how about "no self respecting family would let their kids trick or treat at my apartment"?

In the end I bought honey candy from a local honey company. I couldn't get ahold of anything fair trade, organic was way out of my price range, and this way I'm supporting a local business.

Who are all the sticks-in-the-mud who don't celebrate Halloween?!

One thing missing from the list is Peanut Free candy. I know a few kids who have an allergy to peanuts and things sure can be tough for them.

The candy doesn't necessarily have to be any different. Just made in a peanut free facility.

Peanuts in the shell.

Great packaging! (but obviously not good for those with allergies)

What about the costumes? Imagine the toxins, pollutants and sweat shops used in the process of creating a rubber mask. Are there any alternatives out there?

Max,

>>any alternatives out there?
Yeah, your own two hands and some paper mache. It's amazingly easy.

Or, get vintage cloth masks at a specialty shop, or try 2nd-hand shops. They're usually loaded with old costume stuff.

I don't celebrate Halloween, but the neighborhood kids sure do so what does it matter. Halloween's right down there with Valentine's Day in the "useless holiday" epartment. And kids are getting more and more shameless about trick-or-treating four years past puberty, too.

Maybe that organic idea would do the trick and discourage them. Tofu instead of Twix. Green treats would get a rep REAL quick and solve a lot of doorbell problems.

I'm not a stick in the mud. I live in a downtown loft, so no kids go trick-or-treating at my door. I do plan on carving a pumpkin for my contest at work, but that's about it. I worked/volunteered in a charity haunted house for years, so I've had about all the costumes I care to wear.

you guys don't celebrate halloween? that's crazy, i love my pegan holidays.

I live in a rural area. I would be lucky to get one trick or treater every five years, so if a kid does happen by, (s)he gets an apple or banana or an orange, if there is one lying around, and if not, well, I try and be nice when I tell them I don't have anything.

I love halloween but am not doing any of it this year. Last year I put up a ton of decorations and had 200 full size candy bars to give out. Only 10 or so kids showed - and I live in a large city! I could only figure that since it's a large city maybe it's considered unsafe or something. So this year I didn't bother :(

Most of the "good" stuff I've seen looks pretty homemade, or at least is not wrapped in what I'd consider "sealed" packaging (not going to give out $3 organic chocolate bars). I'd hate to think that there are parents out there who would let their kids eat something with such a tamperable wrapper. So I buy the regular stuff and can feel better that at least the food isn't going to waste. Leftovers come to work with me, and then I can stock up on the good stuff for myself at home.

Here in the boring 'burbs we get ransacked. Handed out over 100 pieces of candy last year. Halloween would be a charming piece of paganalia if only a few witches and superheroes showed at the door each year -- esp. if they were age 10 and under -- but we see them mini-vanned and SUV-ed in for their sugar raids, teenagers and all.




The real question is: who has the courage to throw out leftover chocolate instead of eating it (under the cover of that single "dark chocolate is good for you" research from last year). Come on. Look in the mirror and confess.

Organic treats? I've never heard of this idea. I love the invironment, but get real. This page is a poppup, btw.

Would love to give out organic and fair trade candy but the cost is prohibitive and I would guess it might not be satisfying to the kids (non brand-name candy). We give out over 200 pieces of candy each Halloween to more than 100 kids, and buying just Milky Ways, tootsie rolls, and Twizzlers I spent $25 on the candy this year. That seems a ridiculous amount as it is. However, if fair trade candy were sold in the grocery stores and drugstores alongside unfair-trade candy, I might have considered it. Having to hunt it down was an obstacle too difficult to overcome this year -- maybe next.

This week at Whole Foods my husband and I found a bag of mini chocolate bars from the Endangered Species Chocolate Company. I know that treehuggers are a cynical bunch, but I figure if it helps animals who cares if it is a marketing angle? Anyway I think it tastes better than most of those mini chocolate bars. I hope some kids actually show-up this year. Last year we had a pumpkin and candy, but got no kiddies :(

I tend to buy early to avoid the rush on candies. I chose as healthfully as posible, avoiding obviously wrong ingredients, yet still be edible to me (I had one cute little which show up at my door over the past four years :( ). Peppermint Patties, Nestle Crunch, Dark Chocolate Hershey's Kisses, mini Chocolate Peanutbutter cupcakes. Al gotten at the local cheapassFoodMaxx.

yes sinful I know.

I will take alook around at the real healthfood store and see if they have any treehugger candies.

I used to buy some bags of candy; not enough kids would come, and I'd end up eating the rest, which was not great for my personal ecology.

Now I spend the exact same amount of money and go to the dollar store and buy small toys. The great thing is that the kids act like you gave them a million dollars. It's so fun.

And, no leftover sweets to undermine my shaky dental health.

Ugh, another attempt to ruin Halloween. It was bad enough when the old folks would give out an apple and some raisins (instant sidewalk compost). But if something like this catches on, you people will end up with more organic eggs on the side of your house than you can imagine.

One night a year. Don't ruin it for the poor rug rats.

GUYS, THIS COULD BE A MAJOR WAY TO SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS. Just buy some candy, tape little papers on them with all the ways to save energy(etc.) and hand it out on the streets. People will read it.

Chingy,

How could you ruin Halloween by handing out chocolate that actually tastes like, well, chocolate? Organic and fair-trade chocolate usually has much more real cocoa and tastes way better.

I mean, have you tried comparing a real chocolate bar with any of the greasy brown crap Nestle and Hershey passes off as 'chocolate'?

so anyone who chooses not to celebrate halloween for whatever personal reasons is a 'stick in the mud'? hmm.

I'm baffled when people say they don't like Halloween. It's the best holiday of the year, hands down. Aside from MLK's birthday and Memorial Day, it's the only holiday I truly celebrate.

I plan to give out endangered species mini-bars (the bug-bites, I think they're called). If I have leftovers, then I'll eat them or give them to friends on the Winter Solstice. The chocolate is damned good, and it gives me a chance to vote with my dollar, as it were.

Now, the real question is how many of us used organic pumpkins for our jack-o-lanterns? (Heh)