October 31 has come and gone, and whether you were out pounding the pavement with a costumed munchkin or you holed up indoors to dole out the coveted sweets, you are inevitably sitting on a good-sized pile of sugary goodness. Copious amounts of candy is the a hallmark of Halloween success among kids, but many adults want to limit sugar intake and preserve dental health by meting out the well-won treats in conservative portions. If you are at a loss for what to do with your excess Halloween candy, look no further than these six smart solutions.
Freeze It
Candy bars freeze magnificently well, which means you can enjoy your well-earned sweets throughout the year by sticking your stash in the ice box. Frozen sweets are wonderful in milkshakes, on top of ice cream, and added to cookie dough or cake batter for a more presentable treat. Then again, you can always just munch on your ice-cold goodies whenever you like.
Mix It Up
Eating 20 candy bars in a row is decidedly unhealthy as well as unsatisfyingly not filling. You can increase the nutrition of your Halloween candy by mixing it in with more healthful, satiating foods like nuts, seeds, and dried fruit. Then, you can make handy portions of your mixture to take to school, to work, or on your next hike. Here are some excellent mixes perfect for candy leftovers:
- Witches' Stew: Candy corn, raisins, cinnamon gummies, sunflower seeds, candy-coated chocolate pieces, corn chips, and pretzels.
- Halloween Trash: Candy corn, chocolate-covered raisins and sunflower seeds (or other chocolate candy), pretzels, caramel popcorn, sour gummy worms, banana chips, dried mango, pineapple, and cherries.
- Spooky Mix: Candy corn, mini marshmallows, caramel corn, chocolate chips (or other chocolate candy), caramel corn, peanuts, and pretzels.
- Eye Candy Mix: Chocolate chips (or other chocolate candy), raisins, shoestring potatoes, cashews, peanuts, dried bananas, candied pineapple, and candy-coated chocolate.
Celebrate New Recipes
Halloween is just the start of the holiday season, which means you have quite a few major meals ahead of you. This year, you can concoct all new holiday recipes using the ingredients you already have: leftover candy. It is surprisingly easy to get rid of your sweet stash during the holidays, when so many friends and family members gather to eat. This year, you can replace the marshmallows in your Thanksgiving yams with candy corns (it really works!) or whip up Hershey's bar pie with some grated candy bar on top. Then you can rid yourself of excess Halloween candy and inedible pumpkin pie in one move.
Sip Your Sweets
The child in you wants to stuff your mouth with those fun-sized sweets, but the adult in you wants to save your empty calories for more adult indulgences. Fortunately, it isn't hard to make candy-bar cocktails to satisfy both desires. You can soak nearly any sweet in vodka for fantastic candy bar flavor, or you can mix crème de cacao with nearly anything (Frangelico, butterscotch schnapps, cognac, amaretto, and more) for a tasty chocolate drink garnished with candy.
Get Crafty
You can't deny that some candy wrappers are cute: Those multi-colored Hershey's Kisses are simply darling any time of year. With the holidays coming up, you can make good use of your sweets by transforming them into seasonal décor. With a little hot glue and a lot of imagination, you can stack any foil-wrapped candy into delightful shapes, like wreaths, stockings, trees, and more. Of course, during your crafting you might notice that you are running low on your candy supplies. If you need to restock, you can always head to Hershey's Chocolate World to find the exact shade and shape of candy you need.
Give It Away
For every piece of candy in your Halloween haul, there is at least one kid (of any age) who didn't get to enjoy any sweets on or after October 31. There are a number of charities who gladly accept gifts of leftover candy to give to needy people around the world. Here are some popular national organizations to send your stash:
- Operation Gratitude: American soldiers need all the morale boosting they can get, and a candy bar care package will certainly hit the spot.
- Ronald McDonald House Charities: Hospitalized kids often don't get a chance to trick-or-treat, but that doesn't mean they should miss out on the goodies afterwards.
- Operation Shoebox: Kids in homeless shelters also often miss out on Halloween fun, so gifts of candy can make them feel fortunate.
