This post was sponsored by Crest and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.
Growing up, Halloween was one of my favorite holidays both because we got to dress up and go around our neighborhood with friends and because of candy (of course!). As soon as my kids were born, we continued the tradition with cute costumes and treks around the neighborhood to both say hi to neighbors and for them to collect their own stash of candy.
Halloween candy and costumes are just a great part of the holiday. And Crest has lots of fun with this by bringing a group of school-aged children together for a focus group where they are asked to test out some new healthy alternatives for the season in the following fun video. See what the kids think about that!
While I love candy with all its yummy goodness, our teeth don't really love all the sugar. So, while I still want to keep Halloween fun, here are some tricks to help manage the huge candy explosion in your house (and potential impacts to your kid's teeth):
Create a Candy Plan
Before Halloween even happens, decide as a family what you want to do with the large amounts of candy that will soon be entering your house. Do you want to allow your kids to eat as much as they want on Halloween night and then limit the candy? Do you want to have your kids choose their favorites and then dispose of the rest?
Thankfully, there are lots of ideas out there to help you manage the candy:
- Candy Buy Back Programs: Many dentists participate in candy buy back programs, where your kids can turn in some of their candy in exchange for cash, fun products, or coupons for free items. You can use this site to see if there are any participating dentists in your area.
- Candy Swap: You could create your own candy buy back program within your household and let your kids keep their favorite candy and "buy" the rest of it in exchange for cash or a new toy. You could then donate the extra candy to a local organization or send it to Operation Gratitude which sends candy to the troops.
- Decide when Candy is Allowed: To keep Halloween fun, I usually let my kids each pretty much anything on Halloween night (within reason) and then limit the candy after that to one or two pieces per day during snack time so that they're not eating junk all day and so that the sugar on their teeth is limited to just one time (and they can brush their teeth afterwards). According to a Candy Confessions survey that Crest did, 72.7% of mothers limit their children to a maximum of 10 pieces of candy on Halloween. Fathers set their child’s candy limit a bit higher, with over 60% setting limits between 11 – 31+.
Limit the Types of Candy
Not all candy is created equal. Some candy is worse for your teeth than others. Thankfully, my favorite (chocolate) is actually one of the better types for your teeth. Any sticky or gummy candy is going to stick to your teeth long after eating it. Plus, sour candy is very acidic and bad for the enamel of your teeth. And if you chew hard candy, you could crack your teeth.
Brush Teeth with Crest after Eating
And of course, one great way to limit the effect of candy on your teeth is to brush and floss your teeth well with Crest after eating any type of candy. According to Crest's survey, 70% parents enforce stricter teeth brushing/routines on Halloween for their children.
So, we're lucky that Kroger will be having a sale on Crest toothpaste (Crest Paste Pro Health Advanced, Crest Paste 3D White, Crest Paste Pro Health, and Crest Paste Complete) that you can stack with a $1 off Crest coupon to save on toothpaste (good through 11/10).
Here's how it works:
Kroger:
Crest Toothpaste, $2.99
$1 off Crest Toothpaste coupon in the 10/28 P&G coupon insert in your local newspaper
Total after coupon: $1.99 ea.
And, of course, Kroger also has a large collection of candy that you can buy to stock up on Halloween candy to hand out before the holiday.
What about you? Do you limit candy on Halloween? What do you do to keep all of November from being a candy-fest for your kids?
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