WFMW: Operation Halloween Candy

Halloween is just two days away, in case you've somehow managed to avoid the merchandising machine that has created a monster out of October 31. ("It lives! IT LIVES!")

I always know Halloween is nigh when my In Box starts to fill with e-mail forwards containing pictures of cheesy pet costumes.







I mean, seriously. Is that pet abuse? Or pet adoration? (Or pet product placement?)

That has absolutely nothing to do with my Works for Me Wednesday tip, except that my tip is related to Halloween.

If your kids are like mine, they will be hauling in copious amounts of candy Friday night. (True story: We still have Halloween candy from last year in the cupboard. It's out of control.)

Last year, I decided to dwindle that stash immediately. After Natalie and Connor went to bed Halloween night, I went through their bags and removed almost all of the non-chocolate candy -- the Tootsie Rolls, the Dum-Dums, the Nerds, the licorice, the bubble gum, the Sweet-Tarts and the like -- and used it as filler for my Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes, which I typically pack in early November. It acted nicely to cushion the real presents inside, and I was able to share the treats of Halloween with kids who probably didn't have a stash of candy from last year still in their kitchen.

Redistribution of the wealth. It works for me. (Sorry. I couldn't resist.)

For more Works for Me Wednesday tips, head back to Shannon's.

15 comments:

  1. Now this is the kind of redsitribution I can endorse:-)

    Seriously- what a great idea! I'm totally going to do the same thing! Thanks for the great tip.

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  2. Those pictures are SO much better then works for me Wednesday! You got a roaring laugh out of me! I LOVE the cat. Cause you can hear what it's thinking...I will scratch your eyes out as soon as I get my feet back! And the banana dogs! Hystarical!

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  3. My mom used to take all the chocolate bars and freeze them. She put them in an ice cream bucket labelled chicken parts and then doled them out throughout the year.
    I've got my bucket already for Friday.

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  4. What a good idea! This is our first year trick or treating and we're only going to a few places since he's only 2! I've got to start working on our boxes! Ours are due on the 16th!

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  5. I believe I now have three ideas to play around with - this, taking it to the local food bank and Happy Geek's chicken bucket. They all sound equally good. Well... maybe the last one sounds better, but then I'd feel really, really guilty.

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  6. Great idea! This year will be my first year (since I was a kid) filling a shoebox. Thanks!!

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  7. I love the shoebox idea since we're doing that this year too. Nothing better than finding what you need at home!

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  8. I love that idea for using the candy in the shoeboxes! i am sure I could also donate some of it to youth groups and other boys & girls club types of operations.

    Thanks!

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  9. Redistributing the wealth..Classic. :))

    A great idea when we are only talking Smarties. I'm putting together our shoeboxes next week and I'm totally using all this hard candy for filler.

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  10. Great idea!

    Do you let your kids in on the secret? Because it really ought to be voluntary redistribution of wealth.

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  11. Great question, Carolyn.

    For the record, I did NOT tell my kids what I was doing last year. They are still pretty young, and we had just moved, and they were dealing with a lot of adjustment.

    But this year? They'll find out about it.

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  12. Wait. Tootsie Rolls aren't chocolate?

    Seriously though, GREAT IDEA! You are one smart candy...er, I mean...cookie.

    I'm going to have to stop eating all the candy now and steal this idea.

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