The Dollar section at Target can be a dangerous place, but Tracy's found a fantastic deal there that keeps a bit of candy out of kids' trick-or-treat bags and is cheaper than candy as well:
You know the Dollar Spot at Target… well, every year during the cycle before Halloween they always carry a 60-pack of Halloween themed erasers for $1. We pick up a couple packs of these erasers, put 2 in every bag and voila…. a cheap, sugar-free Halloween hand-out alternative.
I found the Halloween eraser set pictured here at my local dollar store. But it contains only 12 erasers…if you can nab 60 for a buck at Target? Great deal!
Related: Another non-candy Halloween alternative: Glow sticks
We give Books for Treats. You can find information about the program at http://www.booksfortreats.org.
last year after halloween I happened upon boxes of halloween ‘tattoos’. at like 75% off, they were a steal. we also have several jumbo packs of tiny cans of playdoh that we stocked up on, but my kids no longer like – so it’s a non-candy halloween for us, too. sometimes i wish more people did that, esp. as my son has dietary issues, but at the same time it’s a bunch of junk.
I love Halloween; it only comes once a ywar, and while I understand wanting to budget, I wouldn’t have wanted a couple of cheap erasers when I was a kid trick-or-treating! My kids would honestly rather have an apple–but again, it’s only once a year, so I give out candy.
I always wondered why the candy from Tracy’s house was so chewy…
I do Books for Treats, too. This will be my third year.
Viv: I hear you — someone on Twitter said something similar. In my experience, the ratio at the end of the night is 2-3 non-candy items in a full bag of candy. My kids love the novelty of getting silly skull rings or little toys, given that they also get about 10 lbs. of candy.
In my experience, those erasers don’t actually work very well, and end up in a landfill quickly. I like to still give treats, but ones that aren’t nasty chemicals from China or chocolate that encourages child-slave labor in third world countries. You can usually find bulk packages of single-serve all-natural fruit leathers at the warehouses (right now, Costco has some good ones, and then they even have all natural fruit roll ups with a coupon). Target had 30-packs of single pouch Pirates Booty on sale last week… (Yeah, I know, the single serve wrappers don’t do much to solve the landfill problem. Sometimes, I just have to choose my cause/my battles. Sigh.)