My friend and fellow blogger Adrienne from A Maison recently asked me about Halloween treats for trick-or-treaters. As a Homemade Mother-To-Be, Adrienne wants to pass out something healthy and unique to her neighbors. She just moved to a cute Chicago neighborhood that, like most communities, discourages distributing homemade goodies to little ghosts and goblins.

So I asked myself, as a Homemade Mother, what do I want Evelyn and Mack bringing home on October 31? Sure, a little bit of conventional candy is fine and fun, but do they (or I!) need bagfuls of it sitting around the house for weeks? Probably not.

Here’s a list of ideas I came up with. Let me know if you have any other suggestions!

*Seed packets for kids to plant next spring. Pumpkin seeds (from the pumpkins you carve) would be fun and quite fitting for the occasion!
*Fruit snacks
*Little apples – the farmer’s market in my neighborhood sells 5 for $1.00.
*Stickers – little kids love these!
*Quarters. When I was growing up there was a house in our neighborhood that passed out one dime to each trick-or-treater. I’d guess the going rate these days is at least 25 cents!

I would discourage passing out cheap toys. The last thing any Homemade Mother wants in her home is more stuff, and the last thing Mother Nature needs is more stuff in the landfills.

Also, should your kids bring home just too much candy, perhaps it would be a good time for you to teach them about sharing with others. Ask them to donate half of their candy to a local soup kitchen or shelter.