Halloween Candy ??????????????

Halloween has come and gone...and today, the day after the big Trick or Treat...I am left with so much candy to deal with. Charley has always been the kid who was happy with one M & M...not one package...ONE actual little green M & M.  He always asked for the candy, but accepted my response whether it was one or none at that moment. 

Henry is a different kiddo. He is climbing up on our stool to look in his bowl. He is complaining that he is hungry all the time and asking for candy...well actually, he finds a piece and then finds me and says, "Mama, I eat this?" Not sure if he is asking or telling.

I am left wondering what to do about the candy.  There is a big part of me that says...let them eat as much as they want these first couple days and let the excitement and stash die down.  But then there is the healthy mama in me that says...I need to control when and what they are eating.  This article, on the blog Raise Healthy Eaters, made me think about it and I think I might loosen my control on the Halloween bowls for the rest of today and tomorrow and see what happens.  Then by Wednesday things will have died down a bit.

So today one way that we are re purposing our Halloween candy...and getting it out of my reach, is with this creative craft that I came across last year.  So this afternoon we worked for over an hour and a half on this baby! 

It is a countdown until Thanksgiving.  So 50 pieces of candy have been stored away for the month.  And each day after lunch the boys can break into that day's cup and enjoy a little treat. 

I used my handy dandy glue gun to adhere 50 cups to a piece of heavy duty cardboard/board.
The boys filled each cup with a piece of candy. 

And then Charley stamped numbers on tissue paper circles that I cut a little bigger than the cup.
I did the glue job.  Henry helped pat them down, stamped his own picture, and made sure all the cups were full at all times.

We are counting down to Thanksgiving.  But I didn't label the poster/calendar with the month because I am thinking I might try and use it again in December...

Love this project...but I will admit the project was kind of putsy (is that a real word?).