My memories of Halloween as a child contain nothing less than a truckload of candy. It was the one time of year where we were allowed to eat as much candy as we wanted. Today, I feel like kids are surrounded by sickly sweet “treats” every day, and I try to help guide parents down the path of providing their kids with healthier snacks every day. But when it comes to Halloween, it’s just engrained in me that candy has to be involved.
When I attended a Green Halloween webinar hosted by Corey Lipson and she posed the idea of offering trick-or-treaters healthier treats, I was hesitant. I really don’t want to be “that house,” you know the ones the kids scoff at as they walk away because the “treat” wasn’t so great…
However, as a thank you for participating in the webinar, I received a Green Halloween package, which included a bag full of Stretch Island Fruit Strips and FruitaBü All-Natural Smoooshed Fruit Rolls.
Free of artificial sweeteners, colors, flavors, additives and synthetic preservatives, Stretch Island Fruit Strips equal one-half serving of real fruit and are available in fun, naturally colorful flavors ranging from Summer Strawberry, to Harvest Grape and even Mango Sunrise. FruitaBü rolls are equally free of anything artificial, and offer one whole serving of fruit in the Strawberry, Grape and Apple varieties.
The girls basically dove head first into the bag when it arrived. I let them have one of each snack, and they were both begging for more. Zoë even said, “Mommy, this is like yummy candy!” So, maybe I’ll have to rethink my feelings on Halloween. If I can please my girls with healthy treats, maybe I can be the one to put a healthy snack into a child’s hands who might not otherwise have exposure to the fact that healthy treats can be tasty treats.
In addition to offering healthy snacks in place of candy, Corey also recommended adding some small toys or other non-food items to your Treat Bowl. That way, you can give the trick or treater a choice of their prize. There is a very comprehensive list of healthier treat ideas on the Green Halloween website.
The Green Halloween website also has a ton of other resources for having a Green Halloween, like hosting costume swap parties and creating costumes out of things you have around the house as well as ideas for crafts, games and more.
Happy Green Halloween!
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