The Ingredients Inside Halloween Candy
Halloween will be here soon! Can’t wait to see all the little one’s dressed and ready to rock-and-roll. Halloween with littles is exciting, but this holiday can also bring some anxiety surrounding candy, choking hazards, and maybe even having some hard conversations with our littles (or even family members and friends) about foods.
The dietitian on the team helped me break down the facts about mainstream Halloween candy, as well as shed some light on some options or alternatives if parents are interested.
Why is mainstream candy so “bad?”
Remember that we don’t label things as “good” or “bad,” but rather find it better to use terms like “preferred” or “best to avoid if possible.”
It’s no secret mainstream candy is filled with ingredients that are less than nutritionally optimal. But, it’s even more important to look at these ingredients when it comes to our little ones because their bodies are still growing and developing.
Some of the main ingredients that may warrant a “pass” on the candy for your little ones are:
High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) and Corn Syrup
Artificial Colors - Blue 1, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, and Red 40
Artificial Flavors
Artificial Sweeteners - sucralose, aspartame
Partially Hydrogenated Oils
Preservatives - sodium benzoate, sulfites (sulfur dioxide), polysorbate 60, 65 or 80, nitrites, TBHQ, and BHT/BHA
Soy (soybean oil, soy lecithin)
If you’re living outside the USA, you may not be familiar with some of these ingredients because they are illegal to be in your food. If you’re in the USA and just read that sentence, it might make you question why the USA food system isn’t a bit more strict. I am still scratching my head, too…
What are the most “ideal” mainstream candies?
We get it. It’s Halloween, and you don’t want to be the parent that takes all of the candy away! There’s gotta be something for your little one! I’ve been there.
Here’s what we do:
These are not free from all the ingredients listed above, but they are free from artificial dyes and high fructose corn syrup (which, in our opinion, are the easiest to avoid and the best ones to eliminate if you can!).
Hershey’s Milk Chocolate (Sugar, Milk, Chocolate, Cocoa Butter, Milk Fat, Lecithin, PGPR, Natural Flavor)
Peppermint Patties (Sugar, Corn syrup, Chocolate, Cocoa, Invert sugar, Milk fat, Egg whites, Cocoa butter, Lecithin (Soy), and Oil of peppermint)
Brown/Chocolate Tootsie Roll Pop (Sugar, Corn syrup, Cocoa, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Condensed Skim Milk, Whey, Artificial and Natural Flavors, Soy Lecithin)
If you want to offer traditional candy to your little one, or leave them with some candies in their Trick-or-Trick bucket, these options may be good to hone in on!
Remember: Many mainstream candies are choking hazards.
It’s definitely recommended to go through your little one’s bucket of Halloween candy and take out all of the choking hazards.
Anything hard, round, extremely gooey or chewy puts your little one at risk for choking.
Here are some common mainstream candy choking risks:
Blow Pops
Swedish Fish
Gummy worms
Candy Corn
Gummy Bears
Hot Tamales
Jawbreakers
Jolly Ranchers
M&Ms or Peanut M&Ms
Milk Duds
Reese’s Pieces
Sour Patch Kids
Laffy Taffy
Skittles
Tootsie Pops
Twizzlers
Whoppers
Basically, if it’s hard and round or extremely squishy and sticky, it’s a no-go for little ones under the age of 4-5. Parental supervision with candy (and really all food) is ALWAYS recommended.
The great debate: “It’s only one night.”
You might have the mindset on Halloween that, “it’s only one night”, so how bad could it possibly be to let your kids have free reign of their candy? You can certainly choose to do that if you want! The possible subsequent tummy ache can be a learning moment for your toddler or preschool child and an opportunity for you to have a conversation with them about how having too much candy makes their body feel yucky. It is important not to shame your child or use “I told you so” language, but rather ask them questions about how they feel (if they are old enough) and discuss how a different approach next time might be better for them.
It’s also important to remember that while our children are little, it’s our job to be the gatekeepers of what goes into their bodies, so setting some boundaries around candy consumption might feel like a better option to you. Doing this can help prevent a huge blood sugar spike and subsequent dip that occurs from eating a lot of sugar. (This still happens even with “healthier candies” because they are still high in sugar). It can be tricky to find the right balance, and what you decide to do may depend on your child’s age.
It is recommended that littles under age 2 not have any added or processed sugar (this is backed up by the American Heart Association, U.S. Dept of Agriculture and U.S. Dept of Health). Honestly, at this age, it is likely a bit easier to swap out their candy for healthier alternatives, since they likely don’t know a lot about candy just yet!
