Halloween Revisited
In the past, I’ve always given out my favorite kind of Halloween candy, that way if there was anything left over it wouldn’t go to waste since I’d eat it. (Uh, no wonder I gained so much weight, LOL!). Anyway, this past Halloween I handed out treats that I knew I could resist and 
wouldn’t want if there was anything left over, and my planned worked out well. This Halloween passed without me stuffing my face with 5 pounds of candy.
It also helped that my two daughters, now fourteen and sixteen, are no longer trick-or-treating. I bought them each ONE BAG of their favorite candy for Halloween, and that was it. It was theirs to eat at their leisure, and there wasn’t a big bowl of chocolate candy bars and other treats to tempt me as there have been in the past. However, I have to admit that a part of me missed not having the girls go out and visit the neighborhood for sugary loot. Because usually they brought back some of the best Halloween candy – the kind of stuff that is only packaged once a year for this particular holiday, in cute little serving size boxes or packages. Ironically enough, it wasn’t the chocolate candy bars that I coveted (which I could buy any day of the year, at any store nearby) but rather other confections that reminded me of my own childhood. These candies were my favorite as a kid, before chocolate became a staple in my life, and I savored each and every one that they brought home on Halloween.
I’m sure many of you parents out there will relate to this story. When the girls were younger, 
the first thing we did once they were done trick-or-treating is bring their bags home, dump them out on the table, and go through each piece of candy to make sure it didn’t look tampered with in any way. You just can’t be too sure these days, and I took my job of sorting through their candy very seriously. This also gave me the opportunity to get first dibs on those specially packaged Halloween candies that I absolutely adored, and lucky for me, my girls were more interested in the chocolate than what I hoarded from their loot.
What were these candies that I coveted, you ask? The first item were those small boxes of Good & Plenty. I love those pink and white coated pieces of licorice! The crunchy outer shell, then the soft black licorice inside. Oh, yum! The other candy I confiscated was those little bags of Sugar Babies – delicious candy coated caramels that were crunchy and sugary and 
melted in my mouth. ::sigh:: Then there was those big, large, Lemon Heads. I’m not talking about the boxes that contain small Lemon Heads. Oh, no, these were BIG, individually wrapped Lemon Heads that had a chewy sweet/sour sugary coating on the outside and a hard candy center. They made me pucker, but I absolutely LOVED them!!! Those candies were definitely my treat on Halloween!
This year, there was no candy to sort through, and I know that was for the best since I’m still losing weight (38 lbs. and counting - Yea!). But I did miss not having those childhood favorites of mine in those cute little packages.
So, ‘fess up – how many of you out there sort through their kids Halloween candy bags and confiscate your “favorites”? And if you do (and even if you don’t have kids) what are your favorite Halloween candies/treats?
No kids, but I love buying Halloween candy for work, and saving the best stuff for me. This year I got a whole bunch of different kinds - bottlecaps, NERDS, laffy taffy, and the chocolate I saved for the office - KitKats and Reeses bars. Yummy. It’s all good.
Comment by Stacy ~ — November 2, 2006 @ 7:16 am
No kids for me, either, but I made sure to grab a bag of Butterfinger pumpkins that I snacked on while waiting for the little trick-or-treaters. Who knew I’d have to compete with THE PRESIDENT handing out candy in a neighborhood just a mile away, though? That simply meant more Butterfinger pumpkins for me.
Congrats on the weight loss - that’s GREAT!
Comment by Jamie — November 2, 2006 @ 7:36 am
lol Janelle–good on you for resisting temptation! I didn’t…and as I was carefully examining my 11 year old’s candy, I snagged a few Laffy Taffy’s. Love those dumb things! And the “flavored” Tootsie rolls that you only ever seem to find in those big huge kids packs for Halloween. I just love sour chewy candy and some days Starburst just won’t do it.
Comment by Leslie — November 2, 2006 @ 8:07 am
I also don’t have kids, but did buy candy I would eat if the trick-or-treaters were few(which they were).I love the vanilla Tootsie rolls…they only come out at halloween or you have to buy a big bag of other candy to get just 1 or 2 in the package during the year. I also love the Laffy Taffy. However, I only ate a very few of my favs and then brought the leftovers in for a co-worker to take home to her kids!!!
Comment by Liza — November 2, 2006 @ 9:41 am
Again - another reader with no kids. Though I was present at the dumping out and checking of my 2 nieces bags of candy. Why is it I can resist chocolate all year long (I know - there must be something wrong with me!) but come Halloween - I just have to sample. I love the fun size mounds, butterfingers and baby ruths. (But, as my mother so nicely pointed out - fun size candy does not make for a fun size butt!) Congrats on the loss of the 38 lbs. Your loyal readers salute you!!!
