Lots of good ideas in this story for how to dispose of or reuse excess Halloween candy (except we forgot the best one: Eat it yourself after the kids are in bed). But there is a first hurdle that hasn’t been mentioned: How do you get the sweets out of your children’s grubby, costumed hands in the first place?
Enter the Switch Witch.
She’s part Tooth Fairy, part Santa, part dentist’s friend.
On Halloween night, after the little monsters have returned home and spilled their new booty on the living room floor, let them count out a few pieces, an arbitrary number that seems good to you — 10? 20? — and bag the rest. Set the bag in a special place (we use the dining room table in our house). Bright and early on Nov. 1, the kids will find the Switch Witch has visited overnight, taking the candy and leaving a toy or other non-sweet treat.
Easy, and it avoids a tug-of-war over that plastic pumpkin overly full of unhealthy goodies.
I first heard of the Switch Witch from a West Coast online friend a couple of years ago, but Miss Witch doesn’t seem to ride her broom to this part of the country too often. She’s been a welcome annual guest at our house ever since, and thoughtfully brings all the candy she collects to the Pocono Record newsroom. She knows that hungry reporters will eat anything.
If you have an idea or tradition for dealing with Halloween excess that you’d like to share with readers, send it to ahiggins@poconorecord.com with “Halloween” in the subject line.
