19 Sneaky Ways to Get Rid of Your Kids’ Halloween Candy

You don't have to eat it all

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Kids love Halloween. It's the one time each year when there are no brakes on candy gluttony. Which is exactly why lots of parents dread trick-or-treating. How is it possibly OK for one child to eat all of that?

The secret is, they don't have to. There are ways to pry the Twizzlers, Twix bars and Starburst from your kids' hands. You just have to be clever and a little bit sneaky.

Fill a birthday piñata

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If your kid has a November or December birthday, offer to stuff the sweets in their birthday piñata so they can feel the joy of gathering it all up again. Start this habit when they're young and maybe, just maybe, they'll think this is what happens to all Halloween candy.

Party bags

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What didn't fit in the piñata can go right into the birthday gift bags. If you're worried about what other parents will think, offer to take candy off their hands and add it to the take-home booty. They'll be grateful, trust us.

Let them eat cake

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Get creative and use colorful Halloween candy to decorate cakes, cupcakes and cookies. And don't limit yourself to M&Ms. Skittles, Starburst, Reese's peanut butter cups and licorice all elevate the usual to the decadent, while also blowing through your post-October inventory.

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While kids might be reluctant to share their candy with family and may insist on a fair trade with siblings or friends, few mind turning over a large bag to soldiers overseas. There are even candy buy-backs if straight-up giveaway is too much. Some food banks and other services whose mission is to feed people may also take in wrapped treats.

Office candy bowl

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Not all your co-workers have children from whom they can pilfer the occasional Snickers mini. Share the wealth, and bring in your leftover candy to the office. Give whoever is in charge of the office candy bowl the week off from having to refill it.

One for you, two for me

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Hey, you made Halloween happen for your kids—and walked all those blocks in the dark on a weeknight. Surely, SURELY, they wouldn't mind if you dipped in for a little sweet hit. "One for you, two for me …" Maybe best to go this route when they're not looking.

Create a sensory table

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Combine candy into a bucket or basket, and let everyone take a turn burying their arms and faces in it. Even through wrappers, the smell of cheap chocolate and artificial flavors is stimulating. Talk about how it feels to have the wrappers on their skin. Listen to the sounds of all that waxy paper crackling. Throw in scoops and measuring cups, and let them practice filling and pouring. Think sand or water table, only with less cleanup.

Candy art

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Think pasta paintings, only with colorful Skittles and unchewed bubble gum. Even the wrappers make nice art supplies (try making a chain from them). Put out glue and poster board and see what they come up with. Maybe a portrait of you with Twizzler hair? A wet brush and a single Skittle make for a great—albeit sticky—paint set.

Math games

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Multiplication, division and statistics never tasted so good. Let your kids sort the candy by color, size or ingredients. Older ones can set up a spreadsheet, younger ones can move them around to understand volume, quantity, addition and (oops!) subtraction.

Science experiments

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Pop Rocks can blow up a balloon? Candy corn dissolves? Three Musketeers float but Snickers don't? Why, what, how? Candy makes the most interesting materials for developing and testing hypotheses for young budding scientists. And it's also just gross enough that they'd rather toss it than eat it.

Rewrap the Candy

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For young kids, you can try the ol' switcheroo. Unwrap a few pieces of candy and rewrap in a small toy (or, if you dare, a small piece of fruit, vegetable or even a nut).

Add it to coffee

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You put sugar in your coffee, why not a butterscotch or cinnamon disk instead? Or switch up your pumpkin spice latte and throw in a handful of candy corn plus cream. Just make sure the coffee is really hot. Stir vigorously. A mini bar of chocolate would go down nicely, too.

Gingerbread house

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Only how many shopping days until Christmas? Why not kick the candy can down the road and remind your kids they'll need decorations for their gingerbread houses? If they balk, convince them to start designing their houses on paper now. They can use their candy as inspiration—the bigger and more candy-laden, the better.

Make their favorite dinners

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See if you can stuff them with (good, healthy) food they love, leaving less room for Halloween candy. It might be more work for you, but if you plan ahead, you can compete with the candy cache.

Make amazing vegetables (and fruits)

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Get your Pinterest on and find recipes and ideas for making "dirt candy," aka vegetables. Add dipping sauces and fresh, mild herbs. Or if they need to slowly taper, make fruit kebabs that include a Circus Peanut or part of an Almond Joy on the skewer. Ask your kids to help you make them. No, your veggie wraps won't look like the ones in this picture, but just don't show them this picture, and they'll never know.

Add it to healthy snacks

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It doesn't have to always be a candy gorge. You can take a few M&M's and make them the ants on a log. Skittles are pretty tasty on cream cheese and celery, too. Or roll a carrot in peanut butter and bits of broken-up Heath Bar. We're not saying it's a forever thing, but it does sneak some fruits or veggies into their steady diet of sugar. Think outside the caramel apple box.

Add some to your protein bars

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Don't act as if protein bars aren't just elevated candy. Sweeten them with crushed Hershey's minis or Almond Joys, or dump in the pretzels or raisins that the dentist up the street was handing out.

Toss it

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Look, it's wasteful. But it's also your kid's health. Children get a ton of sweets not just from trick-or-treating but also from school parties, neighborhood parties, home parties—all of it. Sometimes, you just need to take control where you can.

If it's going to be too tempting or cause a problem, have fun Halloween night gorging on candy. And then make a plan. Put everyone to bed. Have one last full-size Reese's, bag up and dump the rest. Or toss a handful of it away every night for a week. Either way, do it in the cover of night. Bury it under coffee grounds or the remnants of the candy-free salad no one touched at dinner. You got this. You'll get back to healthy eating (just in time for Thanksgiving gluttony).