A Candy-Free Halloween

Two years ago, Mark thought our house would be egged. After all, I bought mini Play-Doh to hand out to trick-or-treaters, instead of candy. I thought they were cute and what kid doesn’t love Play-Doh?

The doorbell rang and I nervously opened the door. Teenagers. They looked into the bowl and shouted “COOL! Play-Doh! I haven’t used this stuff since I was a kid!” After closing the door I smirked at Mark. No egging this Halloween.

Last year I still had leftover Play-Doh. That’s what you get for buying a pack of 80 at Costco. But I also found glow sticks at the dollar section of Target (Michael’s craft store also sometimes carries them in their dollar section – a package of 15 bracelets). But wait! There's more! After ordering birthday party supplies from Oriental Trading Company, I stocked up on Halloween glittery temporary tattoos . It was another popular year for trick-or-treating at the Kaplan house.

(By the way, Oriental Trading Company has a few Halloween promotions right now, including $5 off a $60 order, or free shipping today (until midnight) using code WC97382 for orders over $49. Use the search engine for other coupon codes, or look for them on the OTC website.)

There’s still time to give out something different. Trust me, I love candy and am the first to raid my kids’ plastic pumpkins when they go to bed. But it’s not hard to get creative with the goods, especially with dollar sections offering non-edible treats like themed pencils (10 for $1) and stickers. The kids are excited at the novelty.

Happy trick-or-treating!