This giveaway is sponsored by Tommee Tippee.
This is the first year James will be old enough to go door to door with his sister on Halloween. I’m not sure how many houses he’ll actually make it to, but between him and Annie we’re going to have a LOT of candy in our house tomorrow…and I’m not sure what to do with it.
In past years, Annie wasn’t really aware of the volume of candy she’d brought in, which was good for us. Mike or I would grab a handful of candy for Annie to keep, and then hand the rest of her candy back out to trick or treaters. I don’t think we’ll be able to pull that trick this year!
What do you all do with your kids’ candy after Halloween? And how old were your kids when you let them actually have candy? I don’t think James has actually had any. I mean, he’s had cake and stuff like that, but actual candy? I don’t think so.
I thought it would be fun to give away another Tommee Tippee prize pack today – a treat on Halloween!! To enter, leave a comment below answering either of the questions I asked above (what do you do with all the candy, or how old your babies were when they first had candy). Contest will be open until November 3rd at 12:30pm PST. Open to residents of the US and Canada. Winner will be chosen by Random.org.
The prize pack will be the new Tommee Tippee Gingerbread line, which is just becoming available at Babies R Us!
It’s so freaking cute.
Good luck, everyone!!
EDITED: WE HAVE A WINNER!
The winner is #11, Lee! Thanks for entering, everyone! Look for another giveaway next month!
Heather says:
We’re candy hoarders in this house! We hang on to all of that extra candy and spend months rationing it out!!
nikki says:
We usually keep it and give it to our daughter occasionally…there are also several dentist in our area who do a buy back program…they usually pay about $2 a pound and I believe they send the candy to military overseas…call your dentist and ask!?
Sharon says:
My baby is only & weeks adjusted so no candy yet! I plan to hand out as much as possible tomorrow so I can finally stop eating it.
Shannon says:
We take the candy and let them have a few pieces every day.
Karen Kelly says:
I am OLD – but I remember dumping my pillow case onto the kitchen floor so my mom could go through all the candy, she threw out anything looking suspicious and then I picked out the candy that I liked, she picked her favorites and then my dad got to pick. The rest went out to the late trick or treaters or just sat in the waiting to die pile in a basket in the kitchen.
Jessica says:
My daughter isn’t old enough for candy but I just discovered she likes Tommee Tippee bottles! ??
alison says:
The son gets to eat what he wants Halloween night and the day that follows. Then it’s rationed – I think last year he brought Halloween candy for recess until Christmas!
Mallory says:
I’m thinking collected and rationed. Though as a kid I remember having free reign of it, after giving a few pieces to my parents!
Jenna says:
My little one is only 4.5 months old so no trick or treating or candy for her yet, but she’s definitely dressing up to help us hand out candy (while Mom sneaks a couple pieces in the process!).
Robin says:
Our kids get to pick a small amount of their candy to keep, then the “Great Pumpkin” comes during the night, takess all the rest of the candy, and leaves them a small gift in return. works well
Lee Cockrum says:
As a kid I recall being able to have whatever we wanted for a couple days, then it was just a few at snack time.
elizabeth in ma says:
We let them eat candy the night of Halloween and then hide their bags. Most of the time they completely forget about the candy by the next morning. Once we’re sure they wont remember we bring it to work and let our co-workers eat it!
Lisa says:
We let our boys (4 & 6) have 1-2 pieces of candy after trick-or treating and dole out the rest as a treat now and again. My husband may have asked last night if we were ‘getting into the candy’ last night after the boys went to bed. Maybe tonight…:)
Our daughter (8 weeks) could use some tommee tippee supplies.
Meg says:
These are so cute! Though I don’t have a little one quite yet, that will be changing by next Halloween… When my sister and I were of trick-or-treating age, my parents would take our buckets and use the candy as rewards for good grades and behavior from Halloween until Christmas. Most of the stash had, um, mysteriously “disappeared” by then, but it was fun to see the Reese’s and Skittles reappear at random times post-Halloween!
suzy says:
My son was around 1.5 years when he had his first candy (I think). It was Halloween last year. We let him try easy stuff, like peanut butter cups. We ate the rest (granted we went to all of 5 house so it went fast). Not sure that will work this year now that he is 2.5…
Johna says:
This will be my son’s first Halloween so we haven’t experienced it yet. But he has a milk protein allergy so I might let him lick a sucker but he can’t have any of the chocolate stuff.
Erin says:
Our baby is only 6 weeks old, so no candy here, but I’ve heard of people using the “switch witch” who takes the leftover candy and leaves a toy in its place. That way she still gets some candy, and you can put the rest out for trick or treaters.
