Halloween is in a few weeks and if you're planning on ditching the candies and looking for alternative ways to celebrate the festive night with your children, here are some ideas:
A.) Replace candies with books or toys and have a story night with "The Switch Witch and the Magic of Switchcraft." Audrey Kinsman came up with this ingenuous idea out of her desire to make Halloween more enjoyable for her kids. One of her boys suffers from milk protein allergy, and couldn't enjoy many of the candies from trick or treating. Kinsman understands the fun zapped by allergies all too well as she also suffers from Celiac Disease.
"The Switch Witch and the Magic of Switchcraft" is a giftset that comes with a storybook and a toy, which is available at Target.
"Good girls and boys trick-or-treat as usual, and then when they arrive home, are encouraged to choose their favorite pieces of candy to keep while giving the rest to their Switch Witch. The Switch Witch will then use her magic to "Switchcraft" the candy for a preferred book or toy - a win-win for both adults and children!," according to the press release.
For other Halloween activities, there are worksheets, craft ideas and cooking videos on the Switch Witch website.
To get an idea of how this works, watch the video below:
B.) Make this a teaching moment about sharing and charity by shipping the candies off to U.S. military troops around the world, as a way of saying thank you. The Operation Gratitude does this every year, while a group of dentists also have a similar idea with the Halloween Candy Buyback program.
C.) Keep it simple and offer to trade the candies from the kids after trick or treating with a trip to their favorite theme park, toy store or play spots. Better yet, bring them to a farm on a weekend and ride wagons, feed the animals or participate in harvests. Check out Fishers Orchard, Nivens Apple Farm, the Odyssey Fun Farm or your local pumpkin patch for availability.
