Dennis Shares Healthy Halloween Ideas

Prepared for the invasion? The glucosian invasion called Halloween is upon us. Karen Dennis, lecturer in Kinesiology and Recreation, has some ideas on making Halloween easier to get through.

Halloween can be a lot more than going door to door to see how many pieces of candy kids can gather. Here are some “healthy” Halloween ideas that might just make that day after a bit easier to get through.

• De-emphasize the door-to-door trick-or-treating, trying to get to as many houses as possible in the shortest amount of time. Instead, why not think of a few special people, maybe someone elderly, and spend some time visiting with them. Considering all the time and effort that goes into finding that “perfect” costume, this option provides the kids an opportunity to “model,” and it would be sure to be a hit with those you spend time with!
• Stay at home and have fun with pumpkins! Why not try roasting the pumpkin seeds from your jack-o-lantern, or even try cooking up some pumpkin and making a homemade pumpkin pie or pumpkin custard! The kids will enjoy spending time in the kitchen with the family, and will love tasting the fresh, healthy pumpkin treats!

Here are some ideas for those of you who will be passing out treats:

• Offer non-food items, such as pencils, toothbrushes, hair pieces, coloring books, or even pennies or nickels. Your local dollar store has a variety of options available.
• Instead of candy, some healthier food items you might consider include raisins, cheese sticks, sugar-free gum, individual packages of sugar-free hot chocolate, apples, bananas or other fruits. You can also find mini-packages of pretzels or goldfish, teddy grahams, fruit chews or fruit roll-ups.

To interview Dennis, telephone her at (309) 438-3891 or e-mail at kkdenni@ilstu.edu.