Whitney says:
Our baby boy is still in my tummy, so for now all the candy goes to mom and dad!
Teresa says:
He’s too little for candy and trick or treating this year but we would ration out the candy.
Sharon H says:
My James is 3 and really only is allowed chocolate – no hard or chewy candies. So after he goes to bed we pull out the stuff he isn’t allowed and that becomes our stash. He gets to keep all chocolate, but the pumpkin is kept high and he has been good about only getting 1-2 pieces a day as a treat.
Casey says:
Usually I slowly start “stealing” candy from my daughter’s stash and bringing it to work. Before she knows it, it’s pretty much gone! I think we let her have her first piece of candy when she was about 13 months. It was a rese cup and I’m pretty sure she fell in love that day.
Rachel says:
My little one is 6 months old, so this year I plan on eating all of his candy. Next year I might let him have a couple of pieces…but he probably won’t taste Reese’s till elementary school.
Amanda says:
I sneak some out of my 4 year old’s bucket and put it in my candy dish at work.
Angela says:
We divide the candy up between the kids, and us parents where we all get about 20-40 pieces, depending on the our favorites, then we hand out the extra to the other trick or treaters that come by. It’s a win-win!
Tracey says:
My kids could eat as much as they wanted Halloween night and could then keep a small ziplock baggie of candy. The rest was put out for the book fairy. She comes and takes the candy for the foodbank and leaves a book in its place.
My girls are 13 and 15 now and are avid readers.
Mia says:
I let Dani eat candy (M&M’s) on her second Halloween, when she was 16 months. We only made it to a few houses, so we didn’t have much. Last year I let her have a few pieces and then put it out of reach for those special occasions where it came in handy (like potty training, when we didn’t have dessert, long car rides, etc.). Happy Halloween!
Pat Connor says:
My 18-month old granddaughter has just discovered m&ms. She knows where we “hide” them and has figured out how to open the drawer.
Chris says:
We keep it around the house for a few days and then I take the rest to work for my co-workers. Gone within in hour!!!!
Kelly says:
Well we are expecting our first child in April, but I totally plan on eating his candy in a few years!
MNMom says:
Our kids never really ate a lot of candy. I rarely bought it, but I never restricted it either. They would bring home the candy, eat a few pieces for a few days and then just abandon their stash. We ended up just throwing it out, sending it to the office or I would bring it to school for the teacher’s lounge. Same deal at Christmas, they never ate the candy. Not sure why, still is like that today, we are just not a candy family. Sometimes, I think restricting something can make it more appealing. I do know that some dentists here pay kids per pound of candy they turn in, then the candy collected goes to the military.
MNMom says:
teachers’ lounge…..
MNMom says:
Oh, one more thing. I remember that years ago on a radio show I listened to, one personality made brownies with the leftover candy. She used any small chocolate bars that were chewy (no crunchy stuff like Kit Kats), tossed then in a packaged brownie mix batter and baked them. She also said that they had a tradition of having this, and only this, for dinner a night after Halloween. Her kids loved it!
Jen says:
I let my 9 year old pick out the pieces of candy she wants to keep, then I take the rest to work. But she is reasonable, and she’s a bit picky when it comes to candy. And she understands that too much candy isn’t good for her. In years past I would go through the candy and make that decision for her after she went to bed. She never seemed to mind. But my 4 year old loves all candy, so I’m not exactly sure what to do. Probably the same thing, but he may not react as well as my older daughter!
Alicia says:
I eat it. :O. LOL. THey get some, but I eat far more. ANd we started giving them candy at halloween for both tof them. I think he’s old enough.
Bree says:
I am allergic to chocolate and so Halloween was always hard for me. My parents would trade me my chocolate candy for something else I wanted. Weirdly, I usually chose green bean casserole! Then they got to keep all the chocolate candy.
Mel J. says:
We rationed it. With Mound’s bar going to me!
Marty says:
Feast on halloween and then dole it out sparingly. A lot of the candy I got as a kid was never eaten. Candy bars were like gold back in the 50s and not usually given out – we got those chewy globs of candy that were wrapped in paper. After a few months they became rocks and you’d throw them out just before Christmas!
CJ says:
We ration it out until it becomes a battle/obsession, then it gets sent with the candy fairy one night while the kids sleep. The candy fairy brings it to kids who didn’t get any on Halloween.
Mommabird2345 says:
We let our kids have candy after they turned two. Even so, it was only one or two pieces, certain kinds (smarties, m&ms) & only at birthday parties or holidays.
