poor quality. I have heard though, that at times inexpensive wine can be top notch.
Great ideas, but you must be really organized! I’m lucky if I buy the candy two days before!!! These are great tips and your pictures are so cute and fun!
Thank you so much Maureen, and I was not at all born organized! I had to figure out through much trial and error, education and training that my curse, not being organized, was my blessing and future source of my gift to others…because I learned how to be more organized. My tips are from the heart, a person just like you who for years was lucky if I had anything bought or ready the day of, let alone the day before! So I totally get where you and overworked professionals and over scheduled Mamas come from…so my tips are meant to be practical and guides to make life simpler, less stressful and full of what we want, not what we “should” be doing.
I love the tip about buying candy you don’t like! I can’t eat nuts so maybe I should get all nut candy haha. Other than that it’s hard to find candy I won’t eat when desperate! ha
Oh, Lisa, love the nut candy tactic…yes! Buy all those Pay Day, Almond joy and your nut allergy will keep you from scarfing up the Halloween candy. I try the substitution trick too…I make a protein smoothie with frozen organic berries to curb my sweet craving. Or I eat humuus on gluten free crackers instead of candy. Eating one or two pieces works…when I feel I can not go into sugar addiction and one or two becomes half the bag…the rationale of the craving mind… “It’s a Fun Size…afterall.”
I love this. I am totally the momma that will be sneaking candy during nap time and when my back is turned to my son 😉 LUCKILY (or un-luckily) my favorite candy bar is Almond Joy, and most kids seem to hate that one! Guess I’ll take one for the team and make sure they all end up in my belly!!!
Lol…I know what it is with coconut…my boys always hated Mounds and Almond Joy…so umm, yes, Mama helped them not waste that candy and disposed of it for them…to the detriment of my eating habits back then. Now I just make a healthy protein smoothie with lots of frozen Kale and Spinach in it and only indulge in one or two candies now and then. I have found, though, that if I stay away from processed sweets, I lose the desire for them. The trick is cutting them out completely for a few weeks…then seems tastebuds and craving change.
great idea to buy something you won’t be tempted by! Is it still uncool to give out raisins or trail mix??
Thanks so much for your comment…I know, it is so simple, but not buying the stuff we love really is a great start to being ready for a healthy Halloween. As to uncool…I am the mama who gives out those fun pretzel packs along with some other non-chocolate, non-caramel snacks (the snacks that cause sugar addiction in me). So to offset the uncool factor, I put some little Halloween trinkets. Raisins and trail mix are great in fun size manufacturer sealed packs. Trying to give out healthy snacks can be tricky if you can’t find it already package.
best tip ever: buy halloween candy that you DO NOT LIKE and therefore WILL NOT EAT! (but then do all of the kids say “yuck! her candy is the worst!” ?? :))
Thanks, I am so happy my wee tip is getting so much “best tip ever” comments. My combatting the kids not giving my house the two thumbs up because I was not giving Kit Kat®, and Rolos® was to add some cute Halloween trinkets in the mini bags I set up a month before and store in a basket on the top shelf of my Foyer closet. Also…one kid’s “yuck, worst candy ever! is another kid’s “best candy ever!” 🙂
So YOU’RE the reason Halloween candy comes out so early! 🙂 These are great tips, and paired with your “essential oil” tip from your last post I will be totally ready for Halloween! Great, simple point about buying the stuff you don’t like to eat!
The secret is out…I and my do it now, save time later mindset is behind Halloween candy and the season coming into stores six weeks before October 31. Okay, not really, but since the stores are begging us to buy the candy early, I like to turn a potential negative of having all that candy in my home for a month prior to needing it and make it work for me. One reason I figured out having the Halloween candy in a basket in the closet was to free up time to make costumes for the boys and focus on the joy the entire lead up to the holiday brought my sons. Plus handling my own sugar cravings by only buying candy I don’t like…ridiculously simple…but the candy never whispered to me as it waited all month.