I can hear them calling me

[Walt34]

No, not the voices in my head. That's a different thread.

The little candy bars in the closet for the kids on Halloween. I bought [-]some[/-] okay, a lot, today on a grocery run and of course had to do a small "quality assurance check". The problem is keeping it a "small" quality check. DW has a problem with this too, to the extent that she asks me to hide the candy.

How well do you fare in keeping your hands out of the candy jar?

 

[pb4uski]

I'm horrible. We live in a very rural area and have never had trick-or-treaters but I still insist that we stock up each year just in case.

 

[braumeister]

When I was in the store a week ago, they had sacks of assorted tiny candy bars -- Heath, Almond Joy, Whoppers, and Reese's PB cups. Four of my favorites. There were 100 in a sack, so I got two of them. We might get a total of 8-10 munchkins at the door on Halloween, but I still think I should buy another bag, just in case.

 

[hnzw_rui]

How well do you fare in keeping your hands out of the candy jar?

Quite easily after the candy jar's been emptied.

 

[MRG]

I'm horrible. We live in a very rural area and have never had trick-or-treaters but I still insist that we stock up each year just in case.

DW insists as well and I'm horrible too. While I do ok at limiting myself to an ounce of 72% chocolate nightly, milk chocolate is addicting for me. It's pretty easy to just eat the whole big bag.

 

[jcretire77]

This is hilarious. I just bought my own bag of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and ate the entire thing in four days.

 

[jjquantz]

I tell DW that I have fantastic will power at the store - I can refuse to buy just about anything, no matter how sweet it tastes. But once it's home... it's gone. When she buys girl scout cookies she labels the boxes. My box is usually gone the day after I get it (and that's an improvement over when I was in my 20's). Hers can last for weeks.

 

[Animorph]

I think we're about through with one bag. We'll need more before Halloween.

 

[Cobra9777]

I tell DW that I have fantastic will power at the store - I can refuse to buy just about anything, no matter how sweet it tastes. But once it's home... it's gone. When she buys girl scout cookies she labels the boxes. My box is usually gone the day after I get it (and that's an improvement over when I was in my 20's). Hers can last for weeks.

That's me exactly... very good at not buying. But despite never getting trick-or-treaters, DW buys huge bags of the stuff and I feel obligated to make it disappear.

 

[calmloki]

We come south before Halloween - the dry warm La Quinta Cove has way more trick-or-treaters than the hardy munchkins that trudge through the rain up north - and the costumes are shown to better advantage than when covered by heavy coats.

As a thrifty soul we always hit the last Costco before leaving Oregon to avoid the 9% sales tax down here. The two big mini candy bar bags are on top of the upper kitchen cabinets, but at some point they will come down and certain favorites will end up less well represented in the mix. Luckily I've stocked up on other surprises from Taco Bell and Burger King, so some lucky kids may find Fire! hot sauce or mustard packets in their bags. Or bouillon cubes or instant ramen flavor packs or who knows! The gal says when she was younger and poorer she (for real) gave away instant soup packs and albums when the candy ran out...

 

[ivinsfan]

Two possible solutions for this issue..next year, do what I do and buy candy that you don't like..i.e. Tootsie Roll pops or Nerds or something similar. I just throw away what doesn't get used.

Don't hide them, decide you can eat one or two small ones a day between now and Halloween..put them out in the morning and when they are gone they are gone...On Nov 1 throw out any remaining bars.

I don't like the treat size bars as they are so small it's easy to convince myself they don't really count and eating them doesn't hurt my waistline.

 

[rodi]

In past years I'd buy 2 of the giant bags of mixed chocolate at Costco - one for Trick or Treaters, one for us. Then I discovered that the kids didn't like a lot of their (non chocolate) candy - so they asked to swap out the bad candy with the good candy I was handing out to the T o Ters. In other words my quality of what I gave was reduced.

This year, the kids are both getting too old to go trick or treating. I think I'll only buy one bag - and limit how much we eat our selves.

I used to be able to bring extra into work to share with coworkers.

One trick I use to avoid over eating the treats before Halloween is to not purchase till it's only a week out... so I'll be buying candy this weekend.

 

[Badger]

Six years ago or more I had the idea to hand out juice boxes. They don't cost anymore than candy. I buy the 100% juice brand with no sugar added at Costco. The kids LOVE them. They are a big hit with the little ones AND their parents. Occasionally I have a repeat child coming back and asking for one for their Mom (who is waving from the street). The kids get so thirsty from eating the candy they like to have this drink treat.

