Celebrate Halloween Without Eating So Much Sugar

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We have a one-treat-a-day rule with my 3-year-old, and she carefully chooses it each afternoon — a mini cupcake from the bakery? A cookie at home? A lollipop from the store? But lately, as a certain candy-focused holiday approaches, she’s been laying bigger plans.

“On Halloween, can I have two treats?” she asks.

“Maybe,” I say.

“How about three?”

By the time the 31st arrives, she’ll be angling for four candy bars, seven lollipops, and a side of Fun Dip, all in a massive treat-fest that has very little to do with what’s cool about Halloween. It’s such a fun holiday — costumes, jack-o’-lanterns, macabre ambience — that it doesn’t need to be as sugar-infused as it’s become.

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“This is my favorite time of year, and I was excited to get my daughter into it,” Micol Ostow, author of the young adult thriller “Amity,” tells Yahoo Parenting. As you might expect, though, the horror writer didn’t introduce the ghoulish holiday through candy. “I bought her a Halloween board book — ‘My First Halloween' by Tomie dePaola. We’re moving on to darker tales as she grows up, but for us it’s always been about sharing new, spooky stories.”

Ostow’s literary tradition made me curious: What other Halloween rituals do families practice that aren’t all about the candy? Below, more parents share:

Creative Projects
“My daughters, who are 7 and 3, draw the jack-o’-lantern faces they want on paper, and then I carve them into our pumpkins. They’re already working on their drawings, getting them just right. This project gets them really involved in the carving process (and avoids their whining about wanting to use the knife).” — Tara A.

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“This may sound crazy, but my kids and I (they’re 6 and 4) make costumes together from scratch. We start way ahead with a plan, making sketches, and doing research if necessary (trips to the library, special movies). Then we create a budget and go shopping for parts — or find them in the house. Finally we set about cutting, painting, sewing, etc. It takes the whole month and builds the anticipation! Plus it teaches process, planning, patience, budgeting — and keeps them busy for weeks.” — Caroline C.

Games
“I have a dance party in the bedroom with my two daughters, in our costumes of course! We have a special playlist with a lot of different music on it (much from the ‘American Graffiti’ soundtrack, actually), and for ambience we turn off the lights and shine flashlights around. It’s super fun exercise and it’s so not about the candy.” — Melissa W.

“I have the kids ring our doorbell post-trick-or-treating, to get their best ‘treat’ from me: a book and fuzzy socks.” — Susan C.

“My mom used to invite the neighborhood kids over for a scare on Halloween. She’d blindfold us at the door and then lead us through a series of creepy experiences — I remember sorting through a ‘bowl of eyeballs’ (peeled grapes), holding ‘fresh brains’ (cold spaghetti) and ‘human hair’ (corn husks). As soon as my kid’s old enough, these scares will live on!” —Kristi W.

Food — Real Food.
“We eat dinner out of a pumpkin! We found the recipe in our junior league cookbook in 2003, and it sounded fun. Now every year, my boys and I go to a local pumpkin patch to pick out the perfect one. It’s basically ground beef and veggies, plus cream of chicken soup and rice, baked inside the gourd. It’s a huge hit and smells like autumn!” — Wendy T.

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“An old-school healthy-treat one: We bob for apples, loads of them, in a big bucket of water, using only our teeth to pull them out.” — Sarah H.

“My mother always made chili on Halloween. She was a working mom who often had to rush home, feed me dinner, get me in costume and then get me out the door to trick-or-treat. She would put the chili in the crockpot in the morning so that it was ready to eat when we got home. Now I make the chili — served with saltine crackers and a peanut butter spread, just like Mom did it.” —Nicole G.

“Don’t forget the classic: Toasting the pumpkin seeds from the jack-o-lantern! My 3-year-old can eat bowls full (with a little salt).” — Andrew W.