Ideas for a Candy Free Halloween and a free printable! ♥ Fleece Fun

I know the idea is sacrilege to some. “A Candy free Halloween? You must be that lady that hands out toothbrushes or carrots sticks on Halloween.” I didn’t say a “fun free Halloween” – just a candy free one. And to be perfectly honest I don’t mean my kids don’t get any candy on Halloween. They just don’t get ALL the candy.

We live in a good neighborhood. It’s the neighbor hood that kids get their parents to drive to let them go trick or treating here. My kids hit two blocks and already their bags are stuffed to the brim with candy. Since one daughter has a milk and egg allergy a good chunk of her candy she can’t eat, and my other, well honestly how much sugar does a 5 year old need?

Last year I started to hand out candy and /or little toys for Halloween. I know that there are other kids in the neighborhood with allergies and I don’t feel like contributing to what I know will be a hug bag of sugar. I think some of the kids liked getting something different. This year I’m going full on no sugar – it’s toys and glow necklaces – which are far cooler than toothbrushes.

So what can you do to have a “Candy Free” or at least “Candy fewer” Halloween? Here are some ideas:

Give a candy free class gift – you can get cheap coloring books and crayons that are fun and a good way to keep kids busy.

Hand out toys to trick or treaters – let kids pick them from a bowl.

Have activities to do with the kids! Bob for apples. Go to a corn maze. Tell spooky stories or watch a movie together. Kids love doing things with their parents.

Do a Halloween craft. It doesn’t have to be complicated.

Make your own haunted house. Get some cheap cobwebs, skin some grapes and let your kids come up with their own haunted house!

Have the Great Pumpkin visit. We’ve done this for the past few years and I LOVE it. The Great Pumpkin comes and leaves a nice toy to the girls and boys who sacrifice their candy to him ( i.e. leave it in a bowl on the porch for teenagers to grab). The next morning he gives a gift to those who let go of their candy. We let the kids enjoy some candy on Halloween and by November 1st it’s gone. The kids don’t gorge themselves on candy for days and mom doesn’t steal Kit Kats from their stash (not that I’m guilty of that…).

I hope this shows your that Halloween doesn’t have to be all about the candy. It should be a fun holiday that you get to spend with your family. 🙂

The cute box printable you can get that here.

Love Halloween?
You might also like the “All Hallows Eve Collection” – it’s free and you can get that here.