2025, Food, holidays, Kids

Well-Laid Plans

34 Comments

This time of year I do actually work at not having too much leftover Halloween candy in the house.  Luckily the number of kids that stop at the house has been remarkably consistent the last few years — even during Covid when I packed candy into little bags three weeks before and wore a mask while welcoming kids.  This year, based on the number of pieces per bag, I figured I had enough to give each kid two pieces.

I always do relatively high-value candy – this year little Snickers and Reeses PB Cups.  I heard a few ads on the radio the week before talking about non-candy ideas that you could implement and I just laughed.  It might make adults feel virtuous but what kid ever wants some plastic bauble or deck of cards instead of candy.  And while Smartees and Jolly Ranchers are infinitely cheaper, they aren’t as valued when kids are sorting out their bags of goodies at the end of the night.

In past years, I have taken any excess candy to the office – it never lasted long.  The force was with me this year; I gave out the last four pieces of candy at 9 p.m. when I was getting ready to turn out the lights and bring in the luminaries.   I congratulated myself on giving out all the candies.

YA has foiled my plans.  She brought candy HOME – some she had found on sale and some that she picked up at the office.  It is good candy – Ghiradelli caramel pumkins and Halloween-colored M&Ms.  And she also bought Reeses pumpkins for herself awhile back.  Turns out she bought more than one bag, so that is sitting out as well.  I’m trying not to walk through the dining room too often.  Out of sight, somewhat out of mind.

Are there any candies you find hard to resist?

34 thoughts on “Well-Laid Plans”

  2. i am so not a candy guy but if they are there reeses and butterfingers call out. m&ms always peanut or regular. mints and all those squares of ghiridelli or other and those balls … godiva anything . i repeat i am notca candy guy, i am not a candy guy…

    Liked by 7 people

    Reply

  3. I agree about the relatively high-value candy. We had Snickers, Reeses Cups and Twix. If you’re not going to offer candy the kids appreciate you should just turn off the lights and pretend you’re not home.
    The number of trick-or-treaters at our house is not predictable. This year I over-anticipated and it looked like we were going to have a superfluity, so I averted my eyes when the kids grabbed two or three from the proffered bowl. Even so, at eight o’clock, when we were ready to be done with going to the door and trick-or-treaters were thin on the ground, we put the remaining candy outside on the steps and turned off the light. In the morning it was all gone.

    If the candy in question is the sort we were serving on Halloween, I can resist it indefinitely. If we don’t just discard it, it sits in a drawer until it’s months old or until Robin has slowly eaten it. A lot of candy I find unacceptably sweet. I like to have a little good quality dark chocolate around and I help myself to a square or two every now and then. A bar lasts me a couple of weeks. Aldi’s has some quite good Austrian chocolate at a very reasonable price.

    Liked by 6 people

    Reply

    2. Interesting that you mention kids grabbing two or three as I’ve seen other comments that people make about kids taking their own. I have always handed out the candy myself… putting the items into each kid’s bag while I make small talk about their costumes. Not sure why this is my habit – it’s not because I worry about how many things kids grab – it’s just what I have always done.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

      1. We ask about the costumes as well. This year the big winner among girls was K-Pop Demon Hunter, whatever that is. One boy showed up as a capybara in an inflatable costume so unwieldy he could scarcely get up the steps.

        Ostensibly we are letting the T-or-Ters choose their favorite from our selection, but it’s interesting to see which kids are bold enough to grab multiples. It’s not necessarily the older ones or the boys, as you might expect. They often ask “How many?” or just select one. Often it’s the smallest, cutest Treaters who unhesitatingly do a deep dive.

        Liked by 3 people

        Reply

  6. Well, the aforementioned Turtles, Snickers, Reece’s, Twix, Ghiradelli… I try to by dark chocolate at least half the time; if I buy milk chocolate it just goes too quickly. The Wilbur chocolate buds were perfect, just one little bite at a time, but I now have to go to the LaCrosse co-op for them.

