Throwing candy away - Page 2

[Dar]

Originally Posted by Pkutniewski

Wow. I can't imagine telling a 5 year old "here honey, let's go door-to-door and say trick or treat and NOT take their stuff"!

Why not? Only because you've taught your child that the point of ToTing is to collect a bagful of candy (which you then throw away). So, for your kids, the point of Halloween is that you go around and take stuff people are giving you and throw it away. Why not just make the point be going around and showing people your costume?

To me, the throwing away candy would be like if I went into my department and found that someone had brought in some kind of treats and was offering them, and I took a serving and went and threw it away...

As for being greedy and wasteful what exactly are we wasting here? It's junk food. Not steak. There is no "starving kids who would love to have it" guilt attached to junk food. I don't know a single person who isn't wasteful with most things.

I like candy. It tastes good. I would eat it. I don't think I'm wasteful with most things. I try not to be. We certainly never threw away Halloween candy.

I'm really thinking that spending half my weekly food budget on something to give a bunch of kids who don't even want it isn't how I want to spend my money this year. I think I'll leave the light off and donate what I would have spent to charity...

[Calidris]

Originally Posted by JL83

Taking candy knowing you are going to throw it away is greedy and wasteful.

really?

Whether it goes into the bin, or through your gut into the toilet isn't that big a difference is it? It's not like there is any significant nutritional value being wasted. I could understand the outrage if it was organic meat and veggies being tossed, those could do good for someone else. But junk candy is not contributing anything (except a few calories).

[greenmansions]

I'm with Pkutniewski. I let my kids go trick or treating, but I throw away a lot of the candy they get - it's total crap. Why help them develop a taste for it? We limit candy around here and there are lots of kinds I don't let my kids eat. Maybe if people don't want their candy thrown out, they should give away less-unhealthy treats like honey sticks or something.

For us, so far, it's been for every piece I hand out from the cupboard, I throw one piece out later on of something I find particularly icky. Last year it was chocolate after that tainted milk scare from China. The kids never missed any of the candy, though this year may be different because DS is wising up as he gets older. What I like about the eat one, toss one is that they get to eat treats in moderation, but the total time they are available in the house is reduced.

We also trick or treat only on our block and we go to the zoo's Halloween party which has a lot of neat entertainment but does not have candy - they give away honey sticks and clif bars and it's pretty easy to avoid the treat tables.

To the OP, I really think what your friends do is a poor way to handle the candy deluge. There is no learning moderation with that.

[Dandelionkid]

Yup- candy is total crap. I don't feel a shred of guilt throwing it out. It is complete garbage for human bodies so really, it's either our bodies as a dumpster, or a dumpster as a dumpster
That being said, this thread has got me thinking....nah- Ill still throw away extra candy. Like I said- no guilt at all about it

[WC_hapamama]

Honestly, even if Halloween candy isn't ideal nutritionally, I still think it's wasteful to throw it away.

If you insist on having your kids trick-or-treat despite the fact that you won't let them eat the crappy candy, why not donate the candy you won't let them eat to a homeless shelter, soup kitchen, meals on wheels program, nursing home or food pantry. Even poor people and old people like a treat occasionally, and even a handful of fun sized Snickers bars is better than going hungry.

[mandib50]

i've thrown halloween candy out before. honestly, some of the candy is just horrible and not fit for anyone to eat. i'm not talking the little chocolate bars and such, or even some of the hard candies (which i like), but some of the candy you can buy around here is just nasty.

[Dar]

But why not just say "No, thank you"? My daughter has said this before at houses giving away candy she didn't like (and that she knew I didn't like ), and it wasn't a problem. She was with friends who took the candy. No one ever seemed offended.

[mandib50]

well sometimes it's candy like double bubble gum which turns out to be as hard as a rock, or little bags of jujubes that are also hard as rocks, and some candies you don't realize until you bite into them and they taste like soap. it's sort of hard to tell sometimes what you are getting because you might get a mix of stuff you like and stuff that isn't as good.

anyway, we don't throw out a lot, just the stuff like i mentioned above.

