Your Kids On Halloween

How Children Can Self-Regulate and Keep The Candy

Halloween is upon us and few places celebrate quite like New York City—it’s definitely a party. I was raised by a hippie, single-mom in the Santa Cruz mountains. Sugar was in large part villainized for much of my childhood, which led to some hard nutritional awakenings once I started making my own food choices.  

So, when it came to sugar with my kids, I knew I wanted to do it differently, but I didn’t know exactly how. I knew I wanted to teach them about sugar and its effects, as well as its pleasure, without banning the sweet substance and the fun parties that often accompany it.  

And, in 13 years of Halloween with two competitive trick-or-treaters, my daughters have never eaten, or even asked for, all of their Halloween candy. 

Here’s how we do it…

Make it a family affair. Ken and I dress up, go door-to-door with them, and make it a fun tradition that is about more than just candy. It’s about a shared evening of family and friends.  

They are allowed to eat as we go. I check the candy as they unwrap it and then, they can go for it. I don’t stop them from enjoying trick-or-treating and eating as much of their treasured hoard as they want.

We stop before they fall apart.  As it begins to get dark, we have a planned next phase of the evening. This way, it’s a transition rather than an end to the fun. We usually gather with friends either at our house or someone else’s and we are ready with a hearty veggie chili and fresh sourdough with lots of salty churned butter—it’s delicious, warming, grounding, and counteracts the inevitable sugar-high.  

Water for the win! Have a water bottle on hand and keep putting the straw into their mouths, making sure they’re sipping and staying hydrated throughout the evening.

Candy trading. The kids we party with after trick-or-treating pile together, dump out their hauls, and start counting, trading,and playing. By the end of the evening, they’ve all consumed a crazy amount of sugar, have celebrated, and are ready to put it all back into their plastic pumpkins.  

At bedtime, expect exhaustion. Plan an extra-long teeth brushing where you can talk about how fun the night was and get in a quick bath and scrub off the facepaint. Finally, tuck them into bed knowing that you may need to hold them while they cry themselves to sleep from over-exhaustion. It’s okay—it’s one night and they’ll remember the fun, not how tired they ended up being. 

Stash their stash. Once the kids are asleep, we take their pumpkins and put them on the top shelf of our coat closet. They’ve never asked for the candy again. Out of sight, out of mind—for you, too…because a giant bucket of candy is a hard temptation for all of us!

The hangover cure. The following morning, we serve protein, veggies, and whole grain bread (like a big veggie frittata with sauteed kale!). We avoid serving desserts for a few days and keep food simple—as parents, we love halloween candy, too and always want to just rebalance a bit after the evening. Go for hearty veggie soups, roasted chicken and salads, bean and rice burritos with avocado and greens.

We talk to our girls about nutrition and sugar. We’re honest about the feelings we all get from a sugar/party hangover. I explain how sugar operates in their bodies (it is absorbed instantly and burned even faster) and how processed sugar like candy is different from natural sugars in fruits and breads (that the body has to work harder to turn into energy) and that’s why they feel better eating fruit than a lollipop. We also are totally transparent about how we, as adults, have a hard time resisting sugar and how we make sure to choose foods that help rebalance our bodies in order to feel energetic and happy going into the week. 

Shift the focus. November launches the next holiday—Thanksgiving, collecting fall leaves, and picking out funny gourds from the farmer’s market to decorate the dining table.  

Give the candy away. By the end of November, we usually feel it’s time to empty the pumpkins and donate the candy along with some canned goods to a local food shelter.

What I have witnessed in my girls is the ability to choose. At times, they choose too much and they are learning where that fine line is within themselves. They talk to me about how they feel and I ask them, “what foods would feel good to you to rebalance from Halloween?” and they have great ideas! 

In the end, Halloween is a one night event.
We hit it hard, have a great time, and then…it’s done!