Oh what to do with all of this HALLOWEEN CANDY???!!!

Halloween candy is one of those necessary evils (well, maybe not necessary, but certainly fun) for our health. We buy it to give away, but what do we do with the huge quantity that is both leftover from the "give away" stash and with the mass quantities collected by our kids? I usually let my kids have one or two good days of eating the candy and then...I'm at a loss. I don't want them to keep eating it...it isn't good for them...so what do I do???

My mom sent me a cool set of websites with things you can do with all of your leftover Halloween candy. Here are all of the ideas:

Science Experiments: Learn why some candy bars melt faster than others or why M&Ms melt in your mouth and not in your hands or why pop rocks pop. Go to this website: http://www.candyexperiments.com/p/experiments.html for some fun science experiments you and your kids can perform using leftover candy.

Baking with your candy: You can use many of your leftover candy bars to bake cakes, cookies and pies. Sounds pretty good, huh. There are also salads, which use candy as one of the main ingredients. Go to this website: http://www.recipegoldmine.com/candybar/candybar.html. These are GREAT to get rid of the candy and wonderful to take to neighbors and friends or get-togethers.

You can also give it to homeless shelters and food banks.

Here is my favorite idea: Send it in a care package to the soldiers!!! I can get addresses and shipping information, or you can bring it to me, if you are near, and I'll ship it for you. How fun for them to receive your leftover Halloween candy. Chocolate is discouraged...EXCEPT for M&Ms (did you know they were actually invented FOR the soldiers BECAUSE they don't melt!!! I just found out about that tidbit of information!!!)

Monday: I'll post my healthy little secret that gets my kids eating the veggies and fruits...so stay tuned!!!