[aspenleaves]

Well I too throw out some of the candy. The stuff my DD would break her jaw on or the really sticky - can't get it off her teeth stuff. But I can't see throwing away all the Halloween candy because you don't want your kids eating any of it.

Like I said, why trick or treat then? If you wan the fun of dressing up and going out, why not give your neighbors something? or just not take the candy or just take the really choice pieces for your one night binge! Frankly I agree with most of you that it is not good practice and wasteful. I'm surprised more folks aren't speaking to the bad practice of it instead of the waste. Sure it is wasteful, but I know this family to a certain degree and they choose to live in deprivation. They choose a scant exsistance (or I should say the parents choose it) and I just don't completely get it. (But that is a different thread). I guess throwing away the candy was just icing on the cake for me. Just let your kids have the candy for goodness sake they have nothing else!!!

[tankgirl136]

For those against candy why not have your kids tot for Unicef or something similar instead?

http://www.unicef.org/support/14884.html

I personally will not throw candy away, I hate some candy, but hate the idea of teaching my DS to waste more, personally. I think there are better options.

nak

[Viola]

Originally Posted by JL83

I think it's horrible to throw out the candy. I think it teaches children a very bad message about it being OK to be greedy and then just discard.

Yeah, I'd rather just limit the number of houses we go to and portion out the candy when the kids want a treat. Having to walk the hilly streets to all the houses, combined with the cold weather, means trick-or-treating is fairly limited anyway. But there will always be candy that goes in the trash because the kids just don't like some of it, or it gets put on a shelf and forgotten. My older daughter was not all that into the candy, but she'd get some from parties and things at school and it was precious to her, so we put it in the pantry. Five years later it was still there, and my younger daughter found it and tried to eat some of it, but she ended up spitting most of it out.

I used to do the same thing, though. I'd go to lots of houses and I wanted to get a lot of candy, but I knew there was only a limited subset of stuff I'd eat. I started saving it and giving it to my younger sisters for Christmas.

[emaye_to_2]

We've allowed our children to go trick-or-treating for the fun of it altho it's not in much accordance with our spiritual beliefs. My kids have never been into candy so it's not a big deal to them when we get rid of the treats they collected. They've never missed any of the candy (so far). I sight the hypocrisy in the whole thing but I definitely throw away the candy! I don't need my children eating all that junky sugar.

[choli]

Originally Posted by greenmansions

I'm with Pkutniewski. I let my kids go trick or treating, but I throw away a lot of the candy they get - it's total crap. Why help them develop a taste for it? We limit candy around here and there are lots of kinds I don't let my kids eat. Maybe if people don't want their candy thrown out, they should give away less-unhealthy treats like honey sticks or something.

For us, so far, it's been for every piece I hand out from the cupboard, I throw one piece out later on of something I find particularly icky. Last year it was chocolate after that tainted milk scare from China. The kids never missed any of the candy, though this year may be different because DS is wising up as he gets older. What I like about the eat one, toss one is that they get to eat treats in moderation, but the total time they are available in the house is reduced.

We also trick or treat only on our block and we go to the zoo's Halloween party which has a lot of neat entertainment but does not have candy - they give away honey sticks and clif bars and it's pretty easy to avoid the treat tables.

To the OP, I really think what your friends do is a poor way to handle the candy deluge. There is no learning moderation with that.

So then why send your kids out to knock on doors and ask for crap?

[AbbieB]

Originally Posted by Dar

Why not? Only because you've taught your child that the point of ToTing is to collect a bagful of candy (which you then throw away). So, for your kids, the point of Halloween is that you go around and take stuff people are giving you and throw it away. Why not just make the point be going around and showing people your costume?

It's not like I am throwing away the candy in front of DD. In our house it is more of a cleaning out the refrigerator kind of discarding. I just do it over time and DD never notices. DD gets to eat what ever she wants and she shares with DH and I so it's natural for things to disappear.

Originally Posted by Dar

To me, the throwing away candy would be like if I went into my department and found that someone had brought in some kind of treats and was offering them, and I took a serving and went and threw it away...

