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What to avoid giving out for Halloween

If, for some reason, you aren't familiar with the practice of giving candy out to costumed children on Halloween, you might want to take a look at the guide put together by Stuff Magazine explaining the best and worst things to give out. Eager trick or treaters look forward to participating in the ritual every year and we wouldn't want to disappoint them. The worst "treats" include:
  • Apples -- They're tasty, but they're not candy. They're "disappointing as hell for a little kid expecting a Snickers."
  • Marshmallows -- Yes, they're candy, but they don't usually come individually wrapped -- a must for Halloween treats.
  • A bag of pennies -- "It's like giving away a gift certificate for a piece of gum." Save up all those pennies and buy a bag of the real thing.
  • Smarties -- The U.S. Smarties are chalky and kids don't even seem to enjoy them, despite the fact that they sometimes eat them on the grounds that they still constitute candy. Try to get U.K. Smarties (similar to M&M's) or avoid the candy mixes that include these.
  • Anything homemade -- "This one is alright if you only give them to kids with neglectful parents." Any responsible parent is going to dump something unwrapped as fast as possible. Save your energy.
  • Raisins -- "People generally give them out under the pretense that they want to make kids healthier. In reality, they give them out because they hate fun." The boxed raisins never taste all that fresh anyway.

The best options would include "anything made by a real candy company," preferably king-sized versions.

After all, any resulting cavities aren't going to end up on your dental bill.

[Thanks, Patrick]

Source

Filed Under: Cooking With Kids, Lists, Did you know?, Ingredients, How To
Tags: apples, candies, candy, did you know, granola, how to, list, pennies, raisins, treat, trick, trick or treat, worst, worst halloween candies, worst halloween treats

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 23)

Boutros

10-26-2006 @10:43AM Boutros said... What?! Smarties are GOOD. I used to eat them first.
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Spencer

10-26-2006 @11:18AM Spencer said... My thoughts exactly, Boutros. Smarties = delicious.
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tr

10-26-2006 @11:42AM tr said... yes, i agree with Boutros. US smarties are pretty tasty. at least they have more flavor than Necco wafers.

on the list, i would also like to add
-little pads of paper - i used to get these every once in a while as a kid. what the hell does a little kid want with a crappy, odd shaped pad of paper?

-those small plastic novelty erasers, that don't erase anything, and just smear pencil marks

in fact, anything that's school supply/home office related is a bad thing. i remember the best house in the neighborhood was the lady who gave out full size snickers and twinkies. now THAT was a good treat!
Reply

Laura

10-26-2006 @11:37AM Laura said... I used to unwrap all my smarties and make a big pile of them and then sort them by color, eating them in reverse-deliciousness order. Pink: meh. White: yum.

All smarty-hating children may feel free to pack up thier smarties and send them to me.
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RWD fan

10-26-2006 @11:59AM RWD fan said... Don't bother with the Brachs peppermints either. If you really have to go with the bulk candies at least make it a bunch of the nougats, butterscotches, and caramels. If you absolutely insist on giving healthier alternatives, how about chewy granola bars? I know my son will chow down on those and I feel slightly better giving him one of those, or a nutri-grain bar instead of a Snickers.

Good list Nicole.
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dulci

10-26-2006 @12:25PM dulci said... I am with the Smarties' lovers.

Laura - you made my day. i thought was the only one who sorted them that way!!
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Lord Jezo

10-26-2006 @12:47PM Lord Jezo said... Hey man, Smarties are great, and yes, I mean the US version.

I would love opening up an entire roll of them and eating it all at once for a maximum sugar explosion.

People out there really don't like Smarties? I dont think I have ever met a person besides this author who says to avoid them completely.


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Mad William Flint

10-26-2006 @1:21PM Mad William Flint said... bah.

Smarties are AWESOME!

I'm personally sick to death of the snickers, 3-musketeers, almond joy, mounds, payday, fill-in-chocolate-covered-candybar types.

Gimme some twix, smarties and recees any day and I'm a happy little sheet-covered haloween monkey.
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james b

10-26-2006 @1:29PM james b said... I like to eat, er umm I mean give out Heath bars. What kid wouldn't like English toffee covered in chocolate? Plus plenty of sour and/or Hershey products. My thing is to give every kid two treats, unless they are holding two bags. Then it is one treat in each bag. Might up the quantity late in the evening, but the ratio stays the same.
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savvy

10-26-2006 @1:32PM savvy said... When I was little we got packets of hot cocoa mix quite a bit, and every once in a while we'd get packs of peanuts or single-serving microwave popcorn bags. All of those were pretty good, and were food that we thought were a novelty as well as yummy.
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Boutros

10-26-2006 @1:39PM Boutros said... I always thought the orange Smarties tasted like St. Joseph's chewable baby aspirin. That is a good thing, btw.
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Haley

10-26-2006 @2:16PM Haley said... I sort my Smarties too!!! Another good one is Shocktarts, especially for older kids.
A treat NOT to give out is popcorn balls. This was something my grandmother did. It wouldn't have been so bad, except she used the fat free, salt free, flavor free, stale popcorn. The same kind she uses as packing peanuts when sending out care packages. Blech.
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Mike G

10-26-2006 @2:21PM Mike G said... I still remember getting $.50 McDonald's gift certifates. I was never sure how I felt about those. On one hand, as a kid, McDondald's good - very good. On the other hand, I couldn't eat the paper gift certificate right away which meant I had to delay my gratification, which was bad - very bad.
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Stephanie

10-26-2006 @3:35PM Stephanie said... Smarties are awesome!!!!!
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Kate

10-26-2006 @3:40PM Kate said... The best house in my hood, growing up, was the eccentric old bat who'd chase you away from her house with a rake, 364 days per year, but on Halloween, she dressed up as something, sat outside with a cooler, and gave out 8 oz bottles of cold coke, and a full sized Hershey bar, with or without almonds, your choice.

Bless you, Mrs. Beaumont.

Smartees were fine with me!
Reply

Peter

10-26-2006 @4:30PM Peter said... I loved Smarties too!

One year we gave out these Halloween themed pencils with the candy. They were orange with bats and black cats on them. (On the design, not on the eraser or anything cool like that).
I thought my wife was nuts for doing it, but the kids really seemed excited by them and liked them.

One year we had these gumballs that had bloodshot eyeballs on them, the kids really liked those.
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Beth

10-26-2006 @4:53PM Beth said... I am on board with the smartee love. In high school I figured out how to crush them up into the yummiest sugar dust ever. It was a lot like crack, I guess.
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Adriane

10-26-2006 @10:03PM Adriane said... Well I am definitely the minority here...I HATE smarties! Those and Pez...blech.
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LeRoy Bidlo

10-27-2006 @9:13PM LeRoy Bidlo said... As a Canuck and former Yank, I love what you call Smarties and those north of the 49th call Rockets. Like not-so-sour SweetTarts, they're what I eat first when snarf Halloween candy from the kids. Canadian and Brit Smarties are M&Ms in another guise, from another manufacturer. Gimme cornstarch candies, like Rockets, any day ... and they don't melt in your hands either. I sort by colour before eating too.
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Rita

10-26-2006 @6:21PM Rita said...
the last couple years I've given out juice boxes, kids loved those.........this year it's pudding snacks!
Reply

446 Comments / 23 Pages

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