Comment by Barbara-Jo — November 2, 2006 @ 10:03 am
WTG Janelle on the weight loss and for resisting the Halloween loot! My son did come back with a pillowcase about 1/2 full of all kinds of great stuff.
Someone gave him popcorn, which he promptly dumped on my desk, along with the Peanut M&M’s which he doesn’t like but knows I love, especially when I’m travelling (which I did yesterday. I’m actually far away from home right now so it’s nice to still be able to have normalcy with the Plotmonkeys. Thanks again for being here).
My oldest son is going to be staying with my 11 year old today after school and he already asked me what kind of good stuff Grey had gotten.
He said he really missed not being able to T or T but he knew Grey would have some good stuff and he’d make sure he went through all of it and took what was bad for Grey.
I’m sure our parents went through our bags, we go through our kid’s, and they will go through their children’s. Its a genetic coding thing!
Comment by Jodie — November 2, 2006 @ 10:40 am
Miniature Nestle bars, all types. Good N Plenty. Bit O’ Honey. Mary Janes. Dots. Tootsie Rolls, including the flavored ones (especially Vanilla). Baby Ruth. Caramels.
Need I go on?
Comment by Patricia W — November 2, 2006 @ 11:06 am
I didn’t confiscate any of my daughters candy this year, but I made sure I had my own little bag of M & M with peanuts. I can’t resist those. Way to go with the weight lose. I am stuck at the 20 pound mark. Hopefully the scale will start moving downward again soon.
Comment by Kelly F. — November 2, 2006 @ 11:38 am
Okay I am fessing up! I used to take out all the black jelly beans and dark chocolate.
Kids didn’t much care or miss them. As for the Sugar Babies 
I have a cute story. When we went on long over night drives and my hubby would start to get 
I fed him sugar babies. Who could possibly fall asleep chomping on them. 
I also loved Sugar Daddy lollipops.
ate all the milk chocolate out of my :present:
Trust me though at other holiday the kids
:thumbsup2: 38 POUNDS wow that is super!!! :thumbsup2: WOW
Comment by jeanne — November 2, 2006 @ 12:35 pm
Way to go, on the loss.
I am so proud of you.
I know how hard it is, I actaully have gained about 20 lbs and cannot seem to let go of the sugar addiction.
I actually did not take candy from the kids this year, but I took some of our leftovers from handing out, my husband loves to buy the “good” candy.
but my favorite was the bat shaped peppermint patty that my girlfriend brought me to work.
Have a super day!!!!!!
And keep resisting temptation. You are such an inspitration to us who have yet to find our own inner strength.
Comment by Debbie — November 2, 2006 @ 12:56 pm
of course I go thru my son’s bag and SNEAK out my favorite candy
Sugar Daddy lollypops :thumbsup2:
I like Good and Plenty also, but he didn’t get any on that this year so I tool some Hershey bars
Comment by Cherylann Natale — November 2, 2006 @ 1:09 pm
took all the snickers yummy
Comment by kim H — November 2, 2006 @ 1:19 pm
I have two kiddos who LOVE candy, especially my daughter. But they know that I will go to battle with them over Milk Duds! When I buy them, I go ahead and start pulling out my fat clothes! Why do I even buy them?! :wallbash:
My students (75 fifth graders!) are just now coming off their high and the crash has been ugly!
Lara
Comment by Lara — November 2, 2006 @ 2:15 pm
I’m really enjoying reading about everyone’s favorite candies. I, too, love those minature tootsie rolls in all those sour flavors. Why can’t they make those year round instead of only at Halloween? I love sugar daddies, too, but I’m afraid that now that I’m older I’ll end up popping off a crown or two because those things are so darn chewy!
Comment by Janelle — November 2, 2006 @ 4:01 pm
I only ate the Good and Plentys, if they got any. I absolutely love them. Licorice is my favorite candy.
Comment by Estella — November 2, 2006 @ 5:17 pm
Way to go on the weight loss……….
I have no kids at home, and there were no kids that came to the door this year for trick or treating, but I did buy the minature chocolate bars so that if they were left, I would have the kind I liked to snack on……….LOL
Comment by Cryna — November 2, 2006 @ 5:43 pm
WTG, Janelle on the weight loss. I love the chocolate…any kind, not tootsie rolls or sugar daddies…love the good stuff. Top ten reason to marry my husband was that his mom works at Hersheys!!! I confess, I stole two of my 22 month old’s candies today. They had nuts and he couldn’t eat it. I did better than hubby who stole candy from all of our kids. I have the wrappers as proof!
