Family Style
Solving the Halloween Candy Conundrum
Are you wondering what in the world you are going to do about the massive candy intake that is about to begin in 19 days and end somewhere around Christmas? Well, I have a solution for you that’s guaranteed to be a HUGE success with your kids…it is with mine! Plus, you’ll feel like a great parent through it all, whilst saving yourself a hefty bill at the dentist’s office. What’s not to love? This is how it works…
The goal was to make tossing out candy both fun and the child’s own choice. In no way did we want to manipulate them into tossing the candy, we simply wanted to create “incentives”. So we gathered our kids and asked them to go retrieve their Halloween candy bags. Once we regrouped, my husband and I presented them with handmade coupons to be used in our “store”. When making the coupons we tried to come up with experiences, services, treats or excursions that were enjoyable and inexpensive (and in some cases, “free”). I can’t tell you how excited they were to turn in 5 pieces of candy for each coupon. No coercion necessary! They were cheering and laughing and pretty much thinking this was the best idea ever. Some examples included:
* hike with Dad up the canyon
* stay up 30 minutes past bedtime
* mom cleans your room
* dad cleans your room :)
* popcorn + a movie with mom
* kids meal at Kneaders
* special drink at the grocery store
* overnight with Dad in the teardrop trailer
Watching the kids redeem their coupons was a hoot. One morning my son presented me with his “mom cleans your room” coupon right before we left for school. You should have seen the ear-to-ear grin on that boy’s face. Guess who had a change of plans that morning? (cleaning my son’s room is no small task!) The next evening his sister took a turn…after I thought all my children were down to sleep, my oldest came downstairs to the kitchen. Before I had time to ask her what she was doing or what was wrong, she quickly presented her “stay up 30 minutes past bedtime” coupon and we both smiled. All in all it’s created a fun, positive feeling in our family and we are really thrilled with the discovery.
images by Stephanie Brubaker
Go Back To Family Style
2 Comments
christy commented on Oct 19 10 at 12:25 pmBrilliant! I love this and am sending it to all my friends!
Maura Alia Badji commented on Oct 22 10 at 10:10 pmi meandered over here while following a thread from slowlovelife.com to Black Eiffel to your stephmodo.com blog. so glad i did. wonderful idea!
Add your take:
Note: Babble is a supportive, diverse community. We encourage a range of opinions,
but any unduly hostile comments will be removed.
Comments are delayed up to 15 minutes
Victoria Smith 
Melanie Blodgett 
Natalie Holbrook 
Nicole Balch 
Gabrielle Blair 
Jaime Morrison Curtis 
Rachel Faucett 
Jordan Ferney 
Chelsea Fuss 
Michelle Horton 
Liz Stanley 
Rachelle Wilde 
Jan 
The Walt Disney Company supports Babble as a platform dedicated to honest, engaged, informed, intelligent and open conversation about parenting. However, the opinions expressed on this site are those of individual parents/writers and do not reflect the views of Disney. In addition, content provided on this site is for entertainment or informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or safety advice.
2