Who’s Handing Out The Halloween Candy?
Right now, I’m the parent of four young kids. All of my kids are still in to dressing up and trick or treating. This leaves the question of who’s going to stay home and hand out the Halloween candy? Does one parent stay behind? Do we leave a bowl of candy and all go together? Ask a grandparent to hand it out? Donate candy to a neighbor who will be home?
Leave a bowl of candy
This has been our default for the past couple of years. In past years, my husband wasn’t home for Halloween due to a military deployment and another work trip. So we left a big bucket of candy at our front door. We went trick or treating with friends, but this was when I only had three kids. Now with four, I prefer that my husband comes with us for safety reasons. The more parental supervision the better. The only downfall is there is no supervision on how much candy kids are taking from the bowl. We did see several older kids dumping huge handfuls of candy in their bags. Surprisingly, we still had candy in our bowl when we got home.
Have a family member hand out the candy
I’ve heard of a few people that have a grandparent come to their house to hand out candy. We unfortunately don’t have this option. My parents live in a different state and my husband’s parents don’t celebrate Halloween. Since my husband didn’t celebrate growing up, I also love going trick or treating with him. He has just as much fun and excitement as the kids. Of course, he takes a “dad candy tax” at the end of the night from each kid. They get so much candy that we don’t feel guilty eating some of it.
Donate to a neighbor who will be home
Another option is to give a few bags to a neighbor who’s at home handing out candy. That way you have contributed to trick or treating in the neighborhood and you know kids aren’t taking more than they should. We will probably try this option this year. After seeing kids take more than they should, I would feel more comfortable knowing the candy is being moderated so more kids have a chance to get a piece.
Someone stays behind
A lot of our neighbors have young kids also. Either both parents go trick or treating and leave a bowl of candy out or one parent stays home to hand candy out. Pretty soon my oldest will probably outgrow trick or treating. At that point, either my husband or myself will stay at home with her and the other parent will take the younger three trick or treating. We are enjoying going together as a family for now. Who knows maybe the kids will even agree to family coordinated costumes this year?
