How We Handle Halloween Candy and a Star Lunch...

Halloween - there's candy everywhere! Grocery stores, restaurants, even at the doctor's office! And although I'd like to think that I could keep my kids (and myself) away from all the candy, it's just not realistic. We live in a great neighborhood for trick-or-treating. It reminds me of Halloween when I was little and kids were everywhere, people sat out on their porches, and it was relatively safe. But, there are pros and cons to living in a Halloween friendly neighborhood. The pros - everyone passes out candy and the girls LOVE trick-or-treating. The cons - everyone passes out candy and the girls LOVE trick-or-treating. We do something, a little bit different, though, that allows the kids to trick-or-treat and makes me feel better about the candy - The Pumpkin Fairy.

Here's how our Pumpkin Fairy works...when we get home from trick-or-treating, we dump out all of the candy on the table. The chics are able to keep any toys, stickers, and Play-doh, but the candy they must sort through. They are allowed to choose a certain amount of candy depending on their age. This year we said twenty pieces but after all the negotiation and grandparent persuasion, it was more like thirty. Then, they put the remaining candy in a bag and leave it out on the table (I weighed it this year - it was over 5 lbs!). While they are sleeping, the Pumpkin Fairy comes and takes the candy and replaces it with a toy. We usually don't spend a ton on the toy. This year it was Tinkerbell and High School Musical make-up sets.

The girls love it and don't have a problem giving up their candy at all. We've done it from the very first Halloween so now they just expect it. We told them that the Halloween Fairy must be invited to visit your house and that not everyone asks her to come. This was really just a way to explain that their friends would probably have no idea what a Pumpkin Fairy was. Honestly, I have no idea where this idea came from. Maybe I read about it in a magazine or on a website somewhere...I really don't remember. But, it's worked really well for us and thought I'd share. If your family does something like this, I would LOVE to hear about it. I've never met anyone else that does a fairy for Halloween, but I know we can't be the only ones.

So after all the Halloween festivities, I decided to clean out the Halloween bento supplies and the chic walks in and asks if I would make her a "star" lunch for Monday. She wasn't crazy about all the Halloween stuff, so I think she's ready to go back to the "pretty" lunches. What can I say? She's a girly girl!

Almond butter and raspberry jam star sandwiches, Carrot star cutouts, Havarti and cheddar star, Banana with red pepper stars