Halloween Tradition

Every year, in the beginning of October, many young Switch Witches say goodbye to their parents, hop in their flying cauldrons, and go visit kids for a long sleepover playdate! During the weeks leading up to Halloween, you get to be a kind host to your own Switch Witch! In exchange for a wonderful visit, your Switch Witch will turn some of your Halloween candy into a surprise gift!

The Story

When her four year old daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes just before Easter, Lara Riley and her family experienced a “switch” in their own lives. Thrust into seeing her child unable to fully enjoy the traditional festivities of the holidays was a sudden reality check . Having already written Switch Witch a year prior, Lara realized that this tradition was a safe and fun solution for so many families facing the challenges of very similar circumstances. 

——-

Halloween candy buckets are usually stuffed to the top and there is leftover candy for MONTHS.  The majority of this candy is filled with artificial colors, preservatives, flavors and TONS of sugar.  So, kids may be eating a steady supply of these ingredients for a very long time.  Now I am more conscious about artificial colors, flavors and preservatives and try to make better choices for my family.  It stresses me out the fact that I don’t know where the candy is coming from, if it was gotten long time ago; some of the labels cannot be read, as the candy placed in the buckets come from foreign countries, and I’m sure you’ve also heard of people injecting strange substances on them.    This is something that I really try to avoid, especially because my 3 year old has food sensitivities that can cause digestive issues.

With Halloween being such a food/candy based holiday, it can be hard to navigate when you are dealing with food allergies and sensitivities. Until now it has been “easy” to trick my boys, making them happy with a couple of candies and getting rid of the leftovers, but now they are “older and smarter”, so I find this creative and hopefully life saving initiative very helpful and I am planning to incorporate this new and healthy Halloween tradition in our family.  Perfect in COVID times, as trick or treating in California will look very different this year, due to health officials “recommendations” and restrictions, forcing annual Halloween events to cancel and discouraging people to trick or treating due to COVID concerns.

This way they still get the excitement of wearing their costumes, and the anticipation to get a special gift brought by our October’s guest without sacrificing our hard worked accomplishments  in health.

Wishing you health and happiness,

Gaby Pedersen