The Great Pumpkin, Switch Witch, or the Tooth Fairy?

Another Halloween has come and gone. That means our girls are now closer to three than two, and our little bird will start Kindergarten next year. Next year! How did that happen? Each year as parents we've learned something new about Halloween. The first year with our first daughter we learned new ways to "carve" pumpkins. The next year we learned that the neighborhood you're in really determines if you even bother going trick or treating, or buying any candy to give out. We also learned that trick-or-treating itself wasn't missed if we didn't go. Last year we learned that little legs don't last very long trick-or-treating, and wearing good shoes is key. We also learned about the Great Pumpkin. 
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image courtesy of wikipedia.com

Now, I don't mean the Charlie Brown movie, although perhaps that's where this comes from in the first place. It is a classic after all. No, I mean the Great Pumpkin, he who helps you get rid of all the extra candy you don't want your kids eating. 

I don't remember which clever mama I learned this from last year, but I wish I could take credit for it. Basically, we let our girls pick a certain number of pieces of candy from their buckets, then filled a bucket with the remaining candy....

sans the good ones we kept for ourselves...

and put it outside on the path for the Great Pumpkin. See, the Great Pumpkin is VITAL to Halloween. Without him, Halloween simply cannot happen. Each year, he needs to collect candy in order to be strong and ready to prepare the next year's Halloween. He makes all the decorations, all the candy, and all the scary noises, so he's got a BIG job. It requires lots of candy. 

The girls thought it was a great idea!

​Then this year I learned about Switch Witch. 

Image courtesy of Pintrest

I have to say, I like this one even better than the Great Pumpkin. If you haven't heard of Switch Witch, she is pretty brilliant. She and her cat Zoom will switch out the candy your child didn't pick and swap it out for something else. The little poem I found says "I switch if for some toys!", but I want more little toys around the house like I want loads of Halloween candy, which means not at all. 

So, we decided to switch the witch's switch. Instead of toys, she brought my girls favorite thing...

Books!

And this year she brought books that they can read by themselves. Enter Me Reader. 

image courtesy of Amazon.com

If you've got emergent readers or non readers in your home who LOVE to read, these are a great option! They come with eight books and allow kids to "read" or follow along by the themselves. Each image on the edges matches the cover of a book. Each page has a symbol that follows the order of the symbols on the reader and, when you're ready to turn the page, it sounds a little chime. It took my two year old a few tries, but she is super independent with it now and uses it all the time. It took my four year old two guided tries and she fell in love. 
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The last option to deal with the hell of too much Halloween candy is the Tooth Fairy. Now, I learned about this one from my mentor-mom neighbor. She is the bomb-diggity and my go-to for all things mommy-related. She has four kids, and spent years as a classroom teacher. She's more than earned her stripes! 

In her family, the Tooth Fairy visits after Halloween. Her youngest kiddos get to pick 5 pieces of candy to keep, and the older two select 10. Then, they leave their Halloween buckets with the extra candy by their beds, just as they leave their teeth for the Tooth Fairy. In the night, the Tooth Fairy comes, replaces their candy with money, helping them take good care of their teeth. Cute, right? 
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image courtesy of hydeparkpediatricdentistry.com

So, how do you start a tradition like this? Here are some ideas for you: 

• Start early, like a month or so before Halloween at least. Introduce the concept of the Great Pumpkin, Switch Witch, or the Tooth Fairy's new job description so your kids can get used to the idea that they will be making some candy choices at some point after Halloween.

• Decide on what to swap the candy for. It can be anything that lights their fire and makes sense for your family. The point of the whole thing is to get kids on board with the idea that Halloween is more than just candy.

• Consider letting your child keep some of the candy. Our girls are two and four. We decided that keeping 6 pieces was good. We went through and took out the things we didn't want them picking first, then let them choose.

• Make sure it stays fun. The switch / story has to be engaging and worth their while, otherwise the candy may trump it. 

• Do the switch under cover of darkness to create more suspense. Place the buckets in plain sight downstairs, on the porch, or by their bed, and then leave the switch reward in their place. 

• Not sure what to do with the extra leftovers? Consider donating it to somewhere like the Operation Shoebox, which sends care packages to our troops overseas. Or, you could try out the www.halloweencandybuyback.com/Halloween Candy Buy Back. Also, check with your dentist. Sometimes they do incentives or buy-backs as well!

Whatever method you choose, remember the point is to make the focus of Halloween less on the candy and more on the fun of the entire tradition. This is especially good for kids that are just old enough to start Trick or Treating, but aren’t really ready for most candy. They can still have the fun like the big kids and get a special “treat” that doesn’t also have to be a sugary choking hazard.

Got another great idea for avoiding the Halloween candy hangover? Please share!