Thanks to food intolerances and allergies, or simple concern over how much sugar kids receive on Hallowe’en night each and every year, you may be considering alternative fun gifts to give your local trick-or-treaters. Its something I’ve always been conscious of, growing up with a sibling that couldn’t have any of the candy he collected (instead donating his stash to the food bank, or split among his sibs and parents.) Hallowe’en didn’t hold the same sort of fun for him since he very rarely collected anything he could keep. Perhaps if my parents had set up some sort of quota for him, such as, if he collected 100 candies, he could have five hot wheels cars; 200 candies, he could have a hot wheels track, etc, he might have enjoyed the hunt. It didn’t matter how much he collected, our parents would exchange it for a treat of his choice (within reason of course,) regardless if he brought home 5 or 150 bite-sized treats.
Going door-to-door was more of a chore instead of something fun for my brother. So with that in mind, I’ve spoiled the 15 kids who’ve come to our door each year with alternative goodie bags, in hopes that it will be something special for at least one of those kids who has to be super careful of what they consume. If we had the type of crowd I was accustomed to growing up with (avg 250 kids,) I would probably forgo the actual goodie bag part, but would still find a way to hand out non-food items instead.
Here are my current favourite non-candy Hallowe’en treats to hand out on October 31st!
Five Alternative Hallowe’en Treats
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Comic Books
Halloween ComicFest, brought to you by Previews World Magalog, sells 25 “bite-sized” popular comics for $5 per package. It’s such a fab deal that I wound up buying three different packages this year in Archie, Skylanders and Boom! Studios Halloween Haunt (three quick stories by: Adventure Time, Steven Universe, and Lumber Janes.) Curious of their content? Check out my review of each. It might be too late to grab any of these packages up this year, but check with your local comic book store anyway to see if they have any left in stock if you’re interested though. This was something I had pre-ordered through the Previews World magazine back in July and already know that I’ll have to keep an eye out for this sale again next year. And hey, if your child happens to collect one of these comics, they can use it for the Halloween Comicfest costume contest!
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McDonald’s and Wendy’s Food Coupons
Both of these fast food joints have coupon books to share with the little monsters. McDonald’s books are $1 each for 5 coupons, which consist of: 2 small cones, 2 cookies and 1 small fries coupons, only redeemable by children 12 and under. Wendy’s gives you 8 coupons, 4 Jr. fries and 4 Jr. Frosties for $2, with proceeds helping Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption Canada, not sure if there’s an age restriction for redemption. While I prefer the Wendy’s coupon book over the McDonald’s one for multiple reasons, we don’t have a Wendy’s local to the area, so it wouldn’t benefit the kids around here, who live walking distance to a McDonald’s. *shrugs* Why either of them want to offer ice creams with Winter seemingly around the corner is beyond me though!
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Play Doh Hallowe’en Packs
I’ve noticed our local Walmart carries these small play doh containers specifically for hallowe’en, but I would compare the price for the package with the regular sized play doh cans. You might find a better deal, with more fun for the kids.
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Glow-Sticks
Check out Walmart or Michael’s and see if they have glow sticks in their bargain bins. This makes for great treats, and parents might even get their kids to use them that night.
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LEGO
Love this fun LEGO pumpkin idea from Repeat Crafter Me. You would probably want to hit up a LEGO store to get all the orange pieces you can find.
So those are my faves for non-candy treats for Hallowe’en! Do you have any great alternatives to share? I’m always on the look-out for more!
This post is part of Geek with Style’s Get Spooky series. Subscribe to the GwS newsletter now to keep up with future installments.
17 Responses
I love your ideas for alternative choices for treat to give out for Halloween! I would have loved to have received The Archies comic books or some Lego in my bag! It’s something that I would have really enjoyed long after Halloween has past! Thanks for sharing this post!
I do the same as I’m hunting down these treats, lol. I question if I would I have enjoyed them as a kid, and if so, I’ll add it to my list for the goodie bags. 🙂 I was an avid Archie fan growing up, but I think part of that was that I didn’t have a local comic shop to pick up anything else but Archie (since those books could be found at grocery stores, heh.)
Love your suggestions! I have a box full of Halloween pencils and erasers on hand for kids. My husband really hates it. Said kids want candy not pencils. He tried to throw them out last year, but kept an open mind when kids were choosing the pencils over the candy lol
Kids love pencils/erasers for sure! I remember back in the day we kids in my hometown actually went crazy for certain erasers on the playground. I don’t remember where they came from, but someone brought in these awesome neon erasers that were shaped as ghosts, and they became the hottest item to trade for months. You could get numerous five-cent candies with just one pristine ghost eraser if you were looking to trade, LOL. And pencils with neat designs on the sides is always fun! No doubt those kids are excited to get such cool swag for trick or treating. 😀
I seriously LOVE the comics idea… too bad I was not organized enough this year to pick some up to hand out. But next year I am all over that!
I will keep you updated next year for sure hun! <3 If you have a comic shop nearby there's a chance they ordered extra packs too... 🙂
While my kids would be EXTREMELY disappointed with anything that wasn’t candy, the mom in me loves these ideas.
Such great tips! Thanks so much for sharing because I am have been considering doing the candy-free option this year. I especially love those cute comic books!
I LOVE the Play Doh packs, how cool is that? It’s something that my 3 year old would go nuts over.
I actually prepared non-candy treats (pencils and stickers) for Halloween this year. I don’t want to add to the bulk of candies they get on Halloween.
Glow sticks are a fun thing to hand out. I can see those going over really well with the kiddos!
I think they would too! 🙂 Am hoping to raid Michael’s bargain bin on Friday for a bunch, heh.
I hesitated over the comic book selection offered at our local store. I ended up grabbing two, just for the girls to have, and they were both stinkers. I wanted to look at the books in the grab packs, but they were sealed up. Since you’ve had a chance to look at them I wanted to ask, how’d they rate?
Hah, so guess what I forgot to do? Link up that section to the reviews I have for each comic! Doh. Thanks for the reminder hun! <3
In short though, all three books are great 'cause they have these hidden messages of how to be a better person, and even how to be careful during Hallowe'en. The Boom! Studios book has one story that I think would be more suited to an older child crowd... I'm guessing 8+.
I’d love for my kiddo to receive the play dough or legos. Fun that lasts!
We do not get many treaters here. I always try to have alternatives. That Play Doh pack is cool.