Halloween can be a wicked time to stay on Plan. Store aisles overflow with 5-pound bags of candy, your kids come home with all their loot from parties and trick-or-treating, and at night's end you're inevitably left with half a bowl of candy by the front door. How can you be expected to resist your favorite candies when they are within arm's reach, no matter where you turn? Easy! Use these sneaky tricks to wrangle all the treats.
1. Resist sales and bargains. Don't fall for coupons or BOGO deals. A 5-pound bag of candy on sale is still a 5-pound bag of candy. Buy what you think you'll hand out to trick-or-treaters, and not a mini-bar more.
2. Buy late. The closer to Halloween you buy the candy, the better. And once you bring it home, don't even rip open the bag until the first trick-or-treater comes. That way, you'll have less total temptation time to cope with.
3. Choose candy you don't like. Hate coconut? Load up on Mounds and Almond Joy. You get the idea.
4. Devise a game plan. Start giving out more candy to each costumed kid as the night wears on, so there's less left over. If there are still remainders, get them out of the house. Give the candy away to a food charity, collect it all and offer it to the neighbors, or bring it to work (and drop it off in a different department!).
5. Go out on a full stomach. If you plan to escort your kids house-to-house, make lunch your big meal of the day, so you're not walking around hungry with bags full of candy at your disposal. Carry a mug of something hot to sip on, or chew minty gum. It’ll help kill your urge to sample.
6. Manage the kids' haul. Once the candy's home, work with your kids to decide what to do with it. Have them pick their 10 favorite pieces and save the rest for lunches and parties. And you can literally enjoy Halloween for months – chocolate bars freeze very well.
7. Ditch the sense of occasion. Remind yourself that you can buy candy any time of the year. There's no need to overdose on fun-size bars on October 31 when you can enjoy them whenever your heart desires.
8. Keep things in perspective. Eating a little bit of candy on Halloween doesn't make a person overweight — it's constant overeating that can pile on the pounds. So don't assume you can't enjoy even a single treat, especially since deprivation is a tactic that often backfires. Track your treats, save up some SmartPoints, and enjoy!