Halloween Lunches

The stretch up to Halloween is always an exciting one. Lunch is my favorite place to insert some Halloween magic, so today I'm sharing some of our Halloween-themed lunches to show you how you can make it fun in the days leading up to the holiday without making it all about sugar and candy. All you need are some well placed props! Check it out, and be sure to follow us on Instagram where we're posting our lunches daily:

Mini quiche, clementine pumpkins, banana ghost and some mini apples.  

Egg monster, veggies, apples with spider, yogurt with blueberries.  

Eyeball yogurt parfait, banana ghost, clementine pumpkin and baby carrots.  

Raspberry eyeballs! Plus salad, cheese and crackers and carrots.  

Apple monster with sunflower seed teeth and eyeballs affixed with sunflower seed butter.  

My personal fave: pear ghosts with berries, yogurt with a candy finger and dried apple, spider egg, banana ghost.  

The Candy Fairy

Here's the deal: the night before Halloween, my kids write sweet notes to the Candy Fairy asking what his/her favorite candy is this year. They leave the notes under their pillows and are incredibly excited to find a response in the morning. On Halloween night, they leave that candy under their pillow for the Candy Fairy and in exchange get a small present. The kids usually get a huge haul of candy (and it seems to grow every year), so parting with a few pieces (usually between 5 and 10) is never an issue. Here's what we do with the rest of it. 

We've had a bit of a hiccup lately with the Tooth Fairy -- the jig might be up with my 8 year old -- so her questions for the Candy Fairy were a lot more probing than a simple "what is your favorite candy." 

As usual on Halloween morning, the day began with excitement! The Candy Fairy will be busy today finding a little gift to place under their pillows tonight in exchange for that candy. 

Happy Halloween! 

Our Halloween Candy Strategy

I have a sweet tooth. There used to be a time in my life when I ate a lot more candy than I do now (red swedish fish and peppermint patties were some of my favorites). I read this post by Sally of Real Mom Nutrition and like so many of her posts, I felt she was speaking my language. Once I began connecting the dots between how I felt and what I ate, my habits changed and so did my life. I still have a sweet tooth, and while I'll always have a soft spot for homemade chocolate chip cookies, I mainly stick to seriously dark chocolate these days. 

My kids eat something sweet pretty much every day. I'd love to sit on a high horse and say 'well, it's not junk,' but frankly, I think sugar is sugar. They get heaps of candy for Halloween from trick or treating and eat whatever they want that night. They leave about 10 pieces of candy under their pillow that night for the Candy Fairy, who replaces them with a small toy or book. After that, they can choose one per day until the stash runs out or until the holiday season, when Halloween candy gets dumped out. 

This year, I've decided to forego buying Halloween candy and will be giving out glow-in-the-dark bracelets and glow in the dark fangs to trick-or-treaters. They're seasonally relevant and they don't contribute to the candy overload of the holiday. They're also safe for kids with allergies, and while I don't have a teal pumpkin, I will print out a photo of one and attach it to our door. 

What's your Halloween candy strategy?