Halloween is over for another year. And along with it, all the trunk-or-treating, fall festival, zombie hunting, and pumpkin patch fun. If you are left with gobs of candy that you don’t know what to do with, read on for ideas on what to do with all that extra Halloween candy.
Take out all the Hershey’s chocolates
Separate out all the little Hershey’s chocolates and kisses for later use. These make great smores. Or you can melt them and dip fruit or pretzel sticks with them. Or melt them for peppermint bark for Christmas!! Don’t go buying extra chocolate just for these projects if you’ve already got some on hand!
Mail it to the grandparents
Want to pay back some of the sugar high to your parents? Mail a big treat bag of candy to them. Grandparents don’t get to go trick-or-treating and may enjoy a bit of candy for themselves. Although warning… if your intent is purely to keep the candy out of your kids’ sticky fingers, this may backfire on you. One of my fondest memories growing up was my grandfather’s stash of mini candies he kept in the freezer and shared with us.
Fatten up your coworkers
Let’s face it, very few of us are stoic enough to turn down free sugary treats. If your resolve is low and you need the candy gone ASAP, set a bowl of the sweet stuff in your office’s break room. Unattended candies will disappear in about 2 seconds flat.
Holiday baking decorations
If you enjoy decorating cookies and gingerbread houses for the holidays, you know that there are never enough tiny treats for decorations. Sift thru all that Halloween candy and set aside anything that you may be able to use for decorating. M&Ms, skittles, and nerds all make for great gingerbread masterpieces.
Ice Cream Bars
Do you and your family every have an ice cream bar for special occasions? For the larger candies that are maybe a bit big for decorating cookies and houses, consider freezing and then smashing. These delicious candy bits are great for topping on ice cream sundaes. Kit-Kats, snickers, and Twix bars are ideal. And all are tastier (and more cost-effective) than buying the pre-packaged ice cream toppings at the store.
Make a trail mix
If you or your kids are fans of trail mix, consider making your own sweet and salty mix. Grab some nuts, pretzels, your cereal of choice and some of the little bags of M&Ms and mix them up. Distribute to snack sized ziplock bags for treats on the go.
Pinata Candy
Birthday party coming up? Dump your extra candies into the pinata and you’re good to go.
Send it to soldiers overseas
Whether or not you have family in the military, there are always folks overseas who would enjoy a treat from home. There are several different places you can donate your extra candy to that will send overseas to the ladies and gentlemen serving our country. Operation Shoebox is one place you can make donations to. Soldier’s Angels is another nonprofit that collects donations to send to troops.
Regardless of what you do with all that candy, have fun and try not to eat it all at once!