Halloween is over… and your house is filled to the brim with your kids’ candy haul! (Not to mention all the leftovers from what you didn’t hand out). So what do you do with all of it? Scroll down for some ideas, including creative ones from our sister site, Sound Shore Moms.
Buy Back Programs
All About Kids Pediatric Dentistry is offering $1 per pound of candy up to 5lbs and your name will be entered for a chance to win a prize when you bring in unopened Halloween candy. All candy goes to Operation Gratitude.
Awesome Toys and Gifts offers $1 in store credit for every pound of candy turned in.
Commerce Park Dental offers $1 for every pound of candy (max. 5 pounds) and one ticket to participate in a raffle Prizes include a Sonicare toothbrush and gift certificate. Bring candy to the office at 1580 Post Road East, Westport.
Dental Care Kids is hosting a candy drive, November 1 – November 6. Drop off leftover candy (wrapped and sealed) for a chance to win an iPad Mini!
Send Overseas To Support Our Troops
Operation Gratitude
Treats for Troops
Operation Shoebox
Freeze It
I love having chocolate stashed in my freezer. It’s there when I need it but it’s not in my face all day begging me to eat it. You can eat it as-is when a sweet tooth strikes or you can use it to add to milkshakes, sundaes, ice cream or even cookie dough.
DIY Trail Mix
I can’t promise that your kids won’t just pick out the candy from the trail mix but at least there’s a chance they’ll also eat the other stuff too.
For Adults: Make Your Own Flavored Vodka
Check out these 11 recipes from candystore.com. They give you tips on what kind of vodka to use and how to store it. And they use everything from Skittles to Starbursts.
Bake With It!
You can make some really fun and inventive brownies and cookies. Check out these great recipes we found:
Candy Bag Brownies
Leftover Halloween Candy Cookie Dough
Candy Bar Skillet Cookie
Halloween Candy Cookie Bars
Chocolate Candy Corn Cookies
Make S’mores
Grab a Ziploc or get fancy with cellophane and make some ready-to-go S’mores bags for fall nights by the fire pit. We love these creative twists on S’mores – especially the one with peanut butter cups.
Make An Ice Cream Bar
Make a weekly ice cream bar. Why does Friday have to be all about pizza? Make Fridays the new Ice Cream Bar Night and use candy as the different toppings.
Create a Secret Stash
Stash *some* candy in your desk drawer or car console for sugar emergencies (for you and the kids!)
Use For Gifts
Save the bows this year and use candy to add some flair to your gifts. Fill cellophane bags with some candies and use them to decorate presents or pair with a wine bottle as a gift.
DIY Thanksgiving Countdown Calendar
This is a great activity to do with your kids!
How to:
- Get a poster board or canvas and have your kids decorate it for Thanskgiving. They can all write what they’re thankful for on it.
- Tape or glue 26 dixie cups to the poster board. You can also use push pins or toothpicks.
- Write numbers 1 through 26 on each of the Dixie cups (or you can choose to use sticker numbers. You can also put Thanksgiving Day on the 26th cup)
- Parse out candy into each cup so they can each have one piece of candy leading up to Thanksgiving.
- You can use bigger cups or cover the cups so that the candy is a surprise each day.
- Be creative! You can decorate the cups with things that remind you of Thanksgiving. You can make them into turkeys, or pilgrims, or Turkey pilgrims!
Thanksgiving Pinata
Why not use this year to start a new tradition of having a piñata at Thanksgiving? You’re likely to have less people at the table this year due to COVID and travel restrictions so it will be fun to change things up and make it memorable.
Make a Gingerbread House
Although I doubt anyone is handing out candy canes and gumdrops this Halloween, I’m sure you can use those chocolates for walkways and the m&ms for the roof.
Make Holiday Bark
We thought these were so cute!