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Is Giving Out Candy on Halloween Adding to the Obesity Problem?

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Replies

  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    @Carlos_421 - As an aside, I bought these the other day and thought of you. They're freaking awesome!

    73l25nbdph41.jpg
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
    @Carlos_421 - As an aside, I bought these the other day and thought of you. They're freaking awesome!

    73l25nbdph41.jpg

    Ooooooooo!! Is the filling flavored like cinnabon icing? Probably delicious either way.
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    edited October 2019
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    @Carlos_421 - As an aside, I bought these the other day and thought of you. They're freaking awesome!

    73l25nbdph41.jpg

    Ooooooooo!! Is the filling flavored like cinnabon icing? Probably delicious either way.

    It is. It's pretty damn good.

    Edited to add: It's not overwhelmingly cinnamon-y, which I really liked as well.

    And, back on topic, I wish they made little snack packs. Would be perfect for Hallowe'en as a nice dessert for @NovusDies ' soup. :)
  • Lib_B
    Lib_B Posts: 446 Member
    No it's not. My kids get to pick thru their candy and identify their two favorites. They get to keep all of those and the rest is donated to school for classroom parties and PBIS reward ticket purchases. Kids have been gorging on candy long before obesity was a problem. The question is, do parents let that go on all year? And do they make their kids participate in a physical activity?

    Hot cider/cocoa work if you live in a neighborhood that knows each other well. We've also had a popcorn machine and handed out hot popcorn.

    Soup? You're begging to be egged. We offer a toy or color changing pencil, etc. for kids with allergies which you could do if you want to get away from food. Which reminds me, our local market had this thing where kids could find the store mascot hidden in the store, go to customer service and receive a prize. My kids did this once. The prize? A coupon for 1 can of generic condensed soup. I thought it was hilarious. My kids did not.

  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
    If you do poison the kids, does that count as working against obesity? I think poisoning tends to cause weight loss. Should we have more poisoning kids' candy?

    Looking forward to the number of disagrees from people that can't understand sarcasm.

    Of course! ....but maybe....

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O5h4enjrHw
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
    @Carlos_421 - As an aside, I bought these the other day and thought of you. They're freaking awesome!

    73l25nbdph41.jpg

    We are seriously wasting Nobel awards on total BS.
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    If you do poison the kids, does that count as working against obesity? I think poisoning tends to cause weight loss. Should we have more poisoning kids' candy?

    Looking forward to the number of disagrees from people that can't understand sarcasm.

    I assume by "poison" you mean sugar free candy.

    Sugar free cough drops.........
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,226 Member
    S'possed to be raw, windy, with a rain/snow mix here on Halloween.
    I guess a lot of kids in my neighborhood will be saved from the obesity crisis after all.
    And I'm going to have a lot of leftover gummi bears.
    Wonder if I can make gummi soup....?

    Vodka or tequila gummies are a thing. Yes, they kinda stick together. After the first handful or two, who cares? ;)
  • nytrifisoul
    nytrifisoul Posts: 499 Member
    I think you could pull off soup ( i would suggest chili) is if you hosted some sort of halloween haunted house type event. There is a few people in our town who do this, and go all out. They do hand out candy, but they do also offer stuff like hot dogs and hamburger on the grill and a big pot of chili. They have been doing this for years, so nobody questions their intentions other then they really love going all out on halloween. They also have popular kids in school that most kids including ours knows.
    But if you are just some creepy health food nut neighbor and want to give out some kinda healthy soup, you are asking for failure.
  • riffraff2112
    riffraff2112 Posts: 1,756 Member
    One house in our area tends to hand out crayons, coloring books, stickers, rulers, erasers that type of stuff. Our kids always liked it! Nothing beats reases peanut butter squares though.
  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
    Not if:
    1. When I was a kid we only went to houses where we knew the occupants, they actually pretended to try to guess who we were. This limited the amount of candy we received. Kids do not need to go to every neighborhood having a trick or treat time or day.
    2. Parents can....although most don't....give their kids limits on how many treats they have from their pumpkin or bag each day. Society seems to have forgotten that our teachings help map our our children's behavior patterns.

    I recently started working in two middle schools two days a week and among other things I've heard recently from the kids has been, "you could sell your candy for so much!!" and "my parents won't let me eat it all anyways". These kids are not invested in eating everything that they're going to get and fully expect their parents to limit their candy consumption.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    Guess it's supposed to snow here on Halloween. I think that will make them appreciate the broccoli cheddar and tomato soups I am making.

    (Kidding!)

    I have some candy left over from last year, but someone just told me it's only supposed to be good for 9 months, so I guess I need to toss it and buy some more.
  • Jackie_Paper
    Jackie_Paper Posts: 183 Member
    At least they're hopefully walking around to get it...although I have seen people literally drive their kids from house to house...how dull
  • allother94
    allother94 Posts: 588 Member
    Candy doesn’t make you fat. Eating candy makes you fat.
  • allother94
    allother94 Posts: 588 Member
    allother94 wrote: »
    Candy doesn’t make you fat. Eating candy makes you fat.