Valeri says:
Technically, my kid is still too young to trick-or-treat. He doesn’t have any older siblings to tag along with and he’s 22 months, so he doesn’t understand the concept. I am taking him to a trunk-or-treat mostly because I think he’ll love seeing other kids in costumes. He gets one piece of candy and daddy and I split the rest after he goes to bed. I figure next year I will let him pick one to eat that night and pick one for the next day and we’ll eat the rest.
Veronica says:
I send the candy to my husband’s work – he is in construction supply and he has a lot of customers so he puts it out on the counter for them to take! Works for us, our little one doesn’t even notice that it goes missing from the house (plus it helps that she already knows that there are lots of different types of candy that she cannot have due to her bad teeth!).
Megan K says:
My kids are 6, 4, 2 and 8 months. We ration out the candy and I eventually end up bring the rest to leave in the common areas of my office. If there is anything “good,” I’ll freeze it and bring it out through the year. My kids get so much that eventually they don’t even realize that there is anything missing!
Theresa Corrigan Heuer says:
Happy Halloween to you, Mike, Annabel, and James! My baby is only three weeks old, so this is my first Halloween with a kiddo in the house. When I was a kid, my parents would put the candy in a bowl on top of the fridge and my sister and I could typically have a piece once a day (it was usually our treat in our lunchbox at school). We did the same thing with Easter candy.
Robin says:
My oldest is 6 so she gets 2-3 pieces per day while her dad and I help her finish it off while she’s sleeping! My youngest is 15 months and she hasn’t had candy yet. I think my oldest was about 2 before she got candy.
Elizabeth McKinney says:
My daughter is 10 now, but if I remember correctly, her first candy was on her 2nd Halloween, when she was 15 months old. It was a Dum Dum lollipop! She still loves them.
Shannon D says:
We totally handed back our daughter’s candy last year and think we might be able to get away with it again this year. She just turned 3. She was 2 when we let her have her first candy!
Christy says:
I think my daughter was probably 2 before she got any candy and it was just a piece or two and we gave out the rest to our trick or treaters or ate it ourselves.
She’s almost 6 now and we made a plan yesterday to have her help us throw away anything with colored dyes in it and then she can keep probably 8 pieces (1 for halloween and 1 for each day of the next week) and then we are giving the rest away. Dad’s on a diet this year and I’ve got gestational diabetes so we don’t get to eat any.
Sarah says:
what a cute collection! As baby number one is only due in January, I am very interested to hear what everyone says is a good age to start letting kiddos have candy. I fear if baby is anything like me, he/she will love sugar waaaay too much. Trick-or-treaters had better get to my house soon, because I am already doing a good job eating their candy!
Jeni C says:
We usually take the candy from the kids and give it to them through out the year. My kids are 6 and 2 so we still get away with doing that.
Franny says:
We put it into lunches a few pieces at a time, might have a piece or 2 in the evenings too. If anything survives too long we send it to school with his mom who works in kindergarten.
samm says:
My oldest was about eighteen months the first time he had candy. We had a costume my mother had sewn for my brother when he was little, and we dressed Kevin in the clown outfit. We painted his face, but he added a cow mask he had chosen. So he was a cowclown? We intended to go next door on each side where the neighbours were honorary grandparents to this little guy. So we went to Grampy’s house on one side, and he gave Kevin a little chocolate bar. Then we went to the house on the other side, and Kevin’s plastic pumpkin received another candy. Time to go home. Uh, no. Kevin realized that going to the doors of these homes had resulted in candy! Although he hadn’t ever hat any candy, this looked like a good thing! Off he went with us trailing behind, our little cowclown, to every house on our street. He had one candy, and daddy ate the rest.
Edda says:
I am currently pregnant with my first child so I have not encountered this problem yet but I think I would divide the candy up and have the child pick a few pieces and give out the rest or eat it myself:P
Aubrie says:
We just keep the candy and ration it out slowly.
Laura says:
We’ve always kept the candy and rationed it out. I’ve heard of people who do the “switch witch” thing, where the kids leave the majority of the candy for the switch witch, and she leaves something in return for the candy, usually a toy I believe.
Beverly Fisher says:
We would let our boys have a couple of pieces a day and then after a week or so I would take the rest to work and put in a candy dish.
Bridget says:
We will take the leftovers to work to giveaway, after we pick our favorites.
T Michelle Trump says:
No candy till age 3!
