11 Creative Uses for Leftover Halloween Candy

Whether your trick-o-treating crowd was sparse this year or you intentionally stocked the candy dish beyond overflowing, you’re probably still staring at a mound of insulin, snacking it away. Your best options seem to be toss it or eat it. Weighing out the guilt induced by trashing candy when children are starving in Africa and an eighteen-wheeler sized spare tire, the outlook is not good. Instead let’s use it up creatively and enlist the kids to help!

1. Butterfinger Cake
This recipe from CDKitchen makes great use of leftover Butterfinger and is easy enough for kids to put together.

Ingredients:
1 angel food cake -- crumbled
1/2 cup butter
4 egg yolks
2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
16 ounces whipped topping -- thawed slightly
8 large (or 20 small) Butterfinger candy bars

Directions:
Freeze candy bars in wrappers for at least two hours. Crush bars (while in wrappers) using a rolling pin. Cream butter, egg yolks, sugar and vanilla and add whipped topping. In a 9 x 13 inch pan layer half of the angel food cake; a layer of half of the whipped topping mixture; then a layer of half of the crushed candy bars; repeat. Serves 16

2. Holiday Ornaments
For this project you’ll need a surplus of hard candy, metal cookie cutters, foil, non-stick spray, polyurethane (optional), and a straw. Cover a metal baking pan with foil. Spray the foil and the cookie cutters with copious amounts of non-stick spray. Set the cookie cutters on the pan and place hard candy inside—make only one layer. Bake them at 350? for about 6 minutes, or until the candy melts. The candies will assume the shape of your cutter as they bake. Poke a small hole at the top of each design while it is still melted to make room for a ribbon. Let cool for 20 minutes before removing the cookie cutter. Loop through the small hole with a ribbon and—voila!—a homemade ornament at no cost! To preserve them, paint with two coats of polyurethane, allowing the ornament to dry completely between applications.

3. Spark in the Dark Wint-O-Green Life Saver
No, this is not an urban myth—those tasty little discs actually spark in the dark. The kids (and you) will have a blast experimenting with this in a dark bathroom. Make sure the room is completely blacked out and you have a mirror large enough for everyone to see themselves. First break a mint in your hands to see the spark and them bite on one to watch it in the mouth. This makes for a great chemistry lesson for older kids.

4. Marshmallow Monster Melt
I’m convinced marshmallows are imported from a galaxy far away. Just pop a giant one in the microwave if you think I’m lying. Use those left over balls of sugar and some toothpicks to make gooey monsters with the kids. Attach several marshmallows together with toothpicks and paint ghoulish faces on them with Kool Aid paint. Zap each creation for 15-20 seconds to watch it contort and writhe in the microwave. Use this craft as a starting point for discussing gas molecules and heat with kids in junior high and older.

5. Ice Cream Topping Bar
Walk into your favorite ice cream hang out and the first thing you’ll notice are the brightly adorned jars of crushed candy toppings. You can make the same thing at home with leftover candy to sprinkle on ice cream, frozen yogurt, or even plain yogurt to create a soda pop-style dessert. Small glass jars can be purchased for just $1 or less at a store that specialized in containers. Place several candy bars in a thick sandwich bag and crush them with a rolling pin until chunky. Store inside the small jars on top of the fridge for an attractive design and tasty treat.

6. Cookie Dough Delight
“Give back” to your neighbors with frozen cookie dough treats. Purchase a two-gallon container of sugar cookie dough from a local food club and several small buckets (they cost around $.40 each). Mash several small candy bars together and mix into a small amount of dough. Transfer to the smaller bucket, stick a ribbon on it, and you have the perfect housewarming or holiday gift—no cooking required.

7. Mentos Geyser
For an explosively awesome experiment, check out Steve Spangler’s Mentos Geyser activity. He also gives a detailed explanation as to why Mentos mixed with a sugared or diet beverage causes a major eruption. Make sure you try this outside to avoid a minty soda mess.

8. Wrapping Tags
What kid wouldn’t want a sweet spot on top of his Christmas or birthday gift. Put two or three snack-sized candies in a small sandwich back (or cellophane wrap) and tie it onto the box with a fancy ribbon. Not only does it make your gift more memorable, but it also gets the sweet stuff out of your house without a fuss.

9. Save for Stocking Stuffers
I don’t advise doing this if you have a problem with will power. Perhaps the best way to accomplish saving, not eating, your candy is to have a spouse or friend hide the sweets somewhere in your house until just before you need them. When the holiday package candies roll around you will be oh so tempted to polish off last season sweets to buy the holly-adorned stuff. Resist and you’ll have plenty for stocking stuffers.

10. Practice Estimation Skills
Hold a weekly mystery jar contest to practice estimation skills with your family. Use the same jar each week and pack it to the brim with your sweets. Whoever comes closest to the correct number may have two or three sweets while the rest of the family can have one. Start this skill with kids aged kindergarten and up.

11. Halloween Candy Buy Back Donation
The dentists involved in Halloween Candy Buy Back are willing to pay $1 for each pound of candy donated by neighborhood kids and then send it to troops overseas with Operation Gratitude. What better way to regift candy than sending it via care packages to our service men while getting paid?

Whatever your excess candy dilemma, rest assured that you can repurpose and disguise it well beyond the tired candy dish. Let the Halloween festivities continue sans cavities!

Photos by: interplast, Science Daily, Halloween Candy Buy Back, DaDaAce.