Happy Halloween Bowl
Last year, I loved all of the suggestions that rolled in when I queried about Halloween candy alternatives on Twitter and Facebook. Particularly since I started doling out Halloween treats as a parent, it's been important to me to hand out items that are: a) natural/organic; and b) an alternative to food, in case of allergies. Definitely check out the Halloween candy alternative post for additional ideas, but today I wanted to share the affordable and chemical free goodies that will grace our Halloween bowl this year. Admittedly, I was surprised to see rather limited Halloween selections at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's this year so I stocked up on three primary treat items and will get the non-food items later this week:
1. Yummy Earth lollipops and gummies. Unlike her chocolate-loving mama, when given a choice, Laurel opts for hard candy and gummies over chocolate. And she loves Yummy Earth. We included Yummy Earth in her birthday piñata and will be handing out their organic lollipops and gummy bear packages on Halloween.
2. Trader Joe's chocolate. Trader Joe's had very little in the way of Halloween treats but what I liked was that they had affordable small chocolate bars (I couldn't find these at Whole Foods). I picked up several bags of Trader Joe's milk chocolate and semisweet chocolate mini chocolate bars (12 for $1.99).
3. EnviroKids Crispy Rice Bars. Yesterday at Whole Foods I picked up these EnviroKids organic snack sized peanut chocolate bars. Actually, strangely enough, I looked at them, passed them by, kept thinking about them, and when Jon and I met at the checkout line with our two carts, he had picked up the full sized bars for the house. I went back and picked up the mini size for Halloween.
4. Craft kits. When Laurel was looking through our bowl yesterday, she pointed out that we should really have craft kits again, because "they're fun and then kids with allergies can have something to pick up." Very astute (also, check out this back article from Tracy on allergy-friendly Halloween tips). The craft kits we offered last year were actually the very first thing to go! So this week, we'll hit the craft store and pick up some mini craft kits to round out our Halloween bowl.
Finally, I also looked for but could not find Annie's bunny graham and cheddar bunny snack packs. These are a nice candy alternative idea, and if I see them last minute, I'll pick some up. Otherwise, I feel that we now have enough to appease the neighborhood kids.
Do you have favorite natural/organic Halloween treat ideas? Please feel free to share them in the comments below!
Comments
Wow, you're good. I just bought bags of snickers and milky way bars and a token bag of Halloween pretzels. No one in our neighborhood cares one iota about organic treats or sugar alternatives, so I just go along with it. (And besides, I have a secret love affair with Snickers.) ;-)
Posted by: Musings of a Housewife | October 25, 2010 12:06 PM | Reply to this comment
I like Oriental Trading Company for things like Halloween give-aways. You can get a lot of stuff to give away at a good price and no one rots any teeth on my watch. When I was a kid, one neighbor gave away cool erasers...that was the best and most memorable treat because they lasted longer and they were pretty cool!
Posted by: Meri | October 25, 2010 1:41 PM | Reply to this comment