You have never tossed food at work? I certainly have. It's never my intention when I take the food. Sometimes I just don't like it after tasting it.

Originally Posted by Dar

I'm really thinking that spending half my weekly food budget on something to give a bunch of kids who don't even want it isn't how I want to spend my money this year. I think I'll leave the light off and donate what I would have spent to charity...

I think that giving out candy on Halloween is something that people do because they enjoy it. There are no strings attached. I do not feel that the kids are under any obligation to like and consume my treat.

Growing up it was just a given that you would get a mix of treats from every house and you had fun pouring through it later. Then you could trade or give away what you didn't want. Ultimately there were always treats left at Thanksgiving that no one really wanted so they were tossed.

Where is the greed and waste here?

Originally Posted by tangible

I personally will not throw candy away, I hate some candy, but hate the idea of teaching my DS to waste more, personally. I think there are better options.

So you choke down candy that you don't even like to prove a point?

[aspenleaves]

The throwing away the candy measuring tool for waste is very large. My original post was that the bag of candy at the end of the night, irregardless of what it contained or how much it contained got thrown away. There is no picking through to save your favorites, or putting 2 pieces aside for the next day, it was described to me as a ritual of Halloween. I think they even have a certain amount of time on Halloween to eat what they can and then the buzzer goes off and the candy gets tossed.

I don't think anyone who throws away a jaw breaker would call you wasteful and I'm sure no one is choking down candy they hate. I just can't believe people won't let thier kids enjoy eating the candy they get on Halloween. Like it is evil to eat candy.

[eepster]

We often do ToTing at the mall, if it is cold outside but heated at the mall. Last year, by the time we got there, a lot of the shops had run out of candy already.

DS doesn't eat every bit of candy he gets, he enjoys sharing it. Sharing candy with GM was one of his great joys these last two halloweens (my mom has a major sweet tooth.) The way he says "OK" when DH asks if he can have a piece of candy is so cute. It's a wonderful opportunity for DS to share and be generous.

When I lived in the Bronx, not many kids went out ToTing. One group came around to our apt unexpectedly, and I went looking for a bag of werthers I happened to have. I had been the first person to answer the door, so that day, those kids went home with nothing more than a handful of werthers each.

So, yeah the idea that some people go around grabbing up all the candy, that our family would have enjoyed, that there are kids who don't get, then just throw it away bugs me.

[alacrity]

I have no idea what I am going to do with my daughter for halloween because we are vegan and even if we were not we do not eat things with HFCS or artificial flavorings and colors. I want her to have the trick or treat experience but no one wants candy after halloween so what should we do with it?? I cannot imagine throwing it all out either.

[bender]

A family I babysat for gave out things when they went trick or treating. The parents didn't want to teach their children that it was just an excuse to get things without giving in return. Each year, the kids made something to give at each house. They weren't allowed to say 'Trick or Treat', but if candy was offered, they could take a piece.

[TEAK's Mom]

We like to make cute little gift bags with the excess (the kids decide what is excess, but we make sure it is unopened, etc) and take them to the homeless and domestic violence shelters. A little luxury treat can mean a lot to someone in a bad situation.

But then, we give granola bars to homeless folk on our way to the library if they ask. It started when a gentleman asked me if I had money for food. I didn't, but I didn't want my dds to see me disregard a hungry person, so I offered him a granola bar from my bag. A few weeks later, he brought a friend up to us who needed something to eat. I sort of feel good when people know that "the Granola Bar Ladies" (which is what they call us) will share.

Why waste food that could make someone happy?

[velochic]

I'm not sure why people are throwing out the candy within days or weeks. We actually still have some candy from last year! No, it probably doesn't taste as fresh as it did a year ago, but it takes forever to "go bad". What is the point of trashing it the next day or week? That does seem wasteful unless you don't buy another single piece of candy for the next year. It's a waste of money. Just put it in a cabinet and use it as treats throughout the year. I literally *never* buy any candy, although dd has food intolerances and can only rarely eat anything that is not all-natural, so it doesn't take a ton of candy to last us a whole year.