Halloween Switch Witch

We love Halloween in our neighborhood where people post an orange paper with a picture of a jack o lantern on their door to indicate trick or treaters are welcome! We do family costumes along with their grandmother. This year our children (7 and 10) chose to be spies because they are reading and loving Stuart Gibbs’ novels. (Last year we were a baseball team and the little one was our mascot – a red dragon). Afterward, we come home, the kids sort their candy so each one has the same number of pieces (it is a hilarious negotiation process), then we turn out the lights and tell “scary stories” by flashlight which involves my husband and me reading the ingredient lists of the candy. (My mother tolerates this while silently reminiscing about the seventies when we could eat junk guilt-free!) The kids quickly become sufficiently squeamish about eating the candy that they choose a few pieces and then count it out for the Switch Witch. She pays a quarter for 4 pieces of candy (fortunately their bags are small!) This makes an excellent math lesson. They leave the final count and invoice for the Switch Witch who visits in the night and leaves money in their candy bag. The candy magically finds its way to a co-worker who regularly eats Twinkies so has no hang ups about unpronounceable ingredients! The next day the kids put some money in their Share jar then we go to the toy store. More often than not, they pool their money to get the biggest lego kit they can. We also collect for UNICEF. (Oh, and the Switch Witch graciously leaves all the Twix for my husband and the peanut butter cups for my mother.)

We leave our candy on the kitchen table for the “Switch Witch”, who uses the candy to fuel her broom. She comes and takes most of the candy (some chocolate is left but no chewy/hard candies) and leaves things like stickers, crafts, books and new hats and mittens. The kids are never disappointed about the switch, they love it.

We tried the Halloween Fairy one year. The kids didn’t love what she/he brought. Ultimately what works best for our family is to enjoy some treats the week after Halloween (couple pieces a day), then stash the candy…out of site out of mind. One problem…mom knows the stash spot!!!

My son has just turned 6 and has now started liking sweets. Yikes! This is definitely going to be part of our tradition now!

We are going to start switching this year. My son (3) loves nightmare before Christmas, so Jack is going to trade him his candy for some supplies to make his own oogie boogie.

We keep the candy, and let the kids pick a piece for an after dinner treat. My husband and I also sneak a few of our favorite pieces 😉

We held off doing trick or treating for awhile, but 5 years ago we moved to a small, close knit, rural lake. We only have a couple dozen or so neighbors and they love putting together a trick or treat celebration just for the kids… And since my kids are only part of about ten kids…there was no more escaping! And now that they are older they want go with their cousins neighborhood and they want to participate in our church “trunk or treat”; all of which equals to a metric ton of candy. I’m so thankful that the very first year this all started I found an ad in the paper from the local dentist. He collects candy and gives the kids $1 per pound and then sends the candy to our troops overseas. I absolutely love every part of this and so do my kids. They get to be part of making someone else feel loved and cared for and that always has made them feel better about giving away the candy.

The Switch Witch has been visiting our house ever since my daughter was 3. She doesn’t eat gluten or dairy and we avoid food dyes so it used to be tricky to navigate Halloween. We wanted her to get to participate in the tradition but not feel like she was missing out not being able to eat the candy. We give out organic candy to trick or treaters and she can pick 3 pieces from our stash or her own loot to keep. Then the Switch Witch comes. She brings a toothbrush and something my daughter has been asking for. Last year it was pink converse sneakers!

Goodness, I would love to win this, we are very low income. This will be the first year we actually participate in trick or treating. I most definitely love this idea of trading candy for a gift. We are trying to limit gifts & do more experiences. Before every birthday and Christmas, we have our son “pick” a few things to donate. And also this year we are planning to donate socks. So, we might put a charitable spin on it. Although we are very low income, we do make sure we allow for charitable giving, even though that takes away from our family. It’s always best to help if you can.

I have 9 & 2 year old boys, we usually sort their candy out together and let them have a few pieces that night. They get to keep their favorites and we give away the rest to friends/family. Sometimes it’s saved and my son puts it in his lunch box over the next several weeks.

We store it away/forget about it, too, but the switch witch sounds so much better. Would love to try it!

I’ve never heard of the switch witch, but my “kids” are in their 30s now.