Parenting Confession #113: The Candy Basket

It took becoming a parent to realize just how many of the holidays we celebrate every year are top-to-bottom, sugar-encrusted, caramel-coated, nougat-filled candy fests.  There’s Halloween, that celebration of extortion and vandalism in which tiny cute people dressed like cartoon characters give you a choice between handing over your Hershey’s Miniatures and cleaning egg off your front door.  A couple of short months later, Christmas follows, and the stockings hung by the chimney with care are stuffed with candy canes and five pounds bags of M&Ms.  In the spring, the dastardly duo of Valentine’s Day and Easter litter the landscape with conversation hearts and marshmallow bunnies.

And those are just the national holidays.  Then there are the birthdays with their attendant goodie bags, the special party days at school, and the candy treats from Bible class given as rewards for learning memory verses.

Somewhere along the line, we came up with the Candy Basket.

It’s brilliant, if I do say so myself.  See, whenever a candyful occasion comes up, we let the kids choose two or three pieces of candy to eat right away, and the rest of it goes into the Candy Basket.  From there, it can be doled out for occasional after dinner treats or tucked in a lunchbox.

Or…um…  repurposed.

Specifically, for the same events where we got the candy in the first place.

That’s right.  This morning, along with craft kits and Dollar Tree toys, I filled my kids’ Easter baskets with candy from the Candy Basket–candy gleaned from past Halloweens, past birthday parties, and–yes–even yesterday’s Easter Egg Hunt.

And if that’s not underhanded enough, would anyone care to guess where the bulk of that Easter candy went after the kids were done going through their baskets?

Yep.

I told you it was brilliant.