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Forget scary movies, outrageous costumes, stories of haunting and all the “boo - stacular” events that happened around us! The most haunting and daunting part of Halloween is what to do with all that candy!

Let’s start with the truly worse idea of them all; have your child gorge out for one to three days after you picked out your own favorite pieces to stuff down your own throat. Hmmm, sounds familiar? That’s what my mom did! She took all the Hershey’s chocolate and mound bars from my happy pumpkin carrier and left my sisters and I with all the bubble gum, lollipops, Juicy Fruits, Good and Plenty and Mary Janes. (What was up with those Mary Jane candies anyway? why not just harden castor oil and wrap it up in some unattractive mustard colored paper?)

Having had Halloween candy stored for years in decorative tins through Easter, I finally decided to make good use of all the Halloween loot. If I lived in the vicinity of Tommie Barfield Elementary School no doubt I would have already recycled half or more of my child’s candy. The reason being I most likely ran out around 7:30 p.m. and resorted to desperately picking through the evening’s take in order to avoid running out to Walgreens every half hour or turning down a cute little trick or treater.

So what about the rest of us on the island that receive 1.5 trick or treaters on any given year? Not only do we have our own children’s candy to deal with, we have all the candy we bought in hopes our doorbells get rung more than once! What to do?...what to do?....here’s what to do...

*Freeze it! Yes, chocolate stays fresh frozen for a very long time. In fact a few artifacts have been found buried with the great woolly mammoth. Good point to ponder; frozen chocolate takes longer to eat, therefore the child will take their time and not gorge out on five to six pieces. Why do I suddenly feel like Martha Stewart?

*Bake it! Keep your candy. All sorts in air tight containers (again candy has a long shelf life) and use the pieces to bake in the middle of cupcakes. Don’t you just love those fun gooey surprises inside? In addition, candy makes great decorative pieces on top of icing.

*Melt it! You don’t need summer camp or the great outdoors to make smores. Smores are now microwavable in less than 20 seconds. In case you have forgotten, your boy scout or girl scout days smores are two graham crackers with a bite size piece of chocolate and marshmallow in the middle. Great activity for all you youth group leaders, teachers, and hungry parents.

*Stuff it! ...and I mean that in a very good way. How cool would it be to buy a piñata and stuff it with Halloween candy and give it as a gift? Not only that! What about lots of stocking stuffers, gift cups, baskets, and name place markers to be made? We still have Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up. Small tip, don’t put a candy with a Halloween wrapper in a Christmas present. Slightly tacky!

*Craft it! I could fill a whole issue of Family Circle Magazine with craft ideas, however, just to excite your interest I’ll name a few. Great for decorating those gingerbread houses. Candy pieces make great house tiles, sidewalks, plants, and window panes. Kids love to make sculptures using toothpicks, marshmallows, and candy. How about creating some mosaics using hard candy and icing? These craft projects aren’t edible, however they use the candy and are great boredom busters. If they are determined to eat candy stick with edible jewelry buy tying candy wrappers and lollipops to ribbon.

*Share It! Yes, the best place to share is your place of business or teachers’ classroom. Want to put a smile on a customer or co-workers face? Leave out a bowl of candy (wrapped of course) on the counter for pickings and grinning. Think of your deli counters. Those free pieces of cheese and hams keep our mouths busy while we wait for our number to be called. Chewing keeps our mouths free from complaining how long the wait is.

Here is my all time favorite...

*Ship it! How about putting together post Halloween trick or treat packages for our men and women oversees? Bloody gummy fingers, Frankenstein marshmallows, and orange and black M & M’s are sure to put a grin on every soldiers’ face! I believe there is a dentist in Naples that actually started this collection project. If you are out there give us a holler on Marco Island and we will gladly fill your dentist tray to the brim with treats for the troops while keeping our children cavity free!

There you have it! Plenty of things to do. Some are a quick fix and some require creativity. Regardless, it’s much better than belly aches and belly breaks! Get going and if you come across any red licorice sticks, you can send those in my direction in care of the Eagle. Hey I did mention share...didn’t I?

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Gina Sisbarro – Blassneck resides on Marco Island and is the Senior Program Director at the Marco Island YMCA. Her passion is anything to do with kids; especially the teens. She enjoys directing theater and writing. She looks forward to publishing her first adult novel hopefully in print by the holidays. She has two teenagers Wesley and Brianna “Booey” which gives her the greatest joy in life!