I don't like them so any left over are consumed by grandson when he comes over.

Cheers!

 

[Janet H]

I also usually buy bags of tootsie pops - we occasionally eat one but they are not a great temptation. One year I tried the full sized Air Head bars - they come in a box of 50 for not too much dough. Kids loved the full sized version and I loved the cost. The problem with this was that we had some left over and no one at my house liked them - they were eventually pitched (and I felt a bit guilty about the waste).

 

[Senator]

It's OK, you can have one...

We seldom get any kids, one year we had a record of ~5 groups. I always buy some decent candy, just in case we do not give it out.

 

[athena53]

We haven't opened the bag so we're doing OK so far!

I don't worry too much about DH's consumption; he needs to work to keep his weight up due to some meds he's on and he doesn't go crazy over them. I thought I was OK with sugar as long as I watched the calories and took care of my teeth, but sometimes my fasting glucose level exceeds 100. Hba1c is OK but I really don't want to end up with diabetes. And now the cardiologists are saying sugar is as bad for your heart as fat. :-(


Guess we'll have to freeze the leftovers so they're not as tempting.

 

[aaronc879]

No trick-or-treaters at my condo building so I wait until the day after Halloween to buy candy. If they have Kit Kats, Reese's Peanut Butter cups, and/or Snickers at a good discounted price, they won't have any after I leave.

 

[harley]

And now the cardiologists are saying sugar is as bad for your heart as fat.

And they're probably just as wrong about the sugar as they are/were about the fat.

I buy two full size candy bars for the 2 kids we've been getting for the last 7 years. Pretty soon they'll be too old to trick or treat and I'll end up eating the bars.

Nearby Berlin MD (the coolest small town in America) has an incredible Halloween. Not run by the town or anything, just the residents having fun. All the kids go there, and we've been known to buy a few bags of candy and wander around the streets handing it out, just to get the enjoyment of Halloween. Not this year, though, as we're flying south for the winter the next day before the crack of dawn.

 

[Beldar]

Sugar is off limits for me so we don't buy sweets.

We DO try to purchase snacks we like ourselves, so we can feast on any leftovers. Yes, thats cynical but so what.

We try to pick up those little bags of pretzels, Cheetos, or Goldfish. Several parents of the little creeps have thanked us for not handing out sugary snacks. The same with bottled water. Once we gave out boxes of Cracker Jack and had repeat customers.

We get no more than 25 visitors as the neighborhood is mostly post-child raising years. The local elementary school has a parking lot event on Halloween so that probably takes care of a lot of the potential traffic. There's no street lighting so they try to discourage trick or treating.

_B

 

[aja8888]

DW will handle it this year. I better get out of Dodge and away from the booty.

I'm 7 months into a no sugar - no - starch regiment (lots of exercise/low carb actually) and if I had a chocolate bar I probably would pass out right then and there.

 

[bingybear]

Look... you need to stay out of the candy until after beggar's night. Here is how you do it.
First make a peanut butter and chocolate cheese cake. Then a lime cheese cake followed by a caramel cheese cake. Make some chocolate and mint panna cotta. If that doesn't hold you for the next few weeks, make some chocolate lava cakes and creme brulee.

Might as well make a pumpkin cheese cake while you're at it ... save it for thanksgiving. If this doesn't give you enough to eat in place of the candy... multiply the recipe.

 

[Philliefan33]

I bought the large bag of assorted candy from Costco, and hid it in the pantry so DH doesn't get into it. We get a lot of trick or treaters, and there's usually not many pieces left on November 1. Of course, I eat more than my share of the Almond Joys as I'm answering the door.

 

[splitwdw]

We give out the full size bars. I buy 3 boxes and put them on the top shelf in the pantry so they're out of sight. My husband doesn't eat goodies except for popcorn and pretzels. I hide them from me and I'm pretty good about not eating any. Any left over candy goes to work so I'm not tempted.

 

[GrayHare]

simply keep the ear worm going:

I can hear it callin' me the way it used to do,
I can hear it callin' me back home!

But I got to go away from this place,
I've got to quit you, yeah

 

[Calico]

In the 16 years I've lived in my house, I have not had one trick-or-treater. I live on a 2-lane highway with no streetlights or sidewalks, so I've always figured if I DID have any of the little munchkins turn up, they would be kids whose parents weren't overly fond of them!

Doesn't stop me from buying a bag of the mini Nestle crunch bars every year, though, "just in case" there's a first time. It's a complete coincidence that that is my favorite candy. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.