What to do with all that Halloween candy!!!!

What are you going to do with all that candy?

Well, I have a few ideas. Last year I researched it a bit and between some great ideas I found online(sorry I don't remember the websites) and some creativity I came up with several ideas. These are ideas we used last year and will be using again this year beginning Thursday after Halloween.

1. Take all the full size candy bars and set them aside for movie candy. We have a family movie nite most Friday evenings so this can supply treats for us for weeks!
2. Take all the funsize Snickers bars and bag them up and pop them in the freezer for that yummy delicious caramel apple salad for Thanksgiving dinner.
3. Take the colorful ones that don't taste so great, you know the ones, gumdrops, weird hard candies, Chiclets, Necco etc... and put them in a bag and label it for Christmas gingerbread house decorations.
4. Now go thru what is left and have the kids pick out 15 or 20 pieces they love and put their name on it and pick a date after all the holidays. We do late January- early February sometime before Valentine's Day but far enough in to the "no junkfood in the house in January " period that they are desperate for a sugar buzz. Put that date on the bag and drop it in the freezer or hide it in the back of a cabinet. Somewhere no one will see it for a few months.
5. Set aside some pieces for a friend or neighbor who probably doesn't have any candy in the house. For us it is my grandpa. He loves sweets but rarely buys them for himself. So we send him a little bag full after Halloween. Nothing sticky though in case of dental work:)
6. Now my kids have to pay the dad tax. My husband travels and so when he comes home he has missed the candy influx so we save him some.
7. Now whatever is left I have the kids trade for favorites if possible with their siblings and any candy no one likes we donate. There is usually a small ziplock. I send it to the teachers at school to add to the reward bin or to the special ed department. They use it as incentives for the kids in their programs.
8. Lastly, we separate whatever is left into a few sandwich bags and put dates of when they can have it on them and pop them in the freezer.

My kids don't mind spreading it out because I don't keep candy in the house regularly. Just peppermints by the front door. So they are happy knowing I won't toss it out and they will have candy again:)

P.S. if the bag of candy they get to keep right after Halloween isn't gone in a few weeks I chop up all the chocolate and make cookies out of it. The kids never mind when there are cookies in the cookie jar!
P.S.S Don't forget to hit the clearance sales after the holiday to score some candy corn for snowman cookie noses during Christmas and winter! I also look for any bags of family favorites that have non Halloween wrappings for upcoming stocking filling!!