consumerism and trick or treat

[lightheart]

I want to start a discussion... basically if you take your kids trick-or-treating then take their candy away because .... do you feel guilty/how do you cope/what do you think... with the whole consumer thing going on that you are adding to the cycle that people buy because the kids come, more kids come, more candy is bought...

I know much of this post sounds like "what should I do with the candy" but that's not really the question I'm asking... I'm using that as an analogy of what is going on in my head... I don't really know 'what' I want to talk about, but something... possibly consumerism as the jumping off point.

I take my child trick or treating, I let them go up to all the houses and say trick-or treat and get the candy. they come home, we sort it out, take away the questionable pieces in regards to safety (have no problems just ditching them in the trash or compost) then there's still this HUGE pile of candy. We sort through again, pulling out the kinds they have tried and won't eat or ones that we know they won't like, so at all goes into a pile for me and dad to eat or for us to pass on to their cousins, (I'm okay with that, although in a way, the candy was given to the kids, not us.. I can abstractly understand this being 'okay') but still there is a HUGE pile and I don't want my kids (or other kids, or other adults) to eat all that sugar, or 'that' particular piece, it is made by X company, it is just lousy candy,... what then? what do I do with all that candy? If I had not taken them out T-or-T then we wouldn't be faced with this situation of what to do with this abundance of sweets.

I feel like it's like I have just taken something and said thank you but have no intention of using it. It's not like it's something that I feel like if I take it, then I can 'get it off the streets' (I will take pesticides/chemicals with no intention of using them just so that I can be sure they are disposed of at the hazardous center) Or taken something that someone already has in their possession that I will 'pass on, find someone who needs it' It's something NEW that these people have spent their hard earned money on, possibly even spent money that they could not really afford it in the 1st place. And what am I going to do with it? use it?

Okay I know it should be just simple, you don't want it, don't take it...but really some of the things that people hand out are 'good' ... if more people were to say okay here is this particular candy or that particular treat (not candy) I'd be okay taking the kids to a zillion houses... and bringing home a leaf size garbage bag of stuff. (well maybe not because even too much of something good becomes bad)

Then you add into the whole equation... What "I" think is 'good' - "you" "think is 'bad' so what then??? I just supported a cause or a company by having people buy something I really would want to support, but you just could not do it because you don't agree with their ideals. That consumerism is good for me, bad for you.

I'll leave this post there because my mind is just whirling too much with options and what ifs....

[smellyann82]

bumping, b/c i'm curious about what other families do. this year we didn't t-or-t, but dd isn't even quite 3 yet. eventually she'll catch on,though.

i'm concerned about the social responsibility side--the mass production, the labor, the waste, and also the health aspect. dd had her first candy at a little gathering this year. she's now been sick for a week with an awful head cold. my research leads to this not being a coincidence.

[happyhats]

I don't really know for sure what we'll do with dd when she's old enough to trick or treat. But there are a lot of fun halloween options for children that don't trick or treat...schools, churches and other organizations often have parties for little ones so they still get to dress up and enjoy the holiday without it being all about candy. I'd look and see if any were available in your area.

[ellemnop]

I will only be taking Lem to houses of people that we know (probably a maximum of 10) on Halloween night. She'll still get the experience, she'll still be able to say trick or treat and see other kids dressed up, but this way I don't have to question the safety of the candy, or find a way to get rid of a huge excess as she'll only have less than 10 treats.

Take care,
El

[mountaincaats]

My kids love to trick and treat. At ages 9 and 6 and lil' sis at 3 (who misses nothing), not much can get by them. We take them out and let them have fun. They may have a few pieces that night,but when the night is done, we take out questionable stuff and put each childs candy into seperate ziplock type bags. The bags go into the freezer and they may choose to have one piece a day. It spreads it out over a long period of time and they have never fussed about it either. They just can't believe they even get to keep all that junk in the first place.
This plan is not 100% perfected. little sisters bag seems to only have a piece or two in it. Don't know if that is because the boys pilfered and put stuff in their bags or someone ate it. Could be the dad. HHMMMMM......
The kids do know the routine and that part is good. They don't get into the bags in the freezer because they know they stand the chance of losing their entire bag. I have no problems throwing all that in the trash.
We don't get any trick or treaters at our house, but for the rare occasion that we do, I buy earth balls to give from the local co-op. What's left over is for us, er' us big kids who did not get a bag full of candy.

[Annie44]

My father always took all of our candy to work with him. They LOVED it and knew that the boss always brought a huge thing of candy to work every year. He was everyones favorite person after halloween. lol

[Otterella]

This year, DS (just shy of 2) had so much fun handing out the candy, but really was shy when we were out trick or treating. So I'm thinking next year, we stay at home and he helps me pass out the candy, then Mommy makes a special homemade Halloween treat, like homemade candies that I control the ingredients and how much he gets, and we just skip the trick-or-treating. As he gets older, we can do Halloween parties, and I'm sure he'll get some commercial candies that way, but that's not feeding the cycle nearly as much as trick-or-treating.

[WC_hapamama]

I don't take their candy away... I just dole it out in reasonable amounts.

