I (don't) Want Candy

Yikes! Halloween is just a few days away and it's time for my annual "what are we going to give out this year" dilemma.  I seem to remember (back in the old days--my old days at least) that we used to get 1 piece of candy at each house. If you received 2 pieces--that was a "good house" that we remembered to return to the next year.  We had to cover a lot of ground to fill up the plastic pumpkins (and later pillowcases) that we toted around our neighborhood.

Where I live now, folks can afford the hefty bag of fun size candies and they seem to be extravagantly generous. My kids have been known to return home to dump their stash after only completing half of our street.

I suspect the problem lies in the in the easy purchase of megasize bags of candy (thank you, Target) coupled with the fear that one will be stuck with all this candy on November 1st.  Hence the practice of handing out not 1 or 2, but 3 or 4 treats per tot.

My kids can't wait.

My problem is that, having thus dispensed with my chosen crate o'treats at my doorstep (and feeling pretty good about myself), my kids return home with approximately 3 times as much candy as I've just given out.

It's the devil's math!

After lifting and stowing the mountain of candy from last year's haul, I decided something had to be done.  I let my kids keep a portion and bought the rest off of them to donate to Treats for Troops at my church.  Cash for candy--how's that for a treat?

Each day I'd let my kids eat some, but all evening the remaining candy would whisper my name from the cupboard.  It became a battle of will and when it comes to Twizzlers, Tootsie Rolls, and anything with chocolate and coconut I cave like a sandcastle at high tide.

This year I waited until the final week to make my purchase. What could I buy that won't tempt me over the next few days? Was there something substantial that I could give out 1 at a time (and not seem cheap)? Something that I can put in my kids' lunchboxes in the event that I have leftovers? 

Halloween themed fruit snacks. Hooray!