This was a tough one. My kid’s kinder was well into Halloween this year – dressing up, carving pumpkins and talking about trick & treating. I keep the kids off sugar as much as possible but my kids also want to be involved in activities with their peers, so what to do??

The kids did go trick and treating. Why? There’s a few reasons.

Firstly they really wanted to take part with their friends. Secondly my husband is Irish, and though Halloween is best known as an American celebration, it has strong Celtic routes. Originally as a harvest festival, widely celebrated in Ireland. And finally it is actually a great way to make contact with your neighbourhood. It’s really nice to meet neighbours from up and down the street in a relaxed and celebratory environment.

Our neighbourhood has a lot of kids so I was prepared for our door to be knocked. Instead of sweets I had little toys that you find in party bags things like bubbles, bouncing balls & whistles. Nothing expensive but still a bit of fun for kids.

It was great as the kids enjoyed the variety and eagerly dipped into my bowl of goodies to pick a toy. The remaining toys will go towards birthday party bags next year.

Did my kids get a lot of sweets? Actually, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. The kids only went to six houses (people we knew would be ok with a visit). For the kids six was plenty, they wanted to come home and see who knocked on our door. Yes they got sweets but they also received different things like snack size packets of rice crackers.

Don’t get me wrong, the kids did eat a couple of lollies but the rest have gone to the back of the pantry where party lolly bags get “lost” and forgotten.

As parents we make decisions that work best for our families, and our decisions are different as every family is different.

What worked for your family on Halloween? Any good tactics for avoiding the sugar overload?