WARNING: Do not read this post with your children!

Have you heard of the Switch Witch? Well, let me tell you about this "good" Halloween witch and why she is going to be your best friend this Halloween. This is the easiest way to get rid of all that Halloween candy without tears or fights. Your children will want to give away their candy!

Fun, fun, fun....and SO MUCH CANDY!

Halloween is so much fun for kids (and adults!) especially if you need an excuse to let your inner child out. I find I need an excuse less and less the older I get!

We get together with a bunch of families in the neighborhood and meander about the streets while the kids all race from door to door as their sacks or buckets get heavier and heavier with candy. It's sheer chaos and excitement all rolled together.

My primary goal on Halloween is to end the evening's activities with both children alive and accounted for. Check. Okay, now what to do with ALL THAT CANDY?!? Seriously, how two little people accumulate so much??

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If the candy stays in the house...

I will likely gain an extra 10lbs!

You may not know this about me, I'm about to share a dirty little secret and It's so embarrassing. I have ZERO will-power once I have a piece of candy. It's like I am transformed into a completely different person. If I just look at it and don't eat it, I'm okay. But if my mouth tastes that sickening sugar high I'm done for. So, Halloween is a really tough holiday for me in that respect. 'Just say no' is my motto.

Constant battles over candy

Kids will constantly beg for candy all. the. time. They know it's there, and if they can see the candy then the situation is often far worse.

Our conversations about getting everyday tasks done, chores, and even homework become long negotiations with the ultimate prize being how much candy they can argue for.

"So if I finish my homework then I get to have 2 pieces of candy, right?" Huh? No, you have to do your homework with no reward because that is what is expected of you!

"Mom, I'm only doing {insert chore} if you give me 3 pieces of candy." Wtf?? Since when is this household a democracy when it comes to chores? 🤣

Kids eat a lot more sugar and crap

I don't believe we should shelter and restrict our children from everything "bad" and "toxic" (see below where I expand). However, everything in moderation and when you bring home 10 pounds or more of candy then moderation goes out the window!

My other issue with Halloween candy is that it is full of crap! I mean, so many chemicals and additives and artificial colors. I would happily give my kids homemade chocolate chip cookies, or full-fat real ice cream with real chocolate drizzled all over instead of store-bought candy. Ingesting all of those chemicals is what freaks me out.

Needless to say, if the candy stays in the house, we have months and months of eating way more sugar and artificial colors than normal. Which brings us right up to Christmas time...more sugar and candy!

The loss of innocence (discovering candy!)

I believe my oldest was around 3 years old when we started taking him trick or treating. We were really lucky with him, he didn't care at all about the candy and simply played with it by sorting and organizing. I don't even think he knew what was inside the wrappers and we were in no hurry to show him!

Fast forward a year or two and he figured out what candy is! It was only a matter of time. We can often stretch out the years of innocence with the eldest but not for their younger siblings.

And yet, even when he understood what candy was, I still didn't introduce the Switch Witch. After that Halloween was when things started to get a little more stressful in trying to figure out how to find a balance between allowing a child to have something in moderation versus either extreme of everything or nothing.

I thought about just letting him gorge himself on the candy, get sick and hope he would see the correlation and learn his lesson. But to me, this sounded wrong. I don't let my kids turn on the TV and watch whatever they want. I set boundaries so they are watching age-appropriate shows. They are too young to know any better. I figured that Halloween candy was a similar scenario. He needed some guidance.

So, we invited the Switch Witch into our home.

What is the "Switch Witch"?

I honestly can't remember when I first heard this term but I immediately loved it! You can't really use it for older kids (once they learn what is "not real") but it works like a charm for the younger ones!

Very much like a Tooth Fairy, a Switch Witch comes at night when children are sleeping and leaves a toy or money in exchange for Halloween candy. You can decide what "prize" is best for your children. In our home, each child receives a moderately priced gift (usually around $20-25). I try to choose something (or collection of toys) that is exciting enough to make them happy to leave their candy for the Switch Witch again the next year!

I know other children in other families have received money from the Switch Witch and used it to go on a "family shopping day" to spend their prize money. Parents often double this outing with a math and economy lesson! #winwin

Eat a little candy, leave a lot

Personally, I think this is up for every individual family to decide. How much candy do you let your child eat the night of Halloween (or the night you go trick or treating)?

Some parents subscribe to the philosophy of letting the children pig out on however much candy they want and leave the rest for the Switch Witch. As I said before, I'm more in the camp of offering guidance, especially to very young children. We allow our kids to eat a pre-stated amount of candy and they leave the rest for the Switch Witch.

On the flip side, I don't want to vilify candy and create an unhealthy relationship between my kids and that type of "food". Research definitely shows that this method usually backfires and kids end up having control issues later in life (with these types of food and other areas of life).

So what to do?

Here is an example of what we do in our home that works for us. You may want to tweak this to better to suit your family. Everything is open to modification!

Step 1

A week or so before Halloween, play up the concept of the Switch Witch. Tell them a story about her, what happens to the candy, what they find in the morning, etc. Make this believable and make it sound like the best thing ever!

OR, just buy this adorable package and let the book do all the work for you! (For obvious reasons, around this time of year this item sells out FAST so get it early!)

Step 2

Kids go trick or treating with us (they are still in grade school). Besides, the adults have quite a bit of fun as well! (Remind me to tell you the story of trick or treating at our old neighborhood in Minnesota where one house gave out cans of beer to the parents and candy to the kids! 🤣#truestory)

Step 3

When we get home the kids oggle their bounty and have heaps of fun sorting, trading, and analyzing "what's the best candy". They choose their pre-determined allotment of candy to enjoy that evening and set aside the rest for the Switch Witch.

Step 4

After the kids go to bed, the parents binge-eat the remaining Halloween candy so that there is nothing left by morning. 🤣Just kidding! Treat yourself and then hide the rest in a place your children will never see it! If you don't do this correctly you won't be able to use this trick again next year and likely your kids won't trust you about Santa, the Tooth Fairy, etc. Do this step right!

One idea is to put the candy in a bag in the trunk of your car so you can carry out this next step easily without the kids finding the candy.

Step 5

Get rid of the candy! Here are some great ideas:

• Halloween Candy Buyback (you can search for local programs near you)

• Donate the candy to troops overseas with Operation Gratitude

• Many dentists will "buy back" Halloween candy, check with your local dentist

• Throw it away? I"m quite torn on this prospect. Growing up in a family where no food was wasted makes me cringe at the thought of this but...it's not really food, is it?

Step 6

Pat yourself on the back, you just parented that scenario like a boss! Now it's up to you to continue to teach your children how to have a healthy relationship with real food. If they are not already, they will soon be old enough to be making their own decisions regarding food, so set up a good foundation.

Is the Switch Witch coming to your house this year?

I hope the idea of the Switch Witch will help you when it comes to the question of how to reduce the amount of candy your children will eat this Halloween.

Remember, you can tweak the "rules" and decide how much candy the kids can eat before leaving the rest for the Switch Witch. And you can decide what is left out the next morning after "the switch". Make it work for your family.

If you are going to buy the Switch Witch bundle (book, doll, keepsake box and "switch" bag - this is such a cute bundle!) then I recommend getting one soon before they sell out!

I hope you and your family have a safe and spooky Halloween this year!

P.S. Be sure to also check out How to Get Kids Cooking in the Kitchen; 10 Tools to Get Them Excited To Help You if you are interested in baking some homemade Halloween treats this year!