Halloween hack: Never again forget how much halloween candy to buy

Kristin (mom of 2 sets of twins ages 6 and 3) answers the burning question: how much candy should I buy?

I can never remember how busy our neighborhood is and how many trick or treaters we get so every year I overbuy candy. (And with 4 trick-or-treaters in residence we have WAY too much candy on November 1st!)

Two Halloweens ago, I saved the empty candy bags as I dumped them into the trick-or-treater bowl so that at the end of the evening I had a tally of how many bags of candy we actually used. I then recorded that number in my Palm on the calendar on 10/31. I also noted the weather (e.g. "rainy and cold") so that I can remember whether the trick-or-treater traffic was unusually light or heavy that year. Now I can peek at my calendar from last year or the year before on my cell phone and make a more educated estimate of how many bags I ought to buy this year. (I'll note the info again for this year of course!)

Tags: Halloween

Comments

[Eva]

Now THAT is seriously organized. I like it.

[andrea]

That's some planning! I usually count on extra candy, because it supplies our gingerbread house party just after Thanksgiving. In fact, I buy the candy with good house decorating-possibilities in mind.

[Bonnie]

Boy, I'm a librarian and I'm not even that organized!

I go a different route. Instead of candy, I buy small Halloween toys from Oriental Trading Co to give to trick or treaters. What ever I don't use one year gets saved for the next. And I feel better about giving something other than candy - plus the kids seem to like it better anyway!

[lace]

Great Idea. Although I don't have that problem. All I have to do is buy one bag and hope that we actually get some trick or treaters. We usually have a grand total of 10. Neighbors down the street and then our own family. We live in town but not in a heavy residential area.

[wdskmom]

But how do you track how much of it was self consumption. heehee

[mark]

Huh, my wife and I handed out play-doh last year and that was a real hit with the kids. Their eyes lit up when they saw what they were getting.

[Jill in Atlanta]

I actually prefer the gingerbread house hack! I just bought my candy today and have eaten a good bit of it already. If (somehow) it is gone by the 31st, I'll keep our future gingerbread house in mind the next time around!

[Gina Clowes]

I buy trinkets as well. Even if you dont want to special order, you can buy multiple bags of non-edible treats at party stores, Target, & Walmart. For Halloween, you can get bags of a couple dozen mini playdoughs for under $4 and save the rest for party favors or stocking stuffers!

Gina

[Serene and Not Herd]

This seems like a great way to not overbuy, something we have done the past several years.

Without a palmpilot handy, but with a great program called Active Desktop Calendar by Xemico, I'll put the information in a task for Halloween 08 with a 15-day-out reminder, since we usually buy at the last minute. The weather condition portion is just as inspired as the primary hack.

Thanks!

[Audi]

Love that idea. For those that don't have a Palm most e-mail programs like Yahoo or AOL offer a reminder calander that would work for this. It would send the remider to your e-mail.

Instead of candy I give out the snack sized popcorn. The kids love it becuase they can eat it. I love it because it is better for them than candy. Then anything that is left gets used for movie nights at our house.