Halloween Night: Brain Boosters Popular With Kids
(vs. Candy as Brain Busters)
Every Halloween I get dressed up (in my powwow-purchased blue dress as a Native American woman) and get ready for the kids to come knocking on my door. About 5 years ago, I started experimenting with hand out something different then candy. Using dark chocolate with almonds as the candy I gave as options different fruit products and nuts. I noted that most of the kids chose either a nice red apple, or the nuts or raisons. So for the past 3 years, I’ve handed out only brain healthy fruit or nut choices.
But what would be the cost to go brain healthy? Here’s a breakdown of prices for Brain Healthy Halloween Treats:
|
Products |
Prices |
Amount in Box/Bag |
Price per Item |
Number Taken |
Total Cost |
| Apples |
$4.99 |
10 x 3 bags =30 |
$0.42 |
30 |
$14.97 |
| Trader Joes Mixed Nuts in packets |
$5.49 |
10
|
$0.55 |
9
|
$4.94
|
| Sunsweet “Ones” (individually wrapped prunes- scrumptious!) |
$3.99 |
20 x 2 boxes =40 |
$0.20 |
26 |
$5.18 |
| Sunmaid Raisons Minipacks |
$2.99 |
14 x 2 boxes =28 |
$0.21 |
24 |
$5.12 |
| Full Circle Organic Real Fruit Rollups Strawberry, Pomegranate, Etc. |
$3.59 |
10 x 5 boxes =50 |
$0.36 |
41 |
$14.71 |
Total Price for 130-140 kids: $44.94
Last year I had 100 kids come to my door, all ages, from 2 to teenagers (and a few parents). Only two girls, about age 8 challenged me with “where’s the candy” This year we had 130 kids, and no one asked me “where’s the candy” and not a single child refused to take anything; of course several teenagers coming near the end of the 2 hour Trick and Treat time asked how many they could take and took a couple with permission. Several parents accompanying the smaller children said thank you to me for offering healthy options.
Apples were by far the more popular treat. By 7:00 they were all gone. I gave out 30 and probably could have given out 40 or more. By the end of the night I still had some treats left over which I was able to use for my presentation at Methuen Village the next day. These treats can be for the everyday indulge, not just for Halloween. That is another reason for going this route: no leftover candy to create the guilts at home! Or to dump on people at work! Of course just choose brain healthy foods YOU LIKE and nothing will go to waste…or to bloat your waistline.
So for a little bit more money I was able to make this Halloween a brain healthy affaire. If we want to start making this world a more brain and body healthy place we have to start instilling this idea and habits in our children. I hope that by handing out brain healthy treats instead of candy, I’ll make the kids think twice about reaching for the candy.
And the fact that most of these kids seemed really happy about these offerings means that they have already been learning some good habits.
