I don't think Paleo principles mix well with Halloween, period. So, you either buy the mixed bags of Baby Ruths, Butterfingers, and Crunch bars...or you just turn off the porch light.

Either that, or you can hand out something that gets tossed in the trash.

The longer I'm on Paleo, the more I've come to understand that minute, infrequent exposure to Neolithic foods, processed foods, etc. isn't the problem. It's the prolonged exposure to these things that seem to lead to systemic health conditions. And, I'm also coming to suspect that wheat & fructose are 90% of the problem.

So, if you put a Green & Black 85% chocolate bar in someone's plastic pumpkin full of candy corn, circus peanuts, and Tootsie Rolls is it really going to make a difference? Especially if the parents end up eating it anyway?

Sometimes we have opposing values -- for instance 1) we want to participate in a widely practiced tradition in our communities (like Halloween) and 2) we want to abide by our Paleo principles. Sometimes compromising makes sense, and sometimes it doesn't. This is one of those scenarios where it doesn't, IMO, and it falls under the 'dont-worry-abboudit' category.

Pencils, stickers, erasers, temporary tattoos...

Just little non-food trinkets that kids love. Personally, we have 3 kids and they love those things.

Ostara, Samhain and Yule times of feasting and enjoyment...kids are kids...let them enjoy it. Feed them well all year long, teach them good habits all year long. For those very rare, special occasions say to heck with it and let them be kids... You will likely be surprised at how little junk they will actually consume on the rare occasions it's allowed. Or at least mine don't eat much of it. Sometime in summer, we found and tossed out undeaten Ostara candy (easter for those who don't know history) that the kids weren't interested in.

I'm actually doing a non paleo carb load tonight for an olympic lifting contest tomorrow. After breakfast, I'll return to the paleo foods again with no permanent damage to my health from a few Reece's peanut butter cups.

See this preexisting Paleohacks thread on doing Halloween Paleo-style:

http://paleohacks.com/questions/11724/halloween-and-paleo-kids#axzz13tLqR5Ci

Also, I saw a 60-pack of minitubs of Play-Doh at Sam's Club today, for just under $10. I thought that was a reasonable alternative (though yes, it is made with wheat, exactly how many kids will be eating Play-Doh...? ;-p).

Kids can have fun without getting candy or dubious quality health food. Get out your jar of pennies, nickles, dimes and quarters. Depending on your finances, you can supplement heavily with pennies and nickles from the bank. Put it all in a big bowl and find a little scoop and some plastic baggies. Every trick or treater gets to close his/her eyes and scoop one scoop of change. THe scoop gets put in a little plastic baggy to take home. I'll bet they will like the money more than candies. WIth the money, they can get whatever they want. When I was a kid, this would be the kind of thing I would have wanted. Your house will be the house that all the kids will want to sneak back to for a second helping! ;-)

You could be that house that gives out.... little boxes of raisins.

You could offer some things like:

• Stretch Island Fruit Leather (Like a fruit roll-up but there's no roll or psychedelic color scheme to them)
• Mini Lara Bars
• Perhaps little packets of Justin's nut butter?

...Just throwing some ideas out there.

Pass the peanut M&Ms for one night.

It's the kids one day of indulgence, having a 6 & 8 year old myself it's a tradition that they've gotten used to and I won't pull the plug if they enjoy this one day of fun.

Bought some candy for tomorrow's beggars. I'll save one of each for myself and dump the rest at work. Thought I'd bump this for everybody else.

I will hand out Larvets and Crick-ettes. They are nutritious and very Halloween. http://www.hotlix.com/insect_candy/insect_candy.html

Give each kid a hard-boiled egg.