When my kids were little it was hard to tell the Grandparents not to buy candy for the holidays. I really didn’t want to have to constantly tell my kids no. But Grandparents will be Grandparents and we were always trying to find ways to parcel out the candy so that it would last until the next holiday. Here are a couple of ideas that seemed to work for us.
The Freezer
By taking smaller bags and dividing the candy up we could put them in the freezer and then we could control how much we had available at one time. Out of sight, out of mind was one of the best ways to get the kids to maybe eat something a little more healthy before they went right for the candy.
Bake with them
Christmas is prime baking time, so why not take some of the Halloween candy and incorporate it into your Christmas goodies? Brownies, cookies and cakes will be a little more special with some of the chopped candy added to them. Add M&Ms to your cookies instead of chocolate chips. Add chopped Snicker bars or Twix to your brownies. Have your kids pick out which candy they want to add to the baked goods, let them get creative. Then freeze the cookies or brownies for later. I’d stay away from candy corn but almost anything else can be used.
Smush Ins
On the day after Halloween (All Saints Day) my kids were always off from school, since they went to Catholic school. So for a treat we would take some of our favorite Halloween candy and vanilla ice cream and create our own special treat. By letting the ice cream soften a bit you can take a scoop or two and a handful of candy (chopped or not) and by taking a large spoon you can “smush” the candy into the ice cream. Just think of Cold Stone at home. This can be done with Easter candy too. It’s fun for kids to get creative and make their own flavor.
Well that’s a few ideas for using up Halloween candy. If you have any ways that you use up or store your leftover candy, please feel free to share.