There’s no better excuse to indulge in your favorite foods and drinks than during the holiday season. Let’s face it, US holidays are typically an excuse for us to get together and stuff our faces without feeling guilty, and Halloween is no exception. If you’re trying to be more health conscious, here’s how you can go about staying healthy this Halloween and skip the sugar hangover.
Why It Is Difficult To Not Be Healthy During The Halloween Season?
Halloween is a difficult time of year to stay healthy. No matter where you go, you will likely encounter a candy bowl of some sort filled with your favorite sweets. It takes a great deal of self-control to not partake in a miniature Snickers or Hershey’s bar whenever you walk past one. We also will find a great deal at our local store on Halloween candy and often stock up weeks prior to the actual holiday. It can be tempting to sneak a few pieces out of your trick-or-treaters bowl.
For kids and adults alike, candy is definitely a major reason Halloween ranks as one of the least healthy holidays of the year, but adults have an added struggle. Halloween is known for its social gatherings and parties, which tends to result in fun cocktails and drink concoctions. While studies have shown that no amount of alcohol is good for you, Halloween tends to make drinks even sweeter by loading in sugary ingredients that make matters worse (even though they do taste so good). However, all this doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t have a healthy Halloween! Here are some clever tips you can use this year.
What You Can Give Trick-Or-Treaters
If you ask any trick-or-treater, they will tell you that candy is king. Kids want candy. They do not care if it is unhealthy for them. If you want to mix it up a little bit kids also like little toys, pencils, stickers, and even juice boxes. Many homes will feature a teal pumpkin on their porch. This pumpkin lets parents know that the home offers treats for kids that suffer from food allergies.
If you are unsure about toys or candy you can also hand out miniature bottles of water to hydrate the kids while they are out trick-or-treating. Some adults even go as far as giving out toothbrushes. Alright, so the toothbrushes may not be a hit with the children, but the parents often appreciate the sentiment behind it, and not all houses can be winners.
Healthy Snacks
Healthy snacks are definitely appreciated by parents, and there are some kids who enjoy sweet snacks as well. There are ways to sneak in these healthy options to the trick-or-treaters. Organic juice boxes, miniature bottles of water, organic fruit snacks, dehydrated fruit pouches, and organic sugar-free suckers are all healthy Halloween treats for the kids on Halloween. These sneaky snacks are deceptively good and have a health factor that parents love.
Trade Candy For Toys
What kid doesn’t like toys is the better question. Many kids suffer from food allergies and Halloween candies might not be an option for them. Typical food allergies include nuts, dairy, and even certain dyes. Halloween can still be fun for these kids when they are given spider rings, stickers, tattoos, hopping frogs, slime and other neat little toys. Many stores offer large value packs of small plastic toys near Halloween candy. If you don’t like handing out plastic toys you can also consider passing out bubbles or sidewalk chalk.
Healthy Halloween Drinks
For adults, alcohol is definitely a staple of the Halloween experience, especially with all the fun recipes you can find on Pinterest (along with tons of other delicious recipes all over the internet). You definitely don’t need to forgo the drinks at this year’s party, but you can change it up festive ideas like a sugar-free brandy apple cider or Pear-Rum Punch. Guests will still appreciate it, and will probably thank you when they don’t wake up with a hangover.
What Can You Do With The Leftover Halloween Candy?
The day after Halloween can be quite a wakeup call. There is so much candy in your house that you are fighting your willpower to not self-indulge in the chocolate goodness that is everywhere in your kitchen. What can you do with this candy? There are quite a few options. If you make gingerbread houses around Christmas time you can put aside all of the candy that would be used for gingerbread houses.
Great examples are smarties, suckers, mints, M&M’s, nerds and other hard candies. There are also many organizations that will ship candy to deployed troops so they can enjoy some sweet delicious goodness too.
Are There Other Healthy Halloween Activities?
Fall is such a fun time of year and is a great time to take advantage of the crisp and refreshing weather. Many pumpkin patches will host 5K’s. They encourage participants to dress in costume while they run. Schools and park districts host monster bash celebrations that are full of games and activities. These are great events that will get adults and children out of the house and active.
Halloween is a fun holiday that does not need to be fully centered around candy distribution. This is a great time of year to get yourself and your family out for a haunted hayride, haunted forest walk, or other fun events.
No matter how you decide to enjoy your Halloween you need to remember there are ways to do it healthy. You can enjoy some healthy Halloween treats, outdoor activities and even some seasonally inspired fitness activities. These are all great ways to keep living a healthy lifestyle while enjoying Halloween. Donating that extra candy is also a great way to give back to your community and teaches a valuable lesson about sharing to your children.