My mission this year: a true real food Halloween full of fun tricks and treats that will spook out my daughter and delight her! So how am I planning this?
First we have to start with how I will entice my daughter to enjoy real treats vs. the processed junk she will get trick or treating. My daughter told me today she is thinking hard about what she wants from the Switch Witch today. The Switch Witch? Who is that?
The Story of the Switch Witch
Last year, I came across a hilarious video from Mama Natural about a character you can refer to on Halloween as a crafty way to get rid of all the junky GMO ridden candy your kid is going to get on Halloween. I figured it was worth a shot. I followed the backstory somewhat but instead of the Switch Witch needing to take the candy from boys and girls on Halloween to eat herself (this actually horrified my 3 year old – she didn’t want the Switch Witch to get sick from the junk), we ended up agreeing she was going to need all of the candy from Halloween to feed her dog. This year my now 4 year old has already changed the backstory a bit again by stipulating that witches do not have dogs – they have cats!
My daughter has gotten so into this character that she has decided she wants to be the Switch Witch for Halloween. I hope this is not a ploy to eat all of the candy herself (good thing we do not have a cat)!
Why We Do Not Consider Processed Halloween Candy a Treat
I am sure some of you are dying to comment here about how it is just one time a year and I should just let me daughter be a ‘kid’. Or something like that. But never fear, we do celebrate the tricks and treats of Halloween with our own yummy and REAL concoctions. We just avoid the packaged fake stuff. We do not even consider it a treat!
My Planned Real Food Halloween Tricks and Treats
We are planning a cute party for the neighborhood kiddos and we plan to make a number of fun items for them including:
These 3-ingredient maple pecan candies were a huge hit with my daughter, husband, and the neighbors! I will definitely be making them again:
These ghost and pumpkin treats are simply adorable (spotted online everywhere for a couple years now and this will be my first year to actually do it! I actually do not know who started this photo but it has made so many rounds online now I do not know where to source it!):
We will also have some ‘blood’ punch (chia kombucha fresca from Healthy Living How To):
I will also make these pumpkin spice muffins:
And these amazing easy caramel apples from Clean Eats in the Zoo (a lot less mess with a bunch of kids under the age of 6):
We also plan to do the typical spooky tricks: peeled grapes for ‘eyeballs’ and cold spaghetti for ‘worms’ – these two are at my daughter’s request!
Do you use the Switch Witch character on Halloween to ease junky candy away from your kids? What treats and tricks do you serve up for Halloween?
Thanks for sharing my caramel apples!! Sounds like you’re going to have a fabulous Halloween!
No problem Shanti – they are perfect for a group of tiny kiddos!
the bananas look so cool i will be doing those and the oranges
It’s a really clever idea, but I refuse to make up stories to satisfy my children. They only learn that I am willing to lie to them and I don’t want them to trust me any less. I have taken my kids’ candy for years, and when we started doing it, I just told them the truth. That the candy was full of ingredients that aren’t healthy, and can make them sick. I explained that I care too much about them to let them eat it all. We would let them keep a couple of favorites, and give them a toy or take them somewhere fun. Eventually, we took all of the candy away and replaced it with a few healthier options. Now, they don’t even care about any of it! We trick or treat, then throw it all away! I might make a treat for us all to share, or take them somewhere special. This year we talked about not going trick or treating at all (their idea, not mine). They’d rather use the money we’d spend on costumes and treats to go and do something really fun, or have a fall party, games, and snacks with their cousins. My kids are 11,10,8,5,3,and 1. I hope that helps some of you parents our there looking for ideas 🙂 Kids really appreciate it when we don’t make up stories to get them to do what we want, but just tell them simply and truthfully 🙂
I disagree…I am still tickled with the lengths my parents went to with holidays for me. I’ve never hated them for ‘lying’ to me, and in fact, it opened my eyes to their giving hearts when I found out it was really them, not only putting all of that thought into those surprises, but that they did so without the need to be recognized for their efforts. Some children won’t appreciate it, and that’s ok. I have one such child – my oldest – and I accommodate her needs by letting her help me surprise her siblings. So far, so good 🙂
My kids are grown and now we’re enjoying these special times with our grandkids. Wish I’d known some of these great real food ideas for kids when my were little! We didn’t overdo candy either then but these are great ideas! I agree with telling them the truth,I was devastaed as kid when I realized Mom was Santa – so we played Santa with our kids and they knew the truth, and still had all the fun with no confusion. I think things can be different with different kids. But sounds like these kids already get that candy is bad for them – kids are smart. There are some pretty good organic gummies and lollipops I will buy and plan to make these as well. Thanks
I love the idea of the Switch Witch! This will be the first year that my son even notices candy, so we’re currently debating how to handle that. His favorite foods are bell peppers and cucumbers, and we want to keep it that way!
Have you met any resistance to other families and their children in your neighborhood with regards to Halloween and processed candy? And if so, how do you handle that? We just moved from Austin (what a great town) to Seattle, and I want to be a friendly neighbor while still maintaining our own family’s choices for food.
Thanks for sharing Lindsey! That’s hilarious about your daughter 🙂 XO
No thank you for this great idea!
@Michelle Wickline I just where you are coming from in terms of honesty and transparency and I think that’s great. That said, I don’t think the “Switch Witch” (Or Fall fairy or what-have-you) has to be dishonest. Instead, it could just be presented as a fun game. Children still enjoy games and fairy tales even when the are fully aware that they are for pretended.
My daughter loves games. Make believe is part of their makeup!
We do the great pumpkin who trades your candy for a toy. As any holiday character, he’s real as long as you believe. And when you stop believing, mom & dad will happily trade your candy for a toy too. 🙂
mmmmmmmmm…..don’t know if I would have more fun making them or giving them out to the kids….and of course…MUMMY HAS TO TASTE TEST FIRST…LOL……thanks these treats look wonderful
Oh yeah!
Omg great ideas!! I LOVE your blog, thanks for putting these up!!!! :))
YUM! What will you use to make the little faces on the banana ghosts? and what are the little green stalks coming out of the tangerines? celery? any ideas for other ghosts like these if we are not that into bananas? THANKS! happy spooky healthy Halloween!!!
I will use these chocolate chips: http://amzn.to/1aOSZGn for the banana ghosts and celery for the pumpkins! I haven’t thought of anything else because I plan to use the bananas. 🙂
We never went trick or treating when we where younger. For 1 my Christian parents didn’t believe in Halloween (little did they know that Christians are believed to be one of the groups to start it) and we lived in the country. As an alternative we would hoste the Hallelujah Hodown every year at our farm for our church. We would have a huge bonfire, play fun games, and grill out. We eventually moved to the city and my parents caved on the no trick or treating thing. We had to make our own costumes from stuff laying around the house and we had boundaries. We also had to bring all candy back for my parents to “check”, I think they used that as an excuse to eat all the good stuff, lol. Now I have 3 kids of my own and we do take them trick or treating. We limit the candy intake to 3 pieces a day and most of the time they forget about it. We still have quite a bit left over from last years Halloween and we’re into the first week of October. I guess I’m fortunate that my kids can’t really handle sweets so it’s a win win for us.
Thank you for including my Chia Fresca Kombucha recipe! I have never heard of the “switch witch” — good idea! Have a Healthy Halloween. 🙂
The Sugar Sprite visits our home. She needs to feed all her sugar babies over the long, cold winter! In gratitude for the sugar, she typically leaves a beautiful handmade gift.