At the grocery store on Saturday, I spied a special on Halloween candy. I carelessly loaded my cart with three bags – one with Lifesavers, Skittles, Starburst, and Hubba Bubba bubble gum, another with Tootsie Pops, and still another with Sour Patch Kids and Swedish Fish.
My kids and husband were unimpressed. The two-pound "grab bag mix," in particular, was not a hit. "A quarter of the bag is Hubba Bubba," my 12-year-old says accusingly. True.
"None of yours contain chocolate or peanut better," says my 14-year-old. Oops.
I hadn't thought about the quality of the leftovers, especially since my 14-year-old isn't trick or treating this year. Would she eat any of my choices? No. "Like if I were starving," she says (jokingly, I think).
My husband calls my choices "loser candy." Ouch! (I think he is kidding.) "Clearly you're not qualified to just wing it on this," he says. "Get expert advice!"
He reminisces about his childhood trick-or-treating days in rural Iowa, where one family gave out full-size candy bars. It was the talk of the town. "That was always on everyone's must-go list," he says.
So my packages of mini Lifesavers and Sour Patch Kids are not in the same league? Ah, no. "It's nothing you're going to go out of your way for," he says.
I suggest that kids could trade away my candy they don't like it. Not so fast. "It doesn't always work out," says my 14-year-old. "Sometimes you have to work out complicated deals. It's not one to one." Her favorites, Reese's, fall into that category.
Often kids end up with candy they can't even give away. "There's always the weird gummy eyeball no one wants," says my 14-year-old.
At least I didn't buy healthy Halloween treats, like the dreaded mini bags of pretzels or, even worse, pencils. "Do you really think you can save the kids' teeth by giving them pencils on one night?" says my 14-year-old.
I think back on how I felt about my own old favorites – Necco wafers and Good & Plenty boxes (nowhere to be found on my grocery store shelves). I can't believe I bought the "grab bag mix."
My 14-year-old proposes a solution: "Just take us candy shopping!"
Good idea. After all, I don't want the cute little witches and princesses to bypass the Hubba Bubba house.
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