Healthy Halloween Goodies for Trick or Treaters
Halloween Treats Can Be Healthy
Kids look forward to Halloween all year long. For youngsters, it's great fun to dress up in scary, cute, or funny costumes and run around the neighborhood asking for candy. While many parents do enjoy participating in trick or treating with their kids, they aren't always thrilled by the resulting pumpkin load of sugary candy and gum.
All things are great in moderation, but no parent looks forward to dealing with children who are bouncing off the walls due to excess pigging out on Halloween candy. Worse yet, parents don't want to have to play the bad guy by confiscating their kids' candy collection bags and rationing out sweets in proper proportion.
Those who purchase Halloween treats to pass out to trick or treaters can help out parents and youngsters alike by replacing some (or all) of the traditional Halloween giveaways with some healthy alternatives. There's no law that says Halloween goodies have to be candy. There isn't even a requirement that treats have to be food.
With just a little creativity, it's easy to come up with healthy Halloween goodies for the little goblins and princesses in your neighborhood. Your grown up neighbors will thank you, and the kids will be happy too!
Healthy Trick or Treat Ideas
Consider purchasing some of the following types of consumable goodies to give away for Halloween:
- Individually wrapped granola bars
- Individually wrapped cereal bars
- Single serve boxes of cereal
- Mini bags of peanuts or other type of nut
- Mini bags of pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds
- Individual serving size packages of multi-grain crackers
- Tiny boxes or bags of raisins or other dried fruit
- Juice boxes or Capri Sun packets
- Powdered drink mixes
- Snack pack pudding that doesn't require refrigeration
- Small cans of fruit
Non-food items that kids might enjoy include:
- Tokens for the local kids' arcade (such as Chuck E. Cheese)
- Cute pens, pencils, erasers, or other school supplies
- Sticker sheets
- Rubber stamps
- Temporary Tattoos
- Mini coloring books or puzzle books
- Plastic cups with cartoon characters, sports logos, etc.
- For other ideas, check out your local Dollar Tree store or other discount outlet.
Halloween Safety Tip
Make sure that all food items that you purchase for giveaway are safely sealed from the manufacturer, so there is little or no concern regarding product safety. Even though fresh fruit or homemade treats might be the healthiest option of all, careful parents aren't going to allow their children to eat food collected from trick or treating that isn't securely packaged.