    The kids who stopped here on Halloween were actually happy about our salted-in-shell peanuts! It gives ’em a rest from the sweet overload.

    Liked by 5 people

    Reply

      1. Actually… my last trick-or-treater of the night was a little neighbor girl from two doors up. She’s eight. She came to my door and asked me what my favorite kind of candy was. Before I could even give her anything. I told her Almond Joy and she ran back home and brought me three little Almond Joy bars. I went to give her the last of the candy I had in the bowl (two for her and two for her sister) and she said “oh no, I don’t need it. I have plenty.” I made her take it anyway.

        Liked by 3 people

        Reply

  7. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    A frozen Snickers is still my ultra-favorite. When I was a child the Pipestone swimming pool candy store would freeze these. At family picnics held next to the pool, we would frenetically wait the proscribed 1/2 hour to swim after eating, then hurl ourselves into the water for the afternoon. During the rest break we would buy candy. For me it was always a frozen Snickers. I limit myself to one per year now. And you have my strategy for Turtles above. Caramel and chocolate is just a magic combination to my tastebuds.

    My strategy for Halloween candy is “do not buy that.” If I buy it on sale it never makes it to Halloween, and if it does not all go on Halloween I eat it then too. So.do.no.buy.it. Be a Grinch and hide on Halloween. The kids are all at more structured events anyway.

    Liked by 5 people

    Reply

  8. I’m a Halloween grinch, so I don’t buy any candy. I’m from a family of sugar addicts. I simply have to avoid it completely. If offered candy though, I will choose Reese’s or caramel-filled chocolate – the sweeter the better. I also like the dark chocolate bars that have dried raspberries in them from the Co-op. When I allow myself treats like that, my sugar addiction kicks into high and I crave it for weeks. I just have to avoid it.

    My grinch-hood started in Faribault in the early ‘90s. I had my light on and was offering a large bowl of high quality candy (Snickers, Twix, Reese’s, etc). At around 8, I was considering turning off the light when the doorbell rang. I opened the door and found four young men, not in costume. I held the bowl out and with one swoop, they took every last piece. Then they ran off, laughing. It ticked me off a little. I think of trick or treating as something little kids do with their parents, not a group of young men who don’t even say thank you.

    Last night at my knitting group, the women were talking about how many trick or treaters they had. One woman, who lives on St. Olaf Avenue, said they had approximately 400! They serve hot apple cider and dress up for it. She said that even St. Olaf students dress up and come for treats, which surprised me. I didn’t say anything, grinch that I am, and just listened.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

    1. I don’t mind the high-schoolers coming around on the later side with their pillow cases. They’re usually pretty friendly. And I’ve never had any issues with grabbing everything, but, as I said, I control the candy bowl!

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

      1. I think these were the type of young guys who might have made trouble if given the opportunity. I held out the bowl, they swooped in, nothing left. Then they laughed and hurried away. It made me crabby.

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply

  9. No T or Ts in this apartment building. Used to be a few. New building dictator bans it. I do not buy any. If I did I would binge. Don’t remember my favorites. High end chocolates don’t strike me as worth the money. My taste buds are less sensitive. A woman brought me food yesterday. Pasta salad dripping in salad dressing and a sweet tasting bread layered in over sweet icing. I guess I have lost my taste for sweet.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  12. Peanut M&M’s, or chocolate covered peanuts are hard to resist. And Reese’s…
    Sometimes chips.
    it’s better if I just don’t have them in the house.
    Lately, Kelly has been picking up the discounted candy and I take it to the college. But I just don’t have the students around that I used too, and even the chocolate doesn’t disppear without my help.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  14. After Halloween I look for bargains on Russell Stover caramel pumpkins. This year I bought 30 of them on November 1st. Those will last me about a month, maybe a, little longer assuming I have the discipline to parcel them out. Admittedly. discipline is not my strong suit.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

Leave a comment