Have you heard of the Switch Witch? I hadn’t until just this year.
I came across the story on the internet and fell in love with this idea! I don’t have kids at home anymore or grand kids yet so I thought I would share this with you.
Candy is not a staple in my home other than 90% dark chocolate. Only on rare occasions would my kids be seen with a piece of candy.
I used to cringe at all of the candy they would bring home after Trick or Treating and tried many different things. Maybe you can relate to a few of these.
- I would let them eat as much as they wanted on Halloween ONLY. This often resulted in very upset stomachs and even missing school the next day.
- I let them have 1 piece per day, their dad had a piece and so did I.
- I had them portion control the candy into baggies and they could have one baggie each week and so did their dad and so did I ….
- Eventually the rationing would wear off and they would forget about it (good for them) I never forgot where the candy was and neither did their dad!
Then, I also had to deal with the Trick or Treat kids coming to my door. I tried all of the following on different years:
- Bought a Halloween Flag that said Candy Distribution and cut out a red felt “NOT” sign on it … no one believed me. I handed out sugar free gum.
- I made the front of my house soooo scary only the big dressed up teenagers would come to the door …. I gave them sugar free gum. They scared me!
- I bought so much dry ice and created so much fog no one could find the front door.
- I dropped sheet ghosts out of the trees and off the roof and ran remote control rats at them down the sidewalk … my house became the most popular one on the street!
This year, John and I are going to Washington DC for Halloween! Brilliant; duh … leave town! This is an easy solution now that my kids are grown.
Back to Switch Witch …
So here’s how it works. Download this poem, print it out and read it to your kids/grand kids. The Switch Witch is actually the sister of the tooth fairy (makes the witch a little less scary).
On Halloween night after you are all home from Trick or Treating, let each kid pick out 15 pieces of candy to keep. You can choose any amount. Then place the leftover candy on the front porch for the Switch Witch.
The idea of a witch coming into our house would not have been up for discussion when my kids were young, even if she was a nice witch. While the kids are sleeping the Switch Witch comes and takes their candy in exchange for a gift.
Some examples are a toy, movie or a coloring book. You decide. My kids would have loved this, I just know. I might have been willing to spend $5 to $7 per girl.
So plan now and email me back I would love to hear your own ideas about how to handle all the sugar at Halloween.
Switch Witch Poem