Pencils inspired our Halloween
After reading from a mom of a diabetic kid and thinking about how fat many kids are we decided to supply Halloween pencils stickers and spider rings for treats. We also had about 12 pieces of candy but those didn't go until the end.
Pencils were by far the most popular. "Cool! Pencils! I need them for school." exclaimed one boy. We bought 3 dozen Halloween pencils for a dollar a dozen and by the end of the night they were all gone.
It made me feel good that I was actually contributing to a child's education instead of their bad health.
I guess if everyone gave away pencils it wouldn't be special any more but Walmart and dollar stores are full of little cheap things. And maybe part of the reason pencils were so popular was that my husband was so excited to be giving them away. The kids had a choice but the pencils sat bright and shiny at the top.
Did you give something away this Halloween that interested you or inspired you? If not what could you give next year?
3 comments:
We've been giving out stickers, pencils, erasers, and tiny notebooks for years now. I <3 Oriental Trading Co. :^) And yes, most kids seem to like them. A few are rude and demand candy. If so, then I tell them they are too old for Trick or Treat anyway. Mostly, though, the parents of the littles love the stickers. And the older kids like the pencils and erasers.
This year I did an experiment: I offered the kids a glow bracelet or chocolate. The chocolate choice was a fun size pack of M&Ms--plain, peanut, or mini. The glow bracelet wasn't yet glowing, so they got to bend it and make it glow themselves, which is pretty fun.
For some kids it was an easy choice, others said it was hard and took a while to make a decision.
The end result:
Chocolate - 12
Glow bracelet - 22
The parents all loved the glow bracelets and thanked me.
Several kids reported that they only wanted a glow bracelet because they had enough chocolate already.
I did a blog entry about "Books For Treats" and I think I might do that next year. You collect a whole bunch of slightly used children's books, sort them by age, and then let them choose. (I think I would give out some candy too though... I am a FIEND for candy!)
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