Halloween is coming and if you’ve got kids, you know that can mean candy overload!
In fact, according to data from 2013, the average child will eat about 3 cups of sugar on Halloween…
That’s equal to 220 sugar packets! That’s over 16 times the recommended amount of sugar. GASP!
I’ve got a really fun idea to help your kids avoid eating too much sugar – and actually help them be excited about giving up their candy.
Sound too good to be true? It’s not, I promise!
Meet the Switch Witch this Halloween. She even has her own poem.
“Have you heard of the Switch Witch, who loves Halloween?
She comes for the Halloween candy, left after trick or treating!
She’s the nicest but sneakiest witch of her kind,
She swipes up candies and sweets and leaves presents behind!
She swoops from doorstep to doorstep on a long violet broom –
Her black cat rides on the back since there’s plenty of room.
She keeps all her magic in her tall skinny hat
She trades you and then she flies off! Just like that!
So take your leftover candy, set it out by the door,
and in the morning you’ll find what she traded you for!”
I first learned about the Switch Witch a few years ago. As the poem suggests, the night after trick-or-treating, have your kids set their candy by the door and after they go to bed, you swap it out for a toy they want, tickets to a movie or concert, or basically any non-candy item they’d like!
This means they get double the fun of Halloween – not only trick-or-treating but also a surprise gift when they wake up the next morning.
You can donate the Halloween candy to a local food pantry, homeless shelter, or the organization Soldier’s Angels (learn more here: Treats for Troops) and get a tax-refundable donation receipt.
Pretty awesome, right?
I hope this helps your family have a healthy (and happy!) Halloween.
Christina Sanghera
Co-Founder, Inspired Wellness
P.S. Need some recipes to add to your list this Halloween? Check out these 10 Freakishly Delicious {Healthier} Halloween Treats!
11 Comments
This is such a great idea! The kids can collect all the candy they want for Halloween, because they’ll be exchanging it for fun things rather than eating it.
That is a really great idea! I’ll be sure to share it with my mom friends. Although, I may need someone to use the switch witch on me.. I think I end up eating more candy than my son haha
I need this for myself as I eat so much chocolate during this time. lol. Gift the next morning is a Great idea 🙂
Switch witch candy sounds like a great idea for little ones, luckily I tell mine they can have a few and keep the others for the rest of the week and discard the ones which are too sickly
This is a really great idea. But I still like giving out chocolate and candies for trick-or-treating.
Amazing idea! We don’t have to worry about the kids collecting too much candy since they will be exchanging it for fun things anyway rather than eating all of it..
Great idea! I need the switch witch for myself. I’ve stopped giving out candy on Halloween since I end up eating most of it myself. Since I don’t have kids, I try to find something else to do that night instead
This is such a cute idea! I love the cleverness of the poem as well. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for sharing this. This is definitely a timely post as Halloween is right around the corner. I’ll be bookmarking this.
Such a great concept! I love this idea and the poem too! Very cute and creative.
Oh I absolutely love this idea ! I think we will definitely be pulling the Switch Witch this year… it will not only help my daughter, it will help me from getting into the candy myself (; lol .