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What to Do with Leftover Halloween Candy

9/13/15 - By Anna Fader

After Halloween last year, I was astonished at the amount of candy my kids got, especially when I counted up the total calories. It really made me think twice and we ended up taking five pounds of candy and selling it to the dentist the week after Halloween. This year we found a healthier alternative to giving away candy for Halloween and it seems like there are lots of people feeling the same way because I keep reading about all kinds of things to do with your leftover Halloween candy besides eat it, from donating it to soldiers to using it to make a gingerbread house. Read on for some of the best ideas of what to do with all that leftover Halloween candy.

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Donate It: There are lots of charities that will take your extra Halloween candy whether you'd rather give it to a soldier or children or the hungry. We've got an entire post dedicated to ways to donate your candy.

Reuse It: I love this idea of repurposing Halloween candy to make your holiday gingerbread house from ParentHacks.

Get Crafty With It: If you want to take the repurposing a step further Alphamom has some beautiful ideas for making things like an advent calendar, a harvest tree or a turkey pinata with leftover Halloween candy.

Trade It: Lots of people seem to like the idea of just convincing their kids to trade the candy for a new toy or book, whether you call it the Halloween or Candy Fairy or the Switch Witch.

Photo credit: Flikr, Fred Rockwood.

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This post originally published in November 2009.

About the Author

Anna Fader

Founder & CEO of Mommy Poppins
Anna was born in Park Slope, spent her early years in the West Village. By the time she graduated high school, she had lived in 4 of the 5 boroughs. Growing up in NYC in the '70s meant the streets were her playgrounds. Museums and avant garde music venues were the kid-friendly activities. And living downtown taught her the importance of creating community for families in NYC.

Now, raising her own two children in the city, she tries to create the same sense of magic and community she felt growing up, despite today's more commercialized version of kid-friendly New York.

She started Mommy Poppins in 2007 to share a more artsy, educational, uncommercial, community-oriented vision of raising kids in New York City. Today Mommy Poppins is relied on by millions of families as the authority on the best things to do with kids beyond New York City: from Boston to Philly, Los Angeles, Houston and travel guides for dozens more cities and destinations.

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