Candy, Candy, Candy

 

Imagine all of these buckets filled with candy. . .
Too hard?  Let me give you a glimpse:
Isn't that so sweet that someone gave us toothpaste?  We'll definitely be using it.

Now think of all the things that you could do with this candy (besides just letting your kids eat it right away).  I know some people like to trade their kids for their candy and then send the candy to the school, for little "rewards" that the teachers hand out.  That's very noble, but I always have big plans for the candy in those buckets.  Depending on the year, and the number of times we go "trick-or-treating," we can usually get a pretty good haul.  I'll dump this bucket out so you can see:
 
Our city does trick-or-treating, our neighborhood does a separate trick-or-treating just for the kids that live here and at church, typically there has been a "trunk-or-treat" activity for the kids, and we usually stop by my husband's work at the end of the working day and visit all the offices and get more treats.  We don't let our kids eat any candy until Mommy and Daddy have checked it.  My kids are pretty good about asking if they can eat their candy or not.  They usually get a few pieces right away, but then, when they are sleeping, I lock my bedroom door and dump out all the loot.  Anything that is definitely "Halloween", goes right back into their buckets.  Then I make piles and pull out candy that is great for gingerbread houses--M&Ms, Smarties, Skittles, hard candies--

--sometimes my kids do this when they get their candy back.  Sometimes I do it for them.  When they pick the candy to save for their gingerbread houses it can get kind of interesting--like candy corn and eyeballs ending up in their stash.
   

Then I make piles of candy for each person in our family for Christmas.  These candies I put into zip-top bags and hide and save them for Christmas stockings.  This way everyone gets a fun variety of candy and I usually only have to buy candy canes and maybe a chocolate Santa per kid at Christmas.

If they have lots of candy, I've been able to pull out candy for Valentine's Day (I like to go by colors (red, silver and pink candies for Valentine's);

St. Patrick's Day (green and gold candy)

 and even a little bit for Easter (pastel or primary colors work great here).

They don't need a lot of candy for these holidays.  Just a little bit to make the day seem special, and to supplement the traditional conversation hearts and sugar cookies, gold coins and shamrocks and jelly beans and Easter eggs that they also get on these holidays.  I bag up the candy in zip-top bags, label it and put it in an undisclosed location.

Don't worry.  My kids get plenty of candy for Halloween.  And the stuff they don't want, my seminary students will gladly take for scripture mastery rewards.  This may seem a bit tricky.  But it definitely is sweet.
~Lena