    Nope. Eating too many calories of *anything* can contribute to weight gain. Even fruits and vegetables. And 'healthy' foods, whatever you may consider them to be.

    Ok.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    allother94 wrote: »
    Candy doesn’t make you fat. Eating candy makes you fat.

    That is funny.

    I am not a sweet eater so I wish I had thought the same thing when looking at all the savory food that led to my gains.
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    edited October 2019
    At least they're hopefully walking around to get it...although I have seen people literally drive their kids from house to house...how dull

    I've seen that as well. In the large city where I used to live, some parents would drive their kids to the 'better' neighbourhoods to trick or treat. But the kids were actually walking from house to house while the parents were slowly driving down the street following them.

    I now live in a small town, and unless the parent is physically challenged in some way, it seems a shame for them to miss out on actually participating in the fun with their kids. Neighbours here know each other and most of the kids, too. A lot of times when I answer the door, I can only figure out who the kid behind the mask is because their parents are there, too. :)
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    wmd1979 wrote: »
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    Guess it's supposed to snow here on Halloween. I think that will make them appreciate the broccoli cheddar and tomato soups I am making.

    (Kidding!)

    I have some candy left over from last year, but someone just told me it's only supposed to be good for 9 months
    , so I guess I need to toss it and buy some more.

    My girls still have candy leftover from last Halloween. Trust me, I have tried it, and its still good :smile: . They get so much on beggars night that I obviously moderate how much they can have. The assumption that kids are going to eat a full bucket of candy in a week doesn't make sense to me, however as a parent, I make sure my kids are eating more than just candy all the time. My girls are so active as it is that I have trouble keeping up with them, and at times I need to steal some candy just for the extra calories.

    So I wouldn't be poisoning the neighborhood kids? That is good, since I'd prefer to use it (although I'll need to supplement some).
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    wmd1979 wrote: »
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    Guess it's supposed to snow here on Halloween. I think that will make them appreciate the broccoli cheddar and tomato soups I am making.

    (Kidding!)

    I have some candy left over from last year, but someone just told me it's only supposed to be good for 9 months
    , so I guess I need to toss it and buy some more.

    My girls still have candy leftover from last Halloween. Trust me, I have tried it, and its still good :smile: . They get so much on beggars night that I obviously moderate how much they can have. The assumption that kids are going to eat a full bucket of candy in a week doesn't make sense to me, however as a parent, I make sure my kids are eating more than just candy all the time. My girls are so active as it is that I have trouble keeping up with them, and at times I need to steal some candy just for the extra calories.

    So I wouldn't be poisoning the neighborhood kids? That is good, since I'd prefer to use it (although I'll need to supplement some).

    What little candy I had left from last Halloween was thrown in the freezer. I could make some of the chocolate work in a chili but not in most of my soup recipes.
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    edited October 2019
    wmd1979 wrote: »
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    Guess it's supposed to snow here on Halloween. I think that will make them appreciate the broccoli cheddar and tomato soups I am making.

    (Kidding!)

    I have some candy left over from last year, but someone just told me it's only supposed to be good for 9 months
    , so I guess I need to toss it and buy some more.

    My girls still have candy leftover from last Halloween. Trust me, I have tried it, and its still good :smile: . They get so much on beggars night that I obviously moderate how much they can have. The assumption that kids are going to eat a full bucket of candy in a week doesn't make sense to me, however as a parent, I make sure my kids are eating more than just candy all the time. My girls are so active as it is that I have trouble keeping up with them, and at times I need to steal some candy just for the extra calories.

    My husband recently ate a Snickers we had leftover from last Halloween and it was rancid. Probably wouldn’t kill you but nasty. Anything with nuts or fats will turn rancid eventually. Sugar stays good pretty much indefinitely if kept dry. Chocolate may also “bloom” if not kept at even temperatures, which won’t hurt you but isn’t good.

    You could always taste test!
  • lauragreenbaum
    lauragreenbaum Posts: 1,017 Member
    One year we ran out of candy, so we had a huge jar of coins (mostly pennies) that we put out. The kids seemed to be ok with that-we didn't get TP'd.
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,871 Member
    I'm still eating individual bags of Cracker Jacks from last year. They're fine but the prizes suck :lol: Anyone want a Halloween sticker?
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    edited October 2019
    One year we ran out of candy, so we had a huge jar of coins (mostly pennies) that we put out. The kids seemed to be ok with that-we didn't get TP'd.
    Kids used to trick-or-treat for Unicef, and carried a little orange box for the coins.

    Not sure why it was stopped, but it always seemed like a nice thing to do - thinking about others while loading up with goodies for yourself.

  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    pinuplove wrote: »
    I'm still eating individual bags of Cracker Jacks from last year. They're fine but the prizes suck :lol: Anyone want a Halloween sticker?

    @amkita does.