It’s Halloween time !!!

That means candy! You can’t walk more than 10 feet without seeing something about child obesity in America, and yet no one cares at all when it comes to Halloween. It’s like a modern day Hansel and Gretel, only instead of being shoved into an oven by a witch the kids are going to suffer a slow death due to heart disease and diabetes. However, some of you will resist the pull of sweets and try to give out alternative treats.

Here then are a few guidelines to help you make your Halloween decisions easier :

• Fruit Let me start out by stating it plain: Fruit has no place on Halloween. 364 other days of the year, sure, get healthy.
• Money Overall, giving out money is a pretty poor strategy. When I was a kid, if someone gave change, the thought process was, “come on! Where’s the candy!” Kids will think you were too lazy to go out and buy a few bags of candy
• Gift Certificates Gift certificates are a safe and simple way to give stuff out. Unfortunately, they take away the immediate gratification element of Halloween. It’s like when a well meaning aunt gives you a U.S. Treasury Bond on your eighth birthday it’s all very nice and practical, but you can’t very well unwrap it and go play with it that day.
• Toothbrushes and Floss Hard to believe, but it happens. I would love to be inside of the head of someone who makes the decision to give out toothbrushes on Halloween.
• Informational Pamphlets I read a comment from someone who said that in his neighborhood there were two houses that would hand out pamphlets explaining why Halloween is Satanic.