The Case Against Halloween Candy

Bright packages of Halloween candy have been out for weeks and are now sharing store space with Christmas decorations and other holiday goodies. I don’t have anything against celebrating Halloween, but I can’t say I’ve participated in giving away Halloween candy on Halloween night in about four years.

I’ve lived in suburban neighborhoods most of my life, and part of Halloween night is leaving your porch light on for a few hours. This is a signal for the children to come by for Halloween treats in the form of candy.

I don’t have children, but I do understand the parents’ need to keep their children safe during what is known as a night of possible mischief. I also understand the trend with supervised Halloween parties to keep children safe.

“I let my daughter go trick or treating, but when she brings home her bag of candy, I switch it with candy I selected. I throw away that bag of candy she brings home. I feel that’s safer for her,” said one mother.

As a Baby Boomer, I grew up in the 1960s. When I went trick or treating on Halloween night, I remember a time when people freely distributed homemade goods. I remember going to a home where the elderly couple both came to the door. As the man held a tray of treats, the woman proudly gave her homemade cupcakes to the children.

Over the years, I’ve been disappointed in the children who appeared at my door. Many of the children were either unsupervised as they walked door-to-door during the night. Gone were the cute toddlers and younger children dressed in homemade costumes. I noticed the children grew up too fast, and all I had left on Halloween night were teenagers holding out grocery sacks. Sometimes, older children would put their siblings in baby carriages. To make the idea of Halloween stick, the teenager would hastily smear lipstick on the child’s chubby cheeks and expect the people to drop candy in two open bags.

As someone who worked at a horse ranch for a year, I lost 26 pounds before Halloween came along in 2008. As Halloween approached, I really wondered why kids would go door-to-door every Halloween and why people were expected to go out and buy these strangers candy.

That was the year I quit buying the candy. When you lose weight, you don’t want to slide into the same patterns which brought you there in the first place. My husband and I are both middle-age, and we admit to having the same problem with Halloween candy. We can buy the bags of miniature candy bars in advance, but find out that the candy meant for Halloween trick or treaters is gone long before the Big Evening.

“You buy these miniature bars,” I told my husband, “and you find it perfectly okay to eat a handful of them because that would equal one regular candy bar.”

“I must have gained 15 pounds during that last Halloween,” agreed my husband.

I remember reaching for a bag of “hidden” candy on the kitchen shelf, only to find a hole in the corner of a couple of flattened, empty bags.

We were both guilty of getting into the Halloween candy, but it’s more than that. Having that candy around served no purpose except adding to our middle-age girth. If you kept junk around the house, most likely, you’ll be eating it.

One of my family members tried to explain the religious meaning of Halloween, but it was more than that. It was all about breaking this “tradition” of candy, possible tooth decay and obesity.

So now, we spend Halloween night watching a movie and follow the movie with dinner. Halloween is only the beginning for the holiday season. This is our way of quietly dealing with the calm before the storm. What follows are the many activities tied to Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year. A lot of these holidays deal with the possibility of excessive consumption of food and drink.

Who wants to start the New Year with more excess pounds? Count us out--starting with the Halloween candy.