A1

Charline Cormier-Pellerin

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

Speak Up

My oldest child is going to be 12 this year, so this October 31 will mark my eleventh Halloween as a parent.

And after having to sort through four stashes of treats, following the children's annual trek around nearby city streets, in order to ensure that each candy is safe for eating, I can't help but notice how some treats work while others do not. So, from a mother's perspective and based on my personal opinion, here are a few things to ponder when preparing for Halloween night and deciding what treats to dole out this year.

Mr. Freezies: True, these are tasty treats and everyone loves them. However, these little parcels of liquid amongst all the other stuff in a Halloween bag can easily get nipped; leaving them to leak and make a mess. Although, I wouldn't recommend going this route, should you wish to give this sort of thing, you really ought to put it in a resealable baggy as an added precaution.

Unwrapped candies: A couple of decades ago, this may have been the norm. However, nowadays, no parent possessing even the smallest amount of common sense is going to allow their child to eat something that may have potentially been tampered with.

Even if you personally know the child that you are giving it to, by the time mom and dad go through the bag of goodies, nobody is going to remember where each candy originates from. So, it will no doubt be garbage bound along with any and all other questionable candies. Therefore, giving unwrapped candy is basically throwing your money away; you may as well turn off your light.

Homemade goodies: Unfortunately, these will most likely be treated the same as the unwrapped candies. So, unless you plan to give these creative treats to youngsters, who you are either related to or know very well; or who, after having gotten the okay from their parents, will eat them right on the spot. There really is no point in going to all that trouble. As tasty as they may appear, homemade goodies anonymously mixed up amongst all the other Halloween treats in a bag, will no doubt get tossed.

Mini containers of play-doh: I love this idea. I would have never thought of it on my own, but having found containers of play-doh amongst the children's stashes last year, it's an ingenious idea! And the same goes for notepads, pencils, erasers, and any other tiny toy, that has been given to the kids when going door to door. Kids love playing with these types of trinkets the next day and not only does it last longer than the chocolate will, there's no chance of it giving the children a stomach ache. And last but not least, it makes for one less leftover sugary treat for them to eat once Halloween has passed.

* Charline Cormier-Pellerin, Moncton resident and mother of four children, writes a regular column on parenting and its many adventures for This Week.