🍬 Let’s Re-Imagine Halloween (and Every Sugar-Bomb Occasion)

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  • 🍬 Let’s Re-Imagine Halloween (and Every Sugar-Bomb Occasion)

    Posted by IMA-HelenT on October 29, 2025 at 2:21 pm EDT

    Not trying to be the party kill-joy, but 2.6 billion dollars’ worth of Big-Food candy, loaded with seed oils, dyes, and a landfill of wrappers, makes my teeth ache just typing it.

    So I’m collecting creative, kid-approved alternatives for Halloween buckets, birthday bags, even Christmas stockings.

    Ideas on the table so far:

    🍎 Local fruit (mini apples, clementines) and as bonus points you can dip them in 70 % dark chocolate.

    Keeps sugar natural & compostable peel = zero landfill

    🧸 Thrift-store treasure toys : a Reddit mom scored Hot Wheels & Beanie Babies for pennies Kids freaked out (in a good way) and ZERO sugar crash

    🌱 Seed packets (sunflowers, pumpkins)Teaches gardening and grows next year’s décor

    🖍️ Mini craft kits (crayons, stickers)Quiet car-ride entertainment for parents = hero status

    💡 Your turn!

    What’s your favorite non-candy hand-out that still brings the fun?

    Have you tried any “healthy treat” that totally flopped—or became an instant hit?

    Drop your best (and worst) experiments below—photos welcome! 🎃🛍️👻

    IMA-HelenT replied 1 week, 3 days ago 6 Members · 13 Replies
  • 13 Replies
  • lavitavegas

    Member
    October 29, 2025 at 4:20 pm EDT

    I’ve been giving out full sheets of stickers for the past 2 years– they’re reasonably priced and quite a hit!

    • IMA-HelenT

      Organizer
      October 29, 2025 at 5:36 pm EDT

      I love this idea @lavitavegas

      😊

  • islandraider

    Member
    October 29, 2025 at 10:17 pm EDT

    One book per child… a bit expensive, but likely a good investment in the future!

    • Jeff Gerber

      Member
      October 29, 2025 at 10:24 pm EDT

      👍

    • IMA-HelenT

      Organizer
      October 30, 2025 at 8:56 am EDT

      Would love to see these in every teenagers hands

  • Jeff Gerber

    Member
    October 29, 2025 at 10:30 pm EDT

    – Origami

    – Light sticks

    – Fruit rollups

    Those were the things we handed out last year.

    The origami was something I received on Halloween as a child when I visited the house of my piano teacher who had Japanese guests staying at her house. It was the best and most memorable Halloween treat I ever received.

    • IMA-HelenT

      Organizer
      October 30, 2025 at 8:58 am EDT

      Origami, such a great idea @jrgerber … as are fruit rolls and light sticks, think paper and origami instructions in a little bundle might be added to my list.

  • Lenore Norrgard

    Member
    October 29, 2025 at 11:52 pm EDT

    I follow the great Catherine Austin Fitts, one of my true heroes, and she is promoting the practice of handing out $1 bills with a message about keeping cash alive. The woman who gave Catherine this idea reports that her house is the most popular — the kids love it, and she’s contributing to educating them and their parents about the danger of digital money and losing cash, plus she’s not contributing to consumerism.

    More details here: https://solari.com/action-of-the-week-october-5-2025-get-ready-to-promote-cash-on-halloween/

    • IMA-HelenT

      Organizer
      October 30, 2025 at 9:00 am EDT

      Brilliant …. adding this on to my list for every birthday and Christmas gift too. 💵

      • Jeff Gerber

        Member
        October 30, 2025 at 8:38 pm EDT

        The two-dollar bill is particularly novel (and it doesn’t cost a lot!) My wife used to use it as part of a tip with her business card when she was a real estate agent. It’s a memorable bill.

        • IMA-HelenT

          Organizer
          October 31, 2025 at 5:44 am EDT

          Lovely bit of guerilla marketing

  • vegandan

    Member
    October 31, 2025 at 10:14 am EDT

    40 years ago when I was still doing the treat thing I would give out packets of raisins. The kids didn’t appreciate it because it wasn’t candy so I just stopped.

    • IMA-HelenT

      Organizer
      October 31, 2025 at 11:35 am EDT

      Someone wraps up brussel sprouts in candy wrappers… think it’s brilliant, as it’s a trick!

      🤭

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