Comment by katie — November 2, 2006 @ 7:09 pm
My son is 18 therefore too old for Tor T. I live in an apartment so no trick or treaters. I always loved tootsie rolls and caramels. But there’s the whole sticking to you teeth thing that kind of gets annoying.
I went to the Bulk Barn this week and they have all kinds of goodies but I was good and only got Gummy Bears. I usually go there for juice mixes cause they have a big variety. I might go again Tuesday. all this talk about candy, I suddenly have craving galore.
Comment by Christa — November 2, 2006 @ 7:51 pm
Pretty much anything with nuts is mine from my little guy’s bag: Mr. Goodbar, peanut M&M’s…the good stuff!
From my childhood, growing up in a small Midwestern town, one lady always had homemade donuts and hot chocolate. She was the last stop on our route and I remember sitting in her warm kitchen and talking to her while we ate our goodies. She always sent a plastic bag full of donuts home with us. We would sniff each other, inhaling the smell of grease, sugar, cinnamon and chocolate from each others’ clothes.
Comment by Sherry — November 2, 2006 @ 8:40 pm
You should be so proud of yourself.
In my time zone Oprah is on & the program is about weight loss. For anyone that might be interested Dr. Oz’ new book You-On a Diet, sounds like a good book for reference. It really isn’t a diet it is a lifestyle change.
He has given a lot of good information on the program. Some I knew but a lot was new to me. Sugar for all of us is a big no, no! That we all know. I do have a bad sugar habit!! :oops:
My favorite childhood candies are 3 Musketeers, Big Hunk & Sugar Daddy lollipops!! I don’t even know if they still make Big Hunks–terrible on the teeth!! My kids are grown & no grandchildren close enough to share the candy! I do have lots left over as I only had 1 group of trick or treaters & 1 lone child! When I took candy to work they groaned!!
Comment by Donna M — November 2, 2006 @ 8:44 pm
I love the minature sizes of anything gooey chocolate. No hershey bars, or tootsie rolls though, I’m talkin pb cups, snickers, kit kats and almond joy and mounds.
Comment by cathy — November 2, 2006 @ 8:56 pm
Did I mention:bat: black crows and dots, how about juju beads and juju fruits. Oh yeah here I sit out in the woods miles from the nearest candy store. LOL
And the nearset one probably closed hours ago when they rolled up the sidewalks. 
some 
ntone trick or treater either Ho Hum! I to am dieting so I can live without :cry::unlove:
Comment by jeannie — November 2, 2006 @ 11:15 pm
When is the release date for Secret Santa? I haven’t yet found it.
jeannie
Who is thrilled to have won
Thanks again.
Comment by jeannie — November 2, 2006 @ 11:19 pm
I don’t have kids either. I do get a lot of kids coming over to my house though for trick-or-treat. My husband and I stock up on OUR favorites. I know, I know, big mistake! and I need to go on a diet! I am at my heaviest ever! 190 lbs.! I used to weigh 145 when I first started working.
My job was the killer. I sat all day behind a computer. Anybody got any advice on how to jump start a diet and stick to it?
Anyway, my favorite all-time candy is Snickers candy bars! Ooo, and I love the $1000 grand bars. Oh man and I love all the oldie but goodie ones too! Boston baked beans (is that right?), jujubes, straws with powdered candy in them, peel-off candy button stips, candy cigarettes, etc. I have a gas station near me that sells this stuff and I buy it every so often. I have to make that trip down memory lane once in a while.
Our town used to have a Ben Franklin store and it sold all this penny candy that I just loved as a kid! There were bins and bins to chose from! Where did those stores go to?:cry:
Comment by michele l. — November 2, 2006 @ 11:43 pm
I’ve lost 10 pounds, so I bought stuff I won’t eat but the kids will when they stop in to visit. It wasn’t easy not buying stuff that I love- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Milky Ways, Almond Joys, anything chocolate…..
Comment by ev — November 3, 2006 @ 12:19 am
Michele- that kind of sounds like The Bulk Barn here in Ontario, Canada. They have three aisles with bins of all kinds of candies. Plus at the front of the store they have about 10 bins of some of the really popular candy at the time.
Comment by Christa — November 3, 2006 @ 1:14 am
Janelle - Congrats on the 38 pounds! That’s so great!
Comment by Nina — November 3, 2006 @ 9:07 am
Congratulations on the weight loss.
I wish you continued success.:doggie:
Comment by Gigi — November 3, 2006 @ 10:58 pm