I don’t know about you, but my house has officially been bombarded with Halloween candy. Between school parties and trick-or-treating, my 3 year old collected over 150 pieces of candy. If your house is anything like mine you are probably thinking…so now what?

Here are my 5 tips on what to do with all of that leftover not so good for you goodness.

Use it as a learning tool.

As a teacher this is my personal favorite. Candy makes the best manipulatives and can be used as a great way to come up with many different patterns and/or counted collections. Ask your kiddo to count their stash in groups of 2s, 5s, and 10s and see if they get the same total all 3 times. Sorting is also a great way to get a little bit of extra learning in by classifying the sweets by color, size or even by beginning sounds (have your child tally each group for an added bonus). If you want to throw in a little writing you can ask your child to take a bite and describe how the candy tastes using their 5 senses and write their descriptions down on paper. By adding to it every time they try a new piece they can even make their own Candy Book (make it even better by adding illustrations).

Cook with it.  

Smoothies, milkshakes, cookie dough, brownie and cake batter are all dying for a little jazzing up now and then, so what better way to add a little bit of pizzazz than with a leftover Snickers bar?!? Topping ice cream with a few leftover nuggets wouldn’t be so bad either.

Freeze it.  

Candy can get very expensive. By freezing some of your leftover holiday candy you can save it and have a ready to go stash for the next upcoming holiday; I’m thinking in an Advent calendar, as a Valentine’s Day gift to your sweetheart, in an Easter basket or in a birthday pinata just to name a few.

Donate it.  

Many school teachers, nursing homes, pediatric hospitals, homeless shelters, or other donations based organizations would love to take your unopened sweets, just make sure to contact the company before sending it in.

Sell it.  

With the intent to get excess candy out of kids hands and promote healthy living many companies offer to buy back Halloween candy every year, namely dentists. The candy is then donated to specific non-profit organizations in the area. To see where the nearest buy back location is to you click here.