This year, you can have a great Halloween without the sugar high and keep it vegan to boot!
Every neighborhood has that one house. You know the one: they hand out raisins and pencils for Halloween and the area kids line up to throw eggs at it when they finish their candy collecting. If you are one of the people who don’t want your kids going into a sugar-induced coma, and you also don’t want to put money in the pocket of the local dentist, then read on.
You could just shut the lights off and ignore the doorbell all night, but that won’t work if you have children of your own. Here are some great ideas for a vegan Halloween that your entire family will love.
Who says you have to give out a food product?
That one house in the neighborhood that the kids now avoid every year doesn’t like to dole out sugar. Well, there is nothing wrong with that, but who says you have to put yourself on the kids’ naughty list by giving out boring raisins? There is another item that isn’t candy that kids still love, and it’s stickers! You can find some great stickers at a low cost at your local craft or dollar store. Grab a variety and let the kids choose their favorite.
Halloween is still Halloween without trick-or-treating
If you choose to not let your kids go on the annual candy hunt, here are some other options they will enjoy:
- Movie night! Make it a night where you all sit around and watch scary movies. You could also dress up for Halloween as a family and go to the movies.
- Throw a health-conscious or vegan Halloween party. Find some other like-minded families in the area and get together for some scary, yet sugar-free fun.
- Find local Halloween events at a mall or community center. This will be a safer environment for your children, and while there may be “some” candy, it will thankfully pale in comparison to what their friends will be getting.
- Spend the night cooking some Halloween treats as a family.
Handing out candy
Never fear! If you look forward to handing out candy each year and seeing all the little monsters and witches come to your door, you can still do it. You can find a great selection of vegan or sugar-free candy at the local health food store. Many of these stores will have bulk bins of wrapped health-conscious candies for you to choose from. One thing to take note of is that although vegan candy is all-natural, it does contain a fair amount of sugar and high fructose corn syrup.
Here are some of the my favorite Halloween candy treats which are vegan:
- Airheads taffy
- Brach’s Cinnamon Hard Candy
- Cry Babies
- Dots
- Dum-Dums
- Fireballs
- Jolly Ranchers (lollipops and hard candy)
- Jujubees
- Jujyfruits
- Laffy Taffy (some varieties)
- Lemonheads
- Mike and Ike
- Now and Later
- Smarties (U.S. Brand)
- Sour Patch Kids
- Swedish Fish
- Sweet Tarts
- Twizzlers
Granted, these aren’t exactly health food, but everyone needs to splurge once in a while, and what better time to sneak in some junk food than Halloween? vFor even more vegan candy ideas you can check out this list over at PetaKids.com.
Make it fun!
Let’s face it: kids are kids, and they aren’t as hard to please as you might think. If you have a garage, turn it into a haunted house of sorts and make the kids come in to get their “treat.” Set it all up and then open up your garage door to some spooky music when you are ready. Kids love houses that have a haunted theme, and it won’t matter if you are giving out stickers, vegan candy, or even tooth brushes!
Image credit: Creative Commons photo by ElaineVigneault
