Halloween Parties and Treats the Healthy Way

by Robin Fiedler
Halloween since its origins has been mired in giving "treats" to the spirits so that they don’t "trick" your house. Professor Lesley Bannatyne from Harvard explains that Halloween centers around “remembering the dead with food [as our] 1000-year-old precedent for both the ghostliness associated with Halloween and what we know now as trick or treating.”

Bannatyne notes that Halloween celebrations involved sharing in a time plenty at the end of harvest before the long winter when the coffers were full, as well as honoring the dead. The house-to-house trek for treats is now solidified in the modern festivities, but today, food offerings have become candy.

The US Census Bureau reports that Americans consume d 23.8 pounds of candy per person in 2008. Granted that’s annually, not just at Halloween, but I can’t help but wonder how many pounds of that 23.8 accounts for Halloween treats. Maybe 3 to 4 pounds? That’s a noteworthy cache for one day’s take.

Is it time to gloat over who scores the most candy? Definitively not. “Results from the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), using measured heights and weights, indicate that an estimated 17 percent of children and adolescents ages 2-19 years are overweight,” according to the CDC. The adult obesity rate is rising to a shameful 30% in the United States. utz-pretzel-treats

As obesity rates, especially in adolescents, continue to rise, parents, and even kids themselves, are calling for alternatives to store-bought candy. Not a ban on candy. Be reasonable! But a movement toward healthier alternatives for trick-or-treat and Halloween parties. Janis G. Hunter, HGIC Nutrition Specialist, and Katherine L. Cason, Professor, State Program Leader for Food Safety and Nutrition, Clemson University offer a wide variety of inspiring suggestions for healthier food treats, non-food treats, and party rations.

Alternatives to Candy – Hunter and Cason recommend crackers, trail mix, pretzels, chocolate covered raisins to microwave popcorn and snack pack puddings or fruit. If you feel candy is the only choice, buy sugar-free candy or sugar free gum.

Small Novelties – Be original, everyone else is giving out candy. Hunter and Cason advocate glow sticks, false teeth, fake tattoos, stickers, bubbles, markers, sidewalk chalk, coins, to hacky sacks or coupons for yogurt stores.

Party Fare - Everyday food can be made into scary Halloween delights by using food coloring to granola and oatmeal. Hunter and Cason suggest serving “pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies, hot apple cider, popcorn or baked apples.”

Parties should include prizes for physical activities, such as piñatas, apple dunking, sack racing, or a really cool make your-own “witches smiles” with apples, peanut butter, and raisins. Hunter and Cason’s recipe is “Spread one side of apple [1/2 inch vertical slice] with a small amount of peanut butter and place on top of a second slice so it looks like the two lips of a mouth. Stick raisins between the red "lips" for "decayed teeth." On Halloween, let’s leave the decaying teeth to the witches.

Footnotes

Bannatyne, Lesley. “Halloween: A History.” Faculty of Arts and Sciences Harvard University.
http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~bannatyn/halloweenhist.htm

Hunter, Janis G. and Katherine L. Cason. “Healthy Halloween Treats.” Clemson Extension: Home & Garden Information Center. Oct. 2007. http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/food/nutrition/nutrition/life_stages/hgic4112.html

“Prevalence of Overweight Among Children and Adolescents: United States, 2003-2004.” National Center for Health Statistics. Apr. 2006. Center for Disease Control. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hestats/overweight/overwght_child_03.htm

United States Census Bureau. “Facts for Features: Halloween” 31 Aug. 2009. Newsroom: US Censes Bureau. http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/014211.html