Our schools in Texas have three party days that are announced each year. For these parties, I usually try to make my child's favorite treat. This almost always ensures that they will pick their homemade goody over the other parent's treats. I also provide the juice/drink of their choosing. During those parties, our kids get to consume anything and everything like the other kids. BUT, only during the party. I have found this method to be the most effective way to keep my children from feeling deprived and different (you know, the bad different) from their peers. Do they consume some chemical laden junk? Yes. But, we deal with it.
How do we deal? As soon as they get home, the bags and buckets from parties are dropped on the kitchen table. On Halloween, we usually are right back out the door to go trick-or-treat, or catch a fall festival in our area. When we are finally in for the night, all of the candy and treats are left on the table. My kids get to take a "magic crystal" bath (just equal parts baking soda and epsom salt, with a little lavender oil), to help detoxify their little bodies. Then, they get into pajamas for a fun fall movie before bed. Keep in mind that the candy and treats are still on the table....
Before bed, my children take a brief inventory of all of their things, and we tell the story of the Switch Witch. The switch witch is a naughty and wild witch. She loves candy! The more candy you leave out for her at night, the better she will reward you. She usually leaves each child a small bag of non-chemical candies, and a pretty awesome gift or toy. Her gift is not usually more than $20 in value (She is no comparison to Santa!). The switch witch doesn't ever take small toys, stickers, and other non-edibles. She doesn't want them, just the candy and treats. Then, she leaves the home, taking all of the treats with her, so she can continue on her naughty and wild night! Here is the bag of candy that our Switch Witch has already prepared for my children this year:
Now, the real magic is truly taking it all out of my home. If I leave it anywhere, the three amigos will locate it, thus ruining the magic of the Switch Witch. The bad candy can always be donated to a local hospital waiting room, a CPS office, your husband's job, etc. There are lots of people willing to take this stuff off of your hands.
The next morning, the small bag of candy and unwrapped gift are on the kitchen table with the original bags/buckets that they got at their parties. My kids have never once questioned about why they can't have it, because this tradition is not about restriction as much as it is about replacement and rewarding good choices. They are always ecstatic to find their gift, and most of the time ignore the "good" candy until later in the day and/or week. In fact, my eldest daughter has been collecting candy for the switch witch for two weeks. The buy-in for them was almost too easy! I hope it works the same for your children.
Now, here are some of our favorite candy choices. And, no, we do not keep this amount of candy around all of the time! I have listed where I purchased in parenthesis.
Chocolates:
Trader Joe's Smashing Smores (Trader Joe's), Trader Joe's Chocolate candy coated Sunflower Seeds (Trader Joe's), Trader Joe's mini milk chocolate peanut butter cups (Trader Joe's), Trader Joe's Chocolate Covered Marshmallows (Trader Joe's), Trader Joe's Mini milk chocolate bars (Trader Joe's), and an Endangered Species Dark Chocolate bar (Kroger).
Hard Candies and Suckers:
Yummy Earth Organic Pops (Whole Foods), Glee Gum Pops (Whole Foods), TruSweet Candy Canes (Amazon), Trader Joe's Peppermints (Trader Joe's), and Torie and Howard Organic Hard Candy (Whole Foods).
Gummy Candies:
Yummy Earth Fruit Snacks (Costco or Whole Foods), Yummy Earth Gummy Bears (Whole Foods), and Surf Sweets Bears (Whole Foods).
Trader Joe's Candy Coated Licorice (Trader Joe's), Tree Hugger Bubble Gum (www.TreeHuggerGum.com or Whole Foods), and Sweet's Candy Corn (www.sweetcandy.com or Whole Foods).
Some of my favorite places to find All Natural Candy online:
www.amazon.com
www.squirrels-nest.com
www.naturalcandystore.com
Trader Joe's has an amazing selection of all-natural candies. You just have to make sure to buy a Trader Joe's brand. Also, Whole Foods has a decent selection, but you will get the best prices by buying around holidays in the holiday packaging. Hint: Surf Sweets and Yummy Earth produce holiday packaging, but the inside packages are always the same (not holiday specific). This makes it awesome for stocking up!
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