3 days before Halloween I came across something in my son’s room that I couldn’t help but find disturbing: a piece Easter candy.

It seems like after most of these candy holidays, Valentine’s Day, Easter and of course, Halloween, we end up with a bunch of extra stuff left over, the stuff we don’t like or just can’t stomach eating any more of. In our house, this left over candy goes with my husband who is a teacher and we know it will be swiftly taken care of. But for those of you who don’t regularly have access to hungry high schoolers here’s a few ideas on how to use those leftover sweets: bake with it, play with it, and make an advent calendar with it… check out these ideas below:

Bake with it

Check out these candy-inspired treats and bring them to your next get-together

Butterfinger Apple Nachos
A Pumpkin & A Princess

Apples are in season and left over butterfingers are in abundance.  It’s apple nachos for dessert.

S’mores Cookies
The Girl Who Ate Everything

I bet these are tasty with other kinds of chocolate bars as well, like special dark…. mmmmm…..
This recipe uses regular hershey bars but you can sub with the leftover fun size bars.

Tootsie Roll Cookies
Fun with the Fullwoods

This one calls for 30 tootsie rolls so pool your stash together.

Stained Glass Cookies
Marivelous Me

Use crushed Jolly Ranchers to make pretty little stained glass cookies they make great ornaments for christmas or lovely gifts to give.

3-Ingredient Reese’s Truffle
Pennywise Cook

Kit Kat Cream Cheese Brownies
Bakerella

Woah. These look intense.

Halloween Candy Bark
Just a Taste

Play with it

Pop Rocks Experiment
Steve Spangler

Exploding Peep Geysers
Housing a Forest

Careful! This one is messy.

Candy Corn Catapults
Frugal Fun 4 Boys

This looks like fun.

Candy Chromatography
Mama Miss

Building Structures with Candy Pumpkins
Lemon Lime Adventures

Glossy Skittles Paint
mama.papa.bubba

These paints have a glossy finish and they smell good too.

Fill an Advent Calendar With it.

Toilet Paper Advent Calendar
Morning Creativity

Christmas Advent Calendar
The Country Chic Cottage

DIY Advent Calendar
Modern Messy Parents

DIY Advent Calendar
Third Floor Design Studio

From to 3 to 8PM this Friday, Oct. 31, Applebee’s will be offering a FREE meal from the Kids Menu for little ones in costume with the purchase of an adult entrée.*

It’s the annual Spooktacular Savings Event at Romp n’ Roll this week! Enroll your little ghosts and goblins in classes on Thursday, October 30th and Friday, October 31st and save on any membership plan.

$15 Off an Individual Membership Plan*
(use promo code HW15)

$25 Off a Family Membership Plan*
(use promo code HW25)

Find out what works for you at the West End, Midlothian and Mechanicsville locations and enroll by calling (804) 364-6363 to get this spooktacular deal before it vanishes!

*Registration must be completed by Friday, October 31st. Offer cannot be combined with any other discounts.

And don’t miss Rompy’s Halloween Bash!
October 30th at all Locations

Bring your little pumpkins to Romp n’ Roll for a not-so-scary good time! Join Rompy for a family night of Halloween fun including crafts, games and activities in the gym! We encourage everyone to dress up, but please, no glitter or restricting costumes. Cost is $10 per child for members and $15 per child for non-members.

Romp n’ Roll is a sponsor of Richmondmom.com

However, even my grumpy self finds the latest Halloween outrages on the Internet over the top.

Halloween Habits

As it turns out, many people have developed rules for trick or treaters. Age limits — no teens allowed. Neighborhood limits — only if you live here. Even attitude limits — don’t cry or take too long choosing the candy bar. It’s not just the multitude of articles and memes on the subjects, but whenever one of these is posted, thirty comments from appear from friends and acquaintances with another one hundred opinions on the subject.

Why does the meme even need to exist?

I didn’t even know someone could have an opinion on the proper way to trick or treat. It’s never even occurred to me to give out candy only to polite kids or young kids or kids who can verify their street address. That is not what Halloween is to me. I just decorate my house, provide candy until it’s all gone, turn off my lights go out, and go to sleep. Maybe I’m too busy embracing the joy of dressing up, eating free candy for weeks and fog machines in my front yard, but I don’t even understand the concept of getting angry on Halloween about any of ideas like age limits or parents driving in cars instead of walking with their kids. Are sexy costumes for children and cultural appropriation too last year?

There are so many things to be mad about in this world. Trust me, I embrace most of them. Our lives are often unfair with many aspects out of our control, but being upset about holidays not being “done right” is too much even for me. Maybe Halloween was feeling bad about all the attention Christmas and not saying “Happy Holidays” was getting. The plus side is that the last month of the Internet make me feel less like an obsessive pessimist and more like a regular person, who is too busy wondering why self-checkout lines make me want to steal all my groceries, to complain about kids taking free candy the wrong way.