If your kids are anything like mine, by the morning of November first they will have some seriously stomach ache producing quantities of Halloween candy. Between church, school parties, extra curricular activities, Fall Festivals and let’s not forget trick or treating, we’ll have pounds and piles of candy at our house. There is NO WAY they could or should eat it all, so we’ve got some ideas for what to do with all that leftover Halloween candy.
In the US, it’s estimated a child consumes between 3500-7000 calories in candy alone on October 31st!
While it’s fun to indulge in all the sugary fun at the holidays, there is a point where you almost feel like you’re drowning in all the treats. Plus, let’s be real, they aren’t the only ones eating it.
So, not sure what to do with leftover Halloween candy? Here are some fun options that you might not have heard about or considered.
What to do with leftover Halloween Candy – 10 Creative Ideas
Donate:
Candy can be sent to US soldiers, you can find a list of accepted items here, along with information about where to send the packages. There is also good information about additional items if you’re interested in contributing to care packages for the military. There is a list of additional donation opportunities below as well!
Baking:
The holidays are right around the corner and there are tons of yummy cookie, cake and bar recipes that call for candy in the ingredients. Have the kiddos separate the different varieties and you’ll have a start on the next round of treats!
Sell It:
Many dentists will buy the candy from children and then donate it. If you check here, it will tell you the names and information of dentists in your area that participate in this program.
Trade It (AKA the Switch Witch):
Kira uses this approach with her kiddos. For 3 days, it’s an all the candy they can eat policy. Then the Halloween Fairy arrives and swaps out all the remaining candy for a toy of their choosing that costs under $20. She keeps some of the candy for school lunches and desserts at home, and then yes and truly, she tosses out the rest. Otherwise, she would be eating it all.
Gingerbread Houses:
The more choices the merrier when it comes to creating these holiday houses! Round up a few friends and invite them over to sort through the stash and create gingerbread houses with your family! Another idea would be to partner up with a few parents in your child’s class and organize a gingerbread house making extravaganza instead of regular holiday party!
Drop Off:
Local shelters for women and children especially appreciate candy donations around the holidays, as well as home baked goodies. A group of friends and I packaged up several little bags of candy that were placed on each child’s pillow Christmas Eve.
Learning:
All those brightly covered wrappers make for some fun sorting & patterning activities! There are some great ideas right here about extending learning and some science explorations via all those Halloween treats!
Crafting:
You can create some pretty amazing things with candy wrappers: jewelry, purses, bowls and much more! There are great ideas right here and many of them would make fun holiday gifts as well!
Re-Gift:
Filling up decorated mason jars or holiday themed jars for friends, neighbors, or co-workers can be a good way to rehome that candy around the holidays…you may want to remove the obvious Halloween pieces, though. 😉
Do A Random Act of Kindness:
Make little bags or packages with thank you tags and leave them for the mail carrier, UPS driver or trash collector. Deliver to the fire or police station, set out in baskets in the waiting rooms at the hospital or the staff lunchroom. Brainstorm with your kids about people who often go without even a thank you that help your family and community, such a simple but meaningful lesson!
Ideas for Donating Leftover Halloween Candy:
Local children’s homes, food pantries, soup kitchens, addiction treatment centers(often those struggling with drug or alcohol abuse use candy to help themselves through withdrawal), Operation Christmas Child, Ronald McDonald House, and local retirement centers.
It is estimated that over 250,000 pounds of candy is donated each year vs. the 600 million pounds purchased!
Related Posts:
Raising Kids Who Serve: Spreading Kindness
Christmas Printables – Gifts, Activities, Decor and More
Family Technology Rules – Take Control of Tech Before Tech Takes Over Your Family
Do you have any other creative ideas for what to do with leftover Halloween Candy?
Holly @ While I'm Waiting... says
We live in a college town so we decided to reverse trick-or-treat on Sunday. Our kids gathered all the candy they had been given the night before and handed it out to college kids studying at the library on Sunday afternoon. Our kids got the joy of receiving but better yet the joy of giving. The college kids were super excited to receive the candy and I was so glad that I didn’t have to use will power not to eat it all! 🙂
Michelle Myers says
Holly, that is a FABULOUS idea!!!! It’s pure genius on SO many fronts, thanks for sharing!
Healing Tomato says
I think I am going to make a gingerbread house with mine. Thanks for the suggestion.
Kirsten says
Our school accepts donations the week after Halloween for the troops. This year they collected over 1200 lbs.! I still can’t believe it. I should have saved some for gingerbread houses in hindsight, though I am doubtful it would have lasted in our house until December. : ) Great ideas!
