Aviva Allen and her two children will not be out tricking-or-treating in their Toronto neighbourhood this Halloween.
Instead, the nutritionist and founder of the online parenting community Healthy Moms will be enjoying dinner and a normal evening at home with her two sons aged five and seven.
"Growing up, it wasn't part of our family's traditions, but a lot of parents have a sentimental attachment to (Halloween)", Allen says. "At my house, we've created our own traditions that don't involve going door to door to strangers' houses to collect sweets."
Canadians traditionally spend about $1 billion each Halloween on costumes and candy, according to the Retail Council of Canada, and outspend Americans on a per capita basis.
But some parents like Allen are choosing to skip Halloween altogether, or rethink how to celebrate the evening in a way that's safer and healthier for their children.
Concerns about neighbourhood safety have spawned Trunk or Treat parties, where parents decorate their cars in a Halloween theme and hand out treats from the trunk. The cars are parked in a community parking lot, where adults can supervise the children while also socializing with neighbours. Trunk or Treat parties have become especially popular with church groups and schools in smaller cities and towns.
Dr. Daniel Flanders, a general pediatrician at Kindercare Pediatrics in Toronto, cautions that while well-intentioned, Trunk or Treat may just heighten parental anxiety over Halloween.
"Generally speaking, neighbourhoods have gotten safer. So, while Trunk or Treat can be a good idea for some, it might run the risk of increasing fears among parents and children," Flanders says. "It's a tough balance."
The drive to feed children less sugar has given rise to Switch Witchery. Like the tooth fairy, the Switch Witch is a mystical creature that arrives after children have gone to bed and switches some of their Halloween candy haul for toys and other non-sugary items. Parents might give children a say in which half of the candy should be given up.
Done properly, Switch Witchery is one way to ensure that kids aren't tempted by Halloween candy for months on end. As Dr. Sunita Vohra, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Alberta put it, "offering options that aren't high fat and high sugar are surely a good thing."
Amanda Sherak, a nurse practitioner and mother in Freehold, N.J., incorporates Switch Witchery into her Halloween traditions with her two-year-old daughter and six-year-old son.
"In my neighbourhood the treats from Switch Witchery are given to local dentists who then send them off to troops overseas, as a nice gesture and surprise," Sherak says.
However, this idea may be best introduced at a young age, when children first start going out for Halloween. Flanders has first-hand experience that it can be difficult to convince an older child to give up their candy.
"Now that my daughter is older, she will ask me point-blank what the point of collecting all the candy was if I'm going to take it away," he says.
He advises parents to have a mature conversation with their kids on the subject of nutrition.
Katie McLaughlin, a Toronto mother of three boys aged two, five, and seven, is another parent who has encouraged her kids to break with the ghoulish gluttony long associated with Halloween.
"We typically enjoy a few pieces together on Halloween night", she says, "then we store it in the cupboard on a high shelf. They typically forget about the candy after a few days, which ends up being better for them in the long run."
The Teal Pumpkin Project was launched for a different reason: to accommodate trick-or-treaters with severe allergies. The idea was started in 2012 to provide safe treats — like small toys or stickers — instead of candy, so that children with allergies would feel included in the holiday. Participating homes are encouraged to paint a pumpkin teal — the internationally recognized colour associated with allergies — and place it on their doorstep.
According to Beatrice Povolo, a spokeswoman for Food Allergy Canada, up to 300,000 Canadian children suffer from food allergies. She advocates for the use of teal-coloured pumpkins to raise awareness.
"We are seeing more and more families starting to participate in the project, and we see more discussion about it on social media. It's great to see families think outside of the 'candy box.' Things such as yo-yos or stickers are great items to give out so that all kids can participate in Halloween," Povolo says.
