Avoiding Tricks and Limiting Treats: Halloween Tips for Parents

From making costumes to pumpkin-carving, Halloween can get tricky. You want your child to have a fun experience, but as a parent you want them to be safe and stay healthy, too. We hope this information will help you find the right balance for your family.

Making Halloween healthier

Kids, teens and adults usually eat too much candy and too many sweets around Halloween, which is followed closely by a holiday season that also includes lots of treats.

Children don’t become overweight in one day, but it is essential for parents to limit the portions of candy, sweets, junk foods and sugary drinks every day, even on Halloween. Here are some tips for keeping the candy and junk food to a minimum, while still having maximum fun.

• Have your child choose a select number of their “favorites” from the candy they bring home from trick-or-treating. They can either eat those on one day, or spread the selection out over several days. Throw the excess candy away.
• Get creative with treats at home for trick-or-treating. Fill a big bowl with small candy items, some healthy foods (raisins, pretzels, etc), and non-food items that kids may like, such as temporary tattoos, fake spiders, bouncy balls, stickers, small toy cars, etc, from the dollar store. When a child goes to get a handful, it is a mix of food and fun, non-food items, but it still gives them a good amount of “loot.”
• Play this online game with your kids to see how much candy it takes to add up to a whole day’s worth of calories.
• Read some more tips from parents about creating healthy Halloween habits.

Making spooky safe

Limiting candy is not the only thing you can do to keep your child safe on Halloween. These are tips you can share with your children to make sure their trick-or-treating experience is trick-free.

It may seem like a no-brainer, but dressing up infants and young children in costume can pose some complications, so can good old-fashioned pumpkin-carving. Read more about creating a positive experience for your children.