Samantha @ Stir the Wonder says
Great ideas! Now I wish we hadn’t eaten most of ours already! 😉 Thanks for linking up at the Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop! We hope you stop by again next week!
Michelle Myers says
Thanks, Samantha! Appreciate the link up!
Carrie @ Kenarry: Ideas for the Home says
Great ideas, Michelle! I especially love the idea of donating it or using it for random acts of kindness. Thank you so much for sharing at Think and Make Thursday!
Michelle Myers says
Thanks for hosting, Carrie! Appreciate the link up!
Dina@KitchenDreaming says
Thanks for coming and linking up at #TheWeekendSocial. Please be sure to come back this week starting Thursday at 9PM EST on KitchenDreaming.com ! I hope to see you there! Pinned
MRS. AOK says
Awesome tips!! Thank you for sharing via Mommy Monday 🙂
I’ve already put aside the candy to donate.
XOXO
Michelle Myers says
Thanks! 🙂
KC the Kitchen Chopper says
Parents all over the place are singing your praises for this valuable info. Thanks for sharing at #theWeekendSocial. Hope to see you again Thursday 9:00 PM EST. http://www.theKitchenChopper.com Pinned! 🙂
Michelle Myers says
TY! Thanks for hosting the link up!
Lynne Streeter Childress says
I love the gift bag idea! Really thoughtful.
Emma says
I can’t believe how many great ideas there are that I never even realized! Thanks for sharing these – I think we’ll save some for gingerbread houses and donate or trade-in the rest!
Michelle @ A Dish of Daily Life says
Excellent tips! Our dentist does a buy back program, but my kids generally don’t go out for that long, so they don’t have a ton of candy. It usually lasts us a while. I steal it too…which I am sure they have all figured out by now. LOL
Kira Lewis says
I totally steal my kids candy too, I can’t believe they aren’t on to me by now. My favorites are 100 Grand bars and Almond Joys.
chanelle says
We have used the candy fairy in the past. This year, our kids are a little older and we are asking for semi-voluntary donations to soldiers. There is just WAAAAY too much candy!!!
Lindze says
So many great ideas! I’m sure I’ll be putting these to use — we always have a ton of left over candy. :/
Visiting from the Family Fun Friday link up!
Would love for you to stop by my blog and enter my current giveaway (great organizing materials)!
http://www.interiorfun.com/2014/10/how-to-organize-closet-that-little-kids.html
So happy to have found your blog!
-Lindze
Nicole Neverman says
Thank you so much for attending week 8 of #PureBlogLove and linking your fantastic blog post, I can’t wait to see what you have in store for our party next week Thursday 8 PM EST- Sundays at midnight. Your post has been added to the #PureBlogLove Pinterest board for all to see 🙂 Have a great day!
Nicole
Heidy @TheMccallumsShamrockPatch says
Super awesome blog post! Just wanted to invite you to recipe and DIY craft Link party Thursdays-Sundays for our celebration! I’m excited to see what you’ll bring. Feel free to submit 3 of your your own creations that are recipes or crafts.
http://www.themccallumsshamrockpatch.com
Sonya says
These are all great ideas. I especially like the Halloween Fairy idea.
FabEllis says
This is a great list and much of this, I didn’t even know existed! I love the ideas of random acts of kindness or using them for games. Love it!
Nancy says
This is awesome! I never thought what to do with the leftovers before. I usually try to just pawn it off on a family member :p Thank you for sharing 🙂
http://neatly-packaged.com/
Skye says
We have had so many struggles in the past couple of years about how much candy comes home, this list is so helpful!
Melissa Faye says
What great ideas for left-over candy. I never thought to donate it. Good idea!
Neely says
My vote is send it all my way….I mean I will happily take any off anyones hands 🙂
Heather @ Divas Run for Bling says
I LOVE these! I do not have kids yet but my hubby and I do hand out candy to trick or treaters and always end up with way too much leftover. I will also have to keep the candy fairy idea in mind when we do have kids 🙂
Jessica says
These are GREAT tips! Thank you so much!
Nicole Keener says
This will come in very handy!
Tiffany says
Really great ideas!! I had No Idea you could sell them to a dentist…that’s amazing. I usually just end up eating at it myself and then unfortunately most of it goes to waste. I am grateful to have a few more options this year…Thanks for sharing!
Cindy says
I love this!! I did a similar post a few years ago. I’m actually putting together a post on baking with left over candies. I didn’t know that certain dentists would buy it-how cool. I just filled up mason jars with candy and thought the same thing. Thank God for mason jars, seriously!!
Happy National Cat Day!!
@DietitianCindy