25 Healthy and Fun Alternatives to a Sugar Fueled Halloween

by Dr. Peggy Malone

When I was a kid, I looked forward to Halloween for weeks. I planned out my costume and usually made it (with Mom’s help). When Halloween night arrived, my 4 siblings and I would all pile into the car (we lived out in the country) and Dad would drive us up and down the highway to all the neighbours’ places for ‘Trick or Treating’.

It was so fun and I loved the enormous stash of candy that I got too. I would hoard it for weeks or months in my room and eat it bit by bit.

I’m sure that you have fond memories of childhood Halloween too and I hope that all the wee ghosts and goblins that are heading out this year build great memories of a fun night.

But, that said, I really wish that the focus was more on the dressing up and the fun of the night and less on the candy… especially the processed, sugar, preservative and GMO filled candy.

When I bring this up, people say to me…”Stop being such a downer Peggy, you’ll ruin it for the kids”.

By assuming that only sugary, processed treats are valuable and anything else will ‘ruin it for the kids’ we are encouraging kids to eat processed unhealthy crap that is terrible for their bodies and we are playing nicely into the hands of the big companies that have conditioned us to believe that Halloween won’t be fun without sugar and crap.

Here are the things that will really ‘ruin it for the kids’:

The regular Halloween fare contributes to childhood obesity and Type 2 Diabetes (which is increasingly common in young people.) Also, we are on the verge of cold and flu season and sugar is a major immunosuppressant that will contribute to many of these kids being more susceptible to getting sick.

So, all of that said, I decided I needed to come up with a great list of alternatives that will still allow for fun spooky times and the making of great memories at Halloween for the little ghosts and goblins without flooding their wee bodies with sugar and processed crap.

Here we go:

1. Stickers
2. Pencils and Erasers
3. Chalk
4. Bubbles
5. Toothbrushes
6. Colouring books and Crayons
7. Temporary Tattoos
8. Yo-yos
9. Play Doh
10. Bouncy Balls
11. Book Marks
12. Comic Books
13. Cool Coloured Shoe Laces
14. Coloured Pens
15. Markers
16. Pocket Puzzles
17. Bracelets or rings
18. Dried Fruit snacks
19. Apples
20. Dark Chocolate (> 70% cocoa)
21. Popcorn (organic non-GMO)
22. Wrapped cheese (like Baby Bel)
23. Boxes of Raisins
24. Individual containers of Applesauce
25. Organic Snacks Individually wrapped

Thank you to my Facebook readers who offered some of the suggestions.

How about you? Can you think of any more to add to the list?

I think that I’m going to go and get some fun Halloween stickers and I hope that the kids that come to my house think that they are awesome 🙂

What are you going to give out this year at Halloween?

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