What to Do with Leftover Halloween Candy

So your kids brought in the big hauls this time and you have tons of leftover candy? You know they can’t (and shouldn’t) eat all of that before it goes bad so what can you do? You can only hide it for so long before they find it and start stashing it in their rooms.  It feels wasteful to toss it in the trash when people took the time and care to purchase it to give out to trick-or-treaters. What if there was another option?

What to do with leftover Halloween Candy

Freeze it – Many candies, like chocolates, you can freeze and use later, throughout the year. You can add them to cakes or cookies, pull them out for a quick, sweet snack, or mix them into ice cream. You can also put chocolates in your coffee, use them in hot chocolate and much more.

DIY trail mix – You can also use it to mix up some trail mix. Little candies like M&Ms work well for this, adding them to nuts and pretzels, or dried fruit. This won’t work with gummy or hard candies.

Participate in a candy exchange – Some doctors or dentist’s offices will offer a candy exchange around Halloween. They allow you to bring in your candy and exchange it for cash, or for healthier treats or small toys. Check around your town and see if any offices are participating.  If not, maybe offer to start one?

Donate some of your candy – Rather than hold on to it until it goes bad, or have your kids work themselves into candy comas every day, you could donate a portion of the candy. Sometimes soup kitchens, or charities that send care packages overseas will accept the unopened candy to fill packages. Food pantries, Ronald McDonald House, nursing homes, and children’s hospitals are some other examples of places you might be able to unload your candy.

Recycle it – You can use some of the candy for goodie bags for an upcoming birthday party or another holiday or event. You could put it in mugs for gifts to others, or even use it to fill a piñata.

Get crafty – There are even a lot of ways to use hard candies in crafts. You could build a house with them, or even an entire city, possibly an early gingerbread house for Christmas. You could glue them to a wooden picture frame to make a neat gift for someone, or use the wrappers to make jewelry.

Now that you have these great ideas on what to do with leftover Halloween candy, you’re ready to start planning.