Kids ages 2-4 aren’t old enough to manage their stash of candy and make sound decisions regarding how much they consume. They are going to need some boundaries set in place.
Kids over age 4 may be able to manage their candy stash and their consumption, but probably not, and will likely need your guidance.
It is ONLY one night, so if you offer candy, try to keep it to just a few pieces and maybe talk about other options they can enjoy with that candy, too!
Better for you Halloween candy options:
You don’t have to decide between having fun and letting your kids eat a ton of candy with less-than-ideal ingredients. There are plenty of sweet treat options that are free from all of the concerning ingredients previously listed.
Here are some pre-packaged options we like:
Lesser Evil Snack Pack Popcorns (for older kids, as popcorn is a choking risk)
Skinny Dipped Chocolate Covered Almonds (for older kids, as whole nuts are a choking risk)
YumEarth Gummies or BlackForest Organic Gummies (3 years +)
YumEarth Organic Pops (3 years +)
Wedderspoon Manuka Honey Pops (3 years +)
We do “The Halloween Swap”:
To help prepare for the candy conundrum coming, we keep some candy alternatives at home around Halloween time. After we’ve gone through the basket and removed the choking hazards and candies we want to avoid, we add these alternatives to the Halloween basket so there is a mixture of candy they got while trick-or-treating and “candy” we added in!
You will have to figure out what works best for you and your family when it comes to Halloween, but here are a few fun options to help make the night special while also minimizing the amount of non-ideal ingredient consumption.
Let your children enjoy trick-or-treating, and when you arrive back home, do the Halloween Swap!
Have a bucket of better-for-you candy options ready to go and swap their candy out. (If your kids are really little, you may even be able to do this without them noticing while they’re taking a potty break, bath, etc.)
Or maybe you want to be intentional about it and explain to your kid(s) the reasoning behind swapping the candy out. This conversation would be ideal to have before Halloween so it doesn’t come as a big surprise to them. Maybe they can have input on which candies you buy to replace their trick-or-treat candy!
You can even have non-candy, fun items in the swap bucket, such as glow sticks, stickers, fidget spinners, bubbles, pencils, etc.
If your children are very little, or if trick-or-treating isn’t your jam, you might be able to opt out and just have a fun evening passing out better-for-you Halloween treats that you buy (or make together beforehand). Or just have a little family Halloween party at home!
A Favorite Halloween Treat Recipe from our Registered Dietitian
Homemade Nut Butter Cups
Ingredients:
1 cup chocolate chips
3 Tablespoons melted coconut oil
½ cup natural, creamy peanut butter (or almond/cashew butter)
¼ cup pure maple syrup
Servings: Makes about 12 regular-sized peanut butter cups, or 24 mini peanut butter cups, depending on how thick you make your layers.
Directions:
Line a regular-sized or mini muffin tin with paper or silicone liners.
Melt 1 cup of chocolate chips and 1 Tablespoon of the coconut oil together either in the microwave or on the stovetop until smooth and creamy.
Use a spoon to pour the melted chocolate into the bottom of each of the muffin liners. Use just enough to fully cover the bottom, about 1-2 tsp for regular-sized. (You will have chocolate left over for the top layer).
Place muffin tin in the freezer for about 10 minutes to let chocolate harden.
While the chocolate hardens, mix together ½ cup peanut butter, ¼ cup maple syrup and and 2 Tbsp coconut oil and melt together in the microwave or on the stovetop, until mixture is pourable.
Remove muffin tin from freezer and distribute peanut butter mixture evenly on top of chocolate layer.
Place muffin tin back in freezer for 5 minutes.
Pour remaining chocolate mixture on top of peanut butter layer. You can sprinkle the top layer with sea salt, chopped peanuts, sprinkles, or whatever you want.
Place muffin tin back in the freezer for about 30 minutes to set and then you can store in the fridge.
Tips for A Great Night
Last, but not least, make sure you feed your children a nutritious, high protein meal before the fun begins! This will help balance their blood sugar through the evening and keep them satiated so they aren’t digging into their candy bucket while hungry and treating it as dinner. Keeping your little ones hydrated is also important. Skip the sugary drinks for the night if you can, and pack them a bottle of water.
Above all, don’t stress too much, enjoy the night with your children and make some great memories! Happy Halloween!
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