Lisa says:
My son (who will be 2 end of November) has 1 or 2 small pieces a day, and I’ll, uh, take care of the rest.
morgan says:
I let my daughter have a lollipop when she was 1 and 2 and a few pieces when she was 3. We have never really worried what to do with it because my husband has such a sweet tooth he usually eats it all in about 3 days!!!
Ashley says:
My son is 4 1/2 this year and we’re facing the same issue–lots of candy and he’s oh-so-aware of how much he got! So last night when we got home, we spread everything out and he got to pick about 5 pieces (depending on size) to put in a bag for each day. He can eat it all at once or spread it out throughout the day, but that’s it for the day. He actually ended up making me a very large bag also, which greatly diminished his stash. Now we’ll see what happens when each bag runs out each day…I foresee some begging.
Lorraine says:
For the first time this year, my son knows each and every piece of candy he got, so I think it will be hard to trick him! We do limit how much he can have each day. Previous years, I would take a few handfuls every day and bring it to work and he never realized his stash was dwindling!
Jill B says:
My son eats some the night of Halloween and the next day, but then we kind of hide the rest. For him it’s out of site, out of mind.
Amanda says:
We ration it out over a few months.
Stacie says:
We split both kids’ bags into 2 equal piles and give 1 pile to the local food bank and the kids’ keep the other pile.
**Don’t need a sippy cup*** ????
Rebecca says:
We give a bunch away and then I ration it out. I don’t know how old the kids were when they started eating candy….probably way too young!
Rie says:
My child was almost 2.
ira says:
I work at a university and I bring the majority of the candy to campus and leave it out for the students to snack on. They think it’s great!
sarah says:
We don’t do a ton of candy in our house (because my husband and I would eat it all). Our oldest isn’t super into it and our middle would eat it all immediately! So, I am not sure how long we’ll wait with our youngest…I would guess that I won’t be offering candy to him until 2ish, but I can imagine relatives or our daycare slipping it in before then.
Brooke says:
Someone else up thread suggested making brownies with the candy, and I second that. You can chop up the candy and mix it into the batter, or layer the brownies with batter on the bottom, candy in the middle, and batter over top. You could also do candy-stuffed cookies.
Then after Annabel has a brownie or two, send the rest to work with Mike, haha.
Some recipes here, and you can use any candy for these:
http://veryculinary.com/2011/03/22/oreo-stuffed-chocolate-chip-cookies/
http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/caramel-filled-chocolate-cookies/e0b2fc09-3388-4d5a-ad1c-30f7b4ecd5f8
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2014/05/crazy-brownies/
Heather says:
You guys are awesome, I love this idea!
Lana says:
One year I told my daughter she could give her candy to the “candy witch” and then she got a Barbie doll in trade for all her candy.
Jesabes says:
We go to a bunch of Halloween activities (probably too many!) – trunk or treats/fall festivals/and the like. All of the candy we gather prior to Halloween night gets surreptitiously put into the candy bowl to hand out to trick-or-treaters.
Our kids are allowed to go to a few houses, mostly neighbors, but we tell them since they’ve done so much trick-or-treating, Halloween night is their opportunity to hand out candy to others instead. They love it. And so far they haven’t noticed they’re handing out their own candy!
Lori says:
My LO is only a year, so she has no idea how much she has…or even what it is. She’s had bites here and there of mine, but that’s it. As for what I’m doing with her candy…eating it! I miiiight share some with Daddy. Might.
Tessa says:
Mine wasn’t old enough to trick or treat this year but I heard you can donate the candy.
Paula R. (fka preTzel) says:
I think my boys were three when they started eating the T or T candy they got. Before that we didn’t really let them keep a lot of it – or the man and I ate it.
Catherine says:
my son’s bday is 11/16, so I use the excess in his party favor bags. it’s a win/win!
Jessica says:
My neighbor had a good idea – she called it the Great Pumpkin. The neighbor would have her kids leave the bags of candy at the back door of the house on Halloween night(with the assumption that a Great Pumpkin can’t fit through the door? I’m not sure ) and in the morning, in place of the candy would be a movie or some treat (new t-shirt, something like that). I don’t know what the parents did with the candy, but the kids only got to keep like 5 pieces and ‘gave’ the rest to the Great Pumpkin. Donating it would be a good idea! To where, though, I’m not sure.
Amy says:
Ellabelle was 8 months old when she had her first piece of candy. It was a peep at her 1st easter. I wanted to do it then because that was the first time my mom gave me candy. The peep is a tradition
Nicole says:
Hope I made it in time! When the kids were younger and didnt really understand it, I would bring all of their candy to the office. I didnt start letting them have candy until age 5.