[GuildJenn]

We only took our son to about 10 houses and still ended up with a massive bowl of candy!

Yesterday I put about 2/3 of ours in the food bank bin at the grocery store. My husband said next year we should keep it longer and put it in near the holidays for stocking stuffers.

[Toolip]

OP: I completely understand where you are coming from. I think it is totally gross that we all go buy all this candy that then gets promptly thrown away. It really seems wrong to me.
That said, I LOVE Halloween and trick-or-treating. The fun of trick-or-treating to me is going around and seeing all the neighbors, staying up late, dressing up, etc... I have never cared about the candy.
We used to save what we didn't eat (which was almost all of it, I really never liked candy) and use it to decorate gingerbread houses at Christmas. That way, we weren't just buying more candy to get thrown away (I was never one who could eat a gingerbread house).

I'm glad that you brought it up. It's something that was really sitting wrong with me too.

[lightheart]

Here it is 2 weeks after TorT and I'm still trying to figure things out. Then I started thinking about the costumes and all the decorations... I know some people save them to reuse next year or the kids play dress up around the house until they grow out of them. But how much of that stuff is considered 'consumable' and just thrown away?

I wonder just how much combined all that 'stuff' would take up? space wise- then think about the money poured into it... I really am not trying to be bah humbug about the Halloween Holiday.

How many pumpkins were made into jack-o-lanterns and just rotted?
How much fertilizer/land/water was used to grow those pumpkins?
How many people or animals could those pumpkins of fed?
How much cleaner/greener would our planet be had those pumpkin patches not been planted in a 'disposable' produce?

[Ta2dmama]

We host our own kids Halloween party which saves this trouble that way I decide how much candy the kids have. Do you go trick or treating with your kids? If so maybe just limit how many houses you go to, once you've decided there is enough candy...

Lightheart; We used the insides of our pumpkins for soup and the day after Halloween I cut up the shells and we ate baked pumpkin for lunch

[astrophe27]

In practical terms?

I kick out pencils, erasers, stickers or temporary tattoos from my house. The kids are all pleased, and by putting something NOT candy out, I hope to give their parents ideas for next time when they sort their kids loot.

For my own child? Visit less houses so her pumpkin doesn't get ridiculously full, and get her back to our house to "help pass out" -- she likes that just as much.

This year we also helped throw an Ancestor's Feast at our church and went to a witches ball -- so she got a lot of "Halloween experience" spread out over two weeks.

If we're going to do Halloween, I want her to understand its roots in Samhain and other ways to celebrate it.

A.

[Toolip]

Originally Posted by lightheart

Here it is 2 weeks after TorT and I'm still trying to figure things out. Then I started thinking about the costumes and all the decorations... I know some people save them to reuse next year or the kids play dress up around the house until they grow out of them. But how much of that stuff is considered 'consumable' and just thrown away?

I wonder just how much combined all that 'stuff' would take up? space wise- then think about the money poured into it... I really am not trying to be bah humbug about the Halloween Holiday.

I know, it makes me sick too, but you could insert any holiday with the same concerns although there do seem to be more "disposable" Halloween decorations. We make all of our decorations and save them year to year. I have EVERY costume that I have ever been since I was 2. Many people have borrowed them and they get used for dress up all the time but I know that this is not true for both.


As far as theses questions, I know that it isn't true for most but it can be done differently.

How many pumpkins were made into jack-o-lanterns and just rotted?
We composed ours that were really squishy as well as talking any that out neighbors didn't want.
How much fertilizer/land/water was used to grow those pumpkins?
Both of our local pumpkin patches are organic/ dry-farmed and fertilized by cows from a local, organic dairy.
How many people or animals could those pumpkins of fed?
There are several local farms where you can take your pumpkins after Halloween to feed to the cows. There is even one place that does a pumpkin catapult that launches them into a field and then the cows come and eat it up.

I don't really have a point. I know this isn't true for most. I can't imagine the gas used for shipping pumpkins. I guess I just wanted to brag about what a conscious community I live in



OP: I am still thinking about your words. Trick-or-treating has become very strange. We all go buy candy and sometimes spend a lot of money, kids come asking for it, and then the parents throw it away. Something is very wrong when you go knock on someone door and ask for a gift and may already have decided that you were going to throw it away. Maybe it is time for a change in tradition.

[onlygirls]

I never thought about the pumpkins before! That is a good point.

I bought some candy for us but I passed out Play-Doh. I have also given stickers. Kids were more excited about those than candy.

We only went to a couple houses, so there was not a lot of candy coming home with us. Before TOT'ing we had a get together down the street with the neighbors. So it is more about having fun and dressing up than getting candy.

My oldest is 6 and I still had all her costumes until this year. We have 2 more daughters so I saved the costumes for re-use. They also like to use them for dress up. I sold a few that I didn't need and hopefully those will be passed on as well.

[APMomOfKimmyN-Maya]

I personally do not like the idea of trick or treating anymore because of the conspicuous consumption aspect.

I still have not stopped taking my kids though, because our friends invite us to go with them and I don't want to seem "above" trick or treating. I would like a new more eco friendly alternative to the current Halloween norm though.