Tricks for Treats

We have managed to avoid candy for the most part for our now 4 and 1/2 year old. She has had a very occasional something at a party or other event where it would have been a big fuss to say no, but for the most part she doesn't eat much sugar and when she does it is in things that are real food.

This year, however, she is very determined to go trick-or-treating. I'm not even sure she knows exactly what it is, but her friends have probably filled her in on the glorious details. I've actually been very impressed at her creativity and planning for the holiday. We went to the fabric store a few weeks ago and picked up some supplies, and while I had intended to do some very simple costume creating, Adelaide actually commandeered some fabric and created her own. Couple of leg holes, place for the head, flip it over the back and voila, Princess of the Unicorns. So I am feeling good about the majority of aspects of this holiday. We decorated her room, carved pumpkins, and have done lots and lots of creating.

But I still couldn't reconcile myself to the big bag of candy. I want this holiday to be fun because of all of the things we are doing beforehand, not because we are going to drop everything and load up on lots of things we work so hard to stay away from (myself included). We have given out prizes (playdo, glow sticks, small toys, etc.) to the kids who come to our door, but we can't count on that when we knock on our neighbor's doors on Friday.
I would rather not simply say "no" to trick-or-treating. Nor would I like to take away the treats once she has collected them. I think the lesson in that would be "mom doesn't let me" rather than "this isn't the best choice for my body." So I have devised a system to entice Adelaide to choose for herself. Enter, the prize list. I found lots of good stuff for the trick-or-treaters (playdo again, but also Halloween watches, whistles, spiders and glasses), and then I went for a few big-ticket ($2 and $3) items. I made a brochure (didn't want to explain what will happen to the items she doesn't choose, which is that she will likely get them, too, just doled out later) and Adelaide can use it to select which items she wants to trade her candy for. I am going to encourage her to just keep one or two pieces of candy to eat, and to use most of what she gets for things that will last a long time and provide her with more fun than a quick sugar hit.
I know that I won't be able to prevent all the candy, junk food, and other unhealthy things from being available to Adelaide, and being too controlling will likely backfire. But I do remain hopeful that by educating my daughter about healthy choices and providing her with support and guidance in how to make those choices, I can give her a foundation to draw on later when she is faced with all the temptation which we deal with almost everywhere we go.