Here comes Halloween … not the best holiday for a young diabetic. Honestly, we don’t “celebrate” Halloween for religious reasons - so it worked out ok for us. But for those of you who do participate, how do you handle it???
Well we try not do go to too many houses, and we usually will give her a treat from it with her lunch or dinner. Its not that bad now that she is on the pump because she doesnt have that strict carb amounts anymore so that does make it easier. I might trade some for a toy too!
Ditto what Carolyn said! Luckily, Sam doesn’t like alot of the candy he gets, like candy corn, kisses or hard candy, so those go in the garbage right away. He picks his favourites and then we just work them in. Those little chocolate bars are usually only 9 or 10 grams right, so one with a half a cup of milk for a snack is not so bad once in a while! You can also save some really sweet things, like fruit chews, for a low. I know it’s not a great idea to use candy all the time for a low, but I think it’s fine at this time. I mean, com’on, it’s Halloween! 
My younger son wanted to trick or treat at the mall one year. So we all went for a short time. When we got to Candyco, they had bags made up, and my diabetic son did not take one. The girl asked why not. So I said because he has diabetes; he eats sugarfree candy. So she went and got a few kinds and put them in a bag for him.
It was still fn for him to go trick or treating with friends. He never ate much candy anyway.
I let Riley get candy like everyone else. He understands that he can’t eat it all and can only eat it at certain times. Usually we end up throwing most of it away (or my older son eats it).
We trick or treated. My kids are prime age for it, 10 and 7. Since my daughter is on the pump we just count carbs. I want her to have as “normal” of a childhood as possible. I’m as concerned about her mental health as I am about her physical health. I don’t want her feeling like she missed out. And we really don’t eat that much of it. Most of it goes to waste (or to my office). It’s more about being out and about with their friends and dressing up and having a good time.
we do celebrate Halloween for it is our favorite holiday! It is also Nicks birthday! We allow Nick to trick or treat but our neighbors know he has diabetes and they give him small gifts instead. All his candy he gives to us!
Halloween is our son’s favorite holiday… he was diagnosed in September so this year will be different! We’re going to let him do the neighborhood with his friends because it’s so important to keep doing all the usual things. We tell our kids not to eat the candy until Mom or Dad checks it anyway, so I’m not too worried about too much eating “on the road.”
He should get to eat some, but this year he plans to sell his candy! Between his brother, us and others, I’m guessing he might end up with some new Pokemon cards out of the deal.
We have always trick or treated just like everyone else. First year, she was in her honeymoon and could eat anything she wanted really and the insulin would definitely “cover” it and then some. After honeymoon ended, and this was no longer true, because of all the activity, she could eat candy while trick or treating with no problems. When she got home, we would then let her have about three of the small mini-bars (they are usally about 9g to 11g apiece). Then she could chose candy for deserts next few days after but, again, no more than 20 or at most 30 grams. The chooclate mini-bars, Kit-Kats, Snickers, things of that sort do not have a negative effect on her blood sugar if eaten after a meal. Her mother does not want her to get in the habit of eating candy, cookies and cakes regardless as she feels it’s imperative that she not develop a sweet tooth as that may make it harder for her later on. We also buy her a video game or something she likes. After a week or so the candy “mysteriously” disappears because we usually eat it all on her, LOL. We are now three years in, and I have to say her mother’s theory worked because she is never forbidden dessert at meal or snack time (IShe eats three meals and one snack every day, no grazing), yet she consistently refuses icecream or potato chips (her old standby desserts and treats) 95 percent of the time in favor of fruit. She will often say she does not want dessert at all. The potato chips and icecream have little effect on her blood sugar for some reason, so this is what we have offered since diagnosis. Cereal of any kind, cookies, pies, cakes have not been on the menu for the past three years except on holidays. The icecream, potato chips, tortilla chips and salsa, are fine for treats and I do not feel she has been deprived. Eating habits can be changed it seems, even at an early age. Fortunately, she was a somewhat healthy and very picky eater pre-diagnosis. She would never eat pancakes, French Toast, Bacon, Sausage so I did not have to drastically change her breakfast. She has a limited number of foods she likes to eat for lunch and dinner. She would never touch processed frozen food and has always been a huge fan of raw or freshly cooked vegetables. I would like to start baking my own tasty, low-carb treats for her in the future. Healthy low-carb, moist muffin recipes anyone?
This will be our first Halloween since Kacey was diagnosed back in July. We were invited to a Halloween party and since it’s a close friend of mine, she included a letter in the invitation. It basically stated that there would be a diabetic child at the party and so they were planning on having a “game” when they got back from trick or treating in the neighborhood. It would work similar to Chuck E Cheese and the tickets. The candy would be the tickets and they could trade candy for bigger prizes which will be things from the dollar store. This way Kacey wont feel like she is left out and she can give her candy up for something fun I thought it was REALLY nice of her to come up with that!!
My sons have never done trick or treating, they’re too young, and I’m still on the fence as to whether to let them start or just avoid the whole thing. We live in a rural community so trick or treating means driving to a development where the houses are close to one another, or going to the mall 20 min away. If I thought they would never notice the difference growing up, I’d just say let’s not even bother, but sooner or later they will compare notes with friends… so it’s better to raise them with an understanding that they collect the candy, turn it over to Mom in return for ?? toys books videos ?? and thereafter they’ll get an occasional treat from the candy jar (assuming Dad doesn’t eat it all).
We agree upon a number of pieces (like 10) that Sean may select to keep. Then we usually “buy” the rest of his candy for a small amount of money or an item he really wants (this year it happens to be a book). Our elementary school has in the past few years collected candy for troops in Iraq so luckily we have a great place for our excess candy to go. Our daughter who doesn’t have diabetes does the same thing.
BTW… there is a handy carb counting chart for “fun” size Halloween candy at the dLife.com website. Just search on “Halloween candy” and follow the link for “Halloween fun and safey…” - the chart is a .pdf file you can download.
Happy Halloween everybody!
My daughter was diagnosed November 2007. That year without even knowing she had diabetes we started a new Halloween tradtion. I heard another mother was doing this and not because of diabetes just because kids don’t need all that candy anyway. So we let our three kids trick ot treat, they choose a few favorites pieces, and than they put there buckets on the porch and the Halloween Goblin comes and takes there candy and leaves a present. It works great with our kids there all 5 years and under. When she is older she will understand better about how candy can effect diabetes, so for know it works out great.