Happy Halloween!
Did you guys do anything festive this weekend? My friend, Vicky, recently purchased her first home with her fiance and they had a housewarming / Halloween party this weekend. I dressed up as The Joker:
Confession: this was my first time ever dressing up in a Halloween costume as an adult. I haven’t really been into costumes in the past. But I knew other people had some great costumes planned I didn’t want to be the only person at the party not dressed up.
I randomly found a purple jacket at Goodwill on Saturday afternoon and thought it would set the foundation for the perfect Joker costume. I also got the green top at Goodwill and got white/black face paint and green hair spray at Walmart. The whole thing cost less than $15!
The party was fun and Vicky’s house is beautiful! Everyone in this picture is a dietitian 
Speaking of being a dietitian, Halloween can seem like an interesting holiday to us healthy-food-loving people. Ideas for healthy trick-or-treat items are popping up all over my Facebook and blog feeds.
What are my thoughts on Halloween?
Let kids enjoy candy for a night.
I think one of the healthiest habits we can teach our kids is moderation. To me, moderation means filling our diets with lots of foods that do amazing things for our bodies so that it’s not really a big deal if we want to reach for that special snack or sweet treat every once in a while. I think if we focus on teaching kids about all of the great types of foods out there that there’s no need to focus on how “bad” candy is and hand out popcorn instead. I believe pretty strongly that if we teach kids when they’re young that things are bad or they aren’t allowed to have them, then this could instill unhealthy eating behaviors later on.
Halloween is just 1 day out of the year. When I have my next house, I will pass out regular candy to kids even though I’m a dietitian. And if I ever have kids, I will happily take them trick-or-treating on Halloween.
If you are worried about your kids binging on their shrine of candy for the next few weeks, one of my RD friends has created a Halloween tradition with her kids that I think is pretty clever. Her kids go trick or treating and they eat candy to their hearts’ desires. Then the next day, they go through their candy and hold on to whatever candy they want to keep. They leave the rest of their candy for the ‘Halloween Fairy’ to pick up and take to kids who did not get to go trick or treating. In return, the Halloween Fairy leaves the kids some sort of toy that promotes physical activity (ie, a new basketball). I like this for a couple of reasons… my friend is not preaching to her kids that candy is bad and they aren’t allowed to have it. She lets them keep whatever they want. The kids are making their own choices about what to keep and what to give away. They also get excited about whatever item the Halloween Fairy leaves for them, and this is a ritual that they really look forward to. I think it’s a great way to let kids enjoy candy and get them excited about staying active as well.
What are your thoughts about kids, candy and trick-or-treating?
What was your Halloween costume this year?
Did you do anything fun this weekend?
What a great costume! I haven’t dressed up as an adult either. I bought cat ears to wear to work today, and I looked up a tutorial on how to do makeup to look like a cat, but I am too nervous to wear it to work haha. I may wear it tonight if we go to Chipotle for boorito bowls :).
I don’t think I could ever wear a costume into work, even if everyone else was dressing up! Enjoy your Chipotle tonight :)
I’m with you, just let the kids enjoy the candy. Maybe an entire pillowcase is excessive, so some of those switch ideas are good. But like you said, if you teach them moderation, it shouldn’t be a problem.
I agree that a pillow case is a lot of candy to just keep around. I think the whole Halloween Fairy thing is a great way to work around that.
Yes! I totally agree with you about candy.
I HATE seeing all the “run this many miles to burn off this candy” posts at Halloween. It’s one day. Enjoy the mini chocolate bars and be done with it.
I definitely had that mindset today! I had some really good chocolate #sorrynotsorry
Cute costume! I love the idea of the Halloween Fairy. I agree in that I think Halloween can be a good opportunity to teach kids about portion control and how you can still eat candy, just in moderation…
Thanks! I like the Halloween fairy idea as well.
That Halloween tradition is a great idea! Its so important to teach moderation. (We have a ton of Halloween candy leftover and I think I am going to need to remind my husband about enjoying candy in moderation….:))
Haha yes, us adults definitely need the moderation reminder :)
Ooo the fairy Halloween is such a fun idea! I think it’s a great idea to just let the kids have fun for one night. Halloween is one holiday I think is totally appropriate to equate with candy!
I think I remember as a kid that I got sick of the candy after a few days anyway. But maybe that was the future dietitian in me coming out? Haha.
Phew, I was relieved to see your point of view on the candy situation! I think in general we have a pretty healthy diet at our house, but we always have candy around. It’s not a forbidden treat. My kids actually have candy every year that lasts them until the next Halloween! We don’t just sit around and eat it, but it’s a “treat” that gets eaten after dinner. I want them to know that food is all about moderation. Sure, the chocolate is fine, in the right portion :) Especially the dark stuff. Please give that to Mom!
Love this post! I agree with moderation. I may or may not be handing out some candy I had left over from last yr ;-) I also had a separate bowl with bubbles and pencils, erasers, spider rings etc. that I picked up from the dollar store. Last year I did the teal pumpkin project. It was surprising though how many kids did pick the pencils or bubbles over candy. Could be because it was something different, a few asked for both and they were cute so I let them lol. I dressed as a strawberry for work today the kids got a kick out of it.