If you’re like many Americans who go trick-or-treating with your kids or pass out candy on Halloween, chances are that you have TONS of Halloween candy leftover. We don’t yet have a kiddo trick-or-treating age, but we were excited to pass out candy this year. We bought 3 huge bags from Target and had two, I repeat, TWO, trick-or-treaters. That means that of our 295 pieces of candy bought, and the few handfuls we gave out, we have somewhere near 275 pieces left. That’s ALOT of candy. A lot of candy that I’d rather repurpose then waste or leave around the house. We have a feeling that you’re in the same boat as we are - loads of candy that you don’t know what to do with. Well, friend, we have a few solutions for you.

How to Repurpose Your Halloween Candy

Homeless Bags

We know that there are real needs among the homeless but everyone loves candy! Though it lacks nutritional value, candy is fun and a nice treat for anyone. Try creating thoughtful packages for the homeless in your city with your leftover candy. If you live up north and the low temps have already settled in for the season, package any candy up, and keep them in your car to give to anyone you might see while driving. If you live in a warmer part of the country, leave out the chocolate candies so they don’t melt in the car. We’d recommend packaging these up in a Ziploc bag to provide something useful to your homeless neighbor after it’s empty. There are a million uses for Ziploc bags, are there not?! As an alternative to keeping these candy packs in your car, have everyone grab a few bags and go out as a family to an area of town with a high homeless population and hand them out as a family.

Pro Tip: Use this as an opportunity to talk to your children about caring for and serving others, needs in your city, etc.

Reverse trick or treating

We highlighted this option a bit in our post How to Connect with Your Neighbor on Halloween but we’ll mention it here as well. Get dressed up in your costumes again, take your big bowl of candy, and go knock on your neighbor’s door not to get candy from them but to give some to them! It’s a fun and silly way to get to know your neighbors more and build family memories.

We also REALLY love this take on reverse trick or treating from Tyra at Preparedness Mother and see a possibility for a new family tradition here;

“We start October by making a list of families that we would like to trick or treat. We always try to squeak in a few that we don’t see often or who live a little farther away. We make a list and then try to go out at least once each week through October. We pile into the car with a book on CD (Harry Potter is a favorite) and go through our list. Each stop usually ends up turning into a 30-minute visit or more but everyone goes away happier and feeling a little more loved.”

We don’t see any reason this should be limited to October! Feel free to reverse trick or treat for the rest of the fall season!

Christmas classroom gifts

Pull out all of the candy with obvious Halloween packaging and create little gift bags for your child’s teachers and classmates for the Christmas season. Be sure to pull out any candy with nuts if you’re child’s classroom is a nut-free zone. Simply package the candy in a cellophane bag, tie a cute ribbon around it, and add a cute Christmas tag for easy, basically free Christmas gift for your child to pass out on the last day of school before winter break.

Nursing Homes / Hospital Waiting Rooms

Pass out candy or small sacks of candy as a family at a nursing home or in a hospital waiting room. This is another great way to bless others as a family and teach your children about loving others.

Use in Christmas Gifts

Again, pull out that obvious Halloween candy, and repurpose your candy in DIY Christmas gifts. Fill a mason jar with candy, hot glue a ribbon around the lid, and put a cute Christmas sticker tag on top - viola! A simple, DIY Christmas gift for your coworkers, neighbors, or friends. If you’d like to add a little more monetary value to the gift, try tucking a gift card inside.

Valentine’s

Halloween candy typically lasts 6 to 9 months which is just enough time to repurpose for Valentine’s day. Most children in the States have a Valentine’s day party in February at school and we think this is another perfect opportunity to use up your Halloween candy. Make the V-day treat bags now so it gets the candy out of hands reach. Come February, have your children make DIY Valentine’s day cards to attach to each bag.

Recipes

Another great idea is to use your candy in holiday treats. Brit+Co has some awesome recipe ideas so we won’t go into much detail here but some highlights among their recipes are Candy Corn White Chocolate Blondies, Loaded Candy Bar Popcorn, and Twix Cheesecake Bars.

Donate it

Today.com highlights some great options on where you can actually donate leftover Halloween candy which we think is a great idea! Some options that particularly stood out to us was donating your candy to Treats for Troops or reaching out to your local Ronald McDonald House and seeing what their needs are.

We know you have tons of leftover candy but don’t throw it out! As you can see, there are so many ways to repurpose your Halloween candy and we love that many of the ways are opportunities to save money, bless others, and get creative as a family!

What will you do with your leftover candy? Let us know in the comments or on Instagram. Follow us at @TheCelebrateDaily.