Halloween is typically a massive lolly fest for kids – but it doesn’t have to be

Halloween can be a massive lolly fest. Children come home from trick-or-treating ready to dig into a sackful of lollies and chocolate bars.

This is enormous fun on paper. But it can also be stressful as parents navigate how many lollies are OK amid kids’ excitement.

Here are some ways to make it healthier for kids, without taking away the fun.

What about a night off?

For those already planning a big lolly-filled Halloween, rest assured one big night of eating lollies is not going to have a lasting impact on a child’s health.

However, regular consumption of lollies and sweets is linked to dental decay and erosion and may contribute to childhood obesity. So it is best to limit sweets to special occasions rather than every day.

The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating recommends children can have have up to one to three serves of discretionary foods per day, depending on their age and gender. The serves can increase for teenage boys.

Discretionary foods are not needed for a healthy diet and include lollies, as well as other common foods like soft drink, fried foods, sweet biscuits and pastries.

Reducing the sugar load

For those looking to make Halloween a bit less sugary, these are several things you could try:

• give kids a smaller bucket or bag to fill up with lollies to reduce the overall quantity they bring home from trick or treating

• help kids portion out the lollies they collect to last for the next few days or longer. This can help to reduce the amount eaten on any one occasion and to stretch out the excitement

• for those giving away treats, go for smaller individual serving sizes or consider non-food treats, such as bouncy balls.

Think about snacks beyond Gummi Bears

It is also a good idea to have some healthy snack or meal options ready to go to help balance out the lollies and ensure that kids are still eating nourishing food alongside the treats.

Some easy snack options to have on hand include fruit, yogurt, nuts and plain popcorn.

What about meltdowns?

With all that sugar and excitement, Halloween can be overwhelming for kids and parents alike. Sometimes, meltdowns happen.

The rapid increase and decrease in blood sugar levels (the sugar crash) that comes with eating lots of lollies can contribute to mood swings, irritability and exhaustion.

Read more: Curious Kids: how do sugar rushes work?

To help avoid potential meltdowns, discussing and setting expectations around sweets before going trick or treating can help kids know what to expect and reduce resistance later.

For older kids (late primary school or high school), this might look like having a conversation to negotiate and agree upon what the expectations around sweets will be. For example,

let’s agree on how many lollies you will have tonight or on a time after which lollies will be put away until tomorrow.

For younger kids (pre-school or early primary), this may look like parents deciding on and then clearly communicating and upholding the expectations around sweets. For example,

when we get home, we’re going to tip out all the lollies. You can have a look at all of them. Then you can pick five to eat tonight and we will save the rest for later.

What about allergies?

If you have a child with food allergies, setting and upholding clear boundaries around sweets during trick or treating is extra important.

This might mean not eating any sweets until they can be checked by a parent, or making sure older kids know what to look out for on food labels, what to avoid, and are prepared with a medical kit.

Can we just skip lollies altogether?

If the lolly fest version of Halloween is not for your family, there are plenty of other ways to celebrate. You might like to try a scary movie night, carve pumpkins, host a costume competition party, or put on a backyard Halloween-themed scavenger hunt.

However you plan to celebrate Halloween, having an early conversation about treats and setting clear expectations can help everyone involved to enjoy this spooky season.