Countless hours have been spent preparing for Halloween.  You finally found cowboy boots for your little cowgirl!  Darth Vader's light saber is ready with new batteries.  Really, what more do you need?

Let's make this a Fun & Safe Halloween too- read on:

Feed them First
Make dinnertime a special time on Halloween night. Serve your child's favorite food, and lots of it. This way there is less room in little tummies for lots of junk food that children are likely to get during their neighborhood trick or treat rounds.

Beware of
Take a close look at the tiny print on those candy wrappers and look for numbers, especially if they also include the names of colors. Do you see things like Yellow #5, Red 40 or Blue No. 2? These are the names for the colorings added to candy and other foods. Synthetic food dyes are the most likely suspects when it comes to triggering behavior problems in children such as attention deficits, irritability, restlessness, sleep disturbance, aggression, and hyperactivity. Researchers in the United States, Canada, England and Australia have shown that these dyes can bring about many behavior problems, even when children eat only a small amount.

Pick Ten Pieces
Children's eyes are bigger than their stomachs, so they are likely to gobble up piles of candy in mindless munching only to be left with a severe case of "yuck tummy" and a restless night. As your children empty out their bags of "loot" on the table, let them choose ten pieces of treats, and that's what they can begin eating tonight. Bag the rest and dole out a few pieces each day for several days as a substitute for dessert. Chances are your children will get bored with the candy overdose after a few days anyway.

Throw A Party
Have a Halloween party at your home and invite the neighbors. Then you have control over the amount of junk food being served.

Offer Healthier Treats
Instead of the usual junk food, offer homemade cookies, raisins, granola bars, and fruit. To catch the holiday spirit, decorate the fruit and cookies in interesting designs and shapes. Or, try non-food treats, such as: crayons, whistles, and tiny hand toys.

Be A Food Inspector
Always inspect the treats before your child eats them. Be especially careful about chokable foods, such as hard candies, in children under four. Gum balls or small rubber balls are sometimes given away, look for them in the loot bag as well.

Trade Up
If your children get a tote full of junk that you just can't bear to watch them pollute their bodies with, trade the candy for a desired toy.


"Halloween Tips" written by Cindy Fanton of Juice Plus+, adapted from The Family Nutrition Book, by William Sears, M.D.