Did your kids come back with huge hauls of candy from Halloween? Naturally, you want them to eat it in a reasonable time. Yet, you don’t want them eating too much of it at once. Now that it’s taking up precious real estate in your pantry, what can you do with this bounty of candy to put it to good use?

Lucky for you, we’ve got plenty of ideas!

– Tuck it in the freezer

Freezing chocolates takes away the temptation while keeping it well for the rest of the year as needed. You can throw these chocolate Halloween candies on your sundaes for Ice Cream Night or blend them in milkshakes. 

– Use them for baking

Whether you freeze them first or not, you can take those extra Halloween candies and bake them into holiday treats or goodies for any time of year. Top off cakes and cupcakes with a pile of chocolate candies, stir them into the frosting, or make your cookie dough recipe with crushed-up Halloween candy thrown in.

– Make a sweet and salty snack

Instead of popping up popcorn for Family Movie Night, open up those tiny bags of pretzels, raisins, and M&Ms and create a trail mix. It’s the perfect way to crunch and munch up all those Halloween treats!

– Get that advent calendar ready

Are you tired of the ho-hum chocolates from those pre-packaged advent calendars? Make your own and tuck these Halloween candy treats into the box. You can also use those little Dixie cups and cover them up, so your kiddos get a new treat every day!

– Help little ones learn to count

Do you know what’s great about those Reese’s Pieces and M&Ms? They make for great ways to teach counting to preschoolers. And what kid doesn’t love a sweet reward? They’ll surely love this counting lesson!

– Give it away

When your Halloween candy leftovers are so vast, it may take ten whole lifetimes for your family to consume; why not share the wealth? Operation Shoebox supports our troops and will love to send them something sweet like this!

– Put it in a piñata

If your kid has a birthday coming up soon, grab a piñata and fill it with the leftover Halloween candy. Problem solved!

– Pair it with your coffee or wine

For the adults in the house, you can always help make that leftover Halloween candy disappear. Drop pieces of chocolate into your hot coffee and stir for an extra sweet treat. Or see which candies you love best with your favorite wines. Better yet, have other moms come over for a tasting while the dads look after the littles!

There are so many things you can do with leftover Halloween candy, including just eating it yourself. But if you want to keep on track and avoid the temptations, you can always lug that big bag of candy your kids collected to the office and watch it vanish into thin air!