Updated 10/2023: Operation Gratitude is no longer consistently participating in this program, but please try Treats for Troops.
I have celebrated a rebirth through the years: a rebirth as someone who actually loves Halloween. I was a Scrooge (forgive the horrendous crossover of holiday folklore) about this holiday throughout my 20’s but then, when I had kids whose eyes lit up at new costumes and counted down the days and hours until trick-or-treating, I began to appreciate this holiday.
So now, as a newly minted “Halloween mom,” my struggle is different. While I love the fall evenings of running around our neighborhood with tykes dressed as all sorts of princesses and Fortnite characters, I don’t love the excess.
We are in a situation where we are incredibly blessed with all that our family needs. To my eyes, we have the responsibility to be good stewards of our resources. We need to take care of others with the fruits of what God has given, and this is something I want to role model and instill in our kids. As I go into the holiday season wanting to raise kids with an attitude of gratitude, I don’t think Halloween is too early to start.
If your family is anything like ours, we end up with WAY too much candy. Way too much. There are only so many mini-Snickers I can guiltily sneak in at night before I start to feel bad (turns out, that number is actually really high, but there is a ceiling nonetheless).
Yes, there is the Buy Buy Back program many dental offices and other businesses around the country participate in. If you head to www.halloweencandybuyback.com you can find offices near you that will actually buy your leftover Halloween candy. But there are sometimes limitations on those programs and they aren’t available in all communities.
I strongly recommend the program our family has been participating in for the past seven years with love…
Operation Gratitude takes leftover Halloween candy and sends it to deployed troops and active military. Actually, many dental offices have now begun to participate in this program over the Buy Back through the years, but you can also do this on your own. (The women’s group at our church a few years ago created packages for Operation Gratitude with our children’s leftover Halloween candy for our October service project and it was one of my favorites.)
So after wallowing in the sugary excess for a few days, the kids eventually dump their candy on the table and, as a family, we decide what candy we keep (and would actually eat) and what deserves to be given away.
Parents: I can’t stress enough the importance of having the children involved in this process. I know it feels easier to bag the candy when they sleep and whisk it off in the dark of night to avoid arguments and protests, but, as with parenting, we fight the good fight to help our little ones grow in love and kindness. You can do it! (Pep talk done.)
There are always some items that are non-negotiables for my family: Mr. Family Trip loves Twix and both the kids seem to have strange obsessions with Kit Kats. But it turns out that once we actually looked at it the candy heap in one big pile we all realized we had way too much.  As in 5 pounds or more too much.
So we put all of our extra in a box (along with some other important items, as noted in the details list below), followed the instructions at Operation Gratitude’s website, and shipped it out. While shipping costs can get high if you have a heavy box, I have found that the postal workers will help me package things most economically when they realize what I am doing.
Details to note:
- You must separate all your candy from non-candy with plastic bags.
- We always put in some hand-drawn notes from the boys as Operation Gratitude really encourages writing letters to the troops as well. In fact, my guess is those are more appreciated than the candy (recognition of those who sacrifice for our country) but I can’t prove it.
- I stop by our local drugstore and purchase floss, toothbrushes, and some tubes of toothpaste for our box, too.
Bear in mind that even after years of doing this, it doesn’t always go smoothly. The kids will still have small sparks of separation anxiety but at the end of it all, they end up pretty pleased with themselves for doing something good.
(And I am pretty pleased we no longer have heaps of candy to tempt me as we barrel our bellies into Thanksgiving then Christmas…)
Then we all feel good about the fact that this is such an easy way for us to give back to our soldiers.  It isn’t lost on me that while we are running around like mad on October 31st, gorging on candy and laughing with friends, they are off somewhere without their families, protecting our freedoms and doing whatever our country asks of them.
At this point in our family lives, giving to Operation Gratitude has simply become an expected part of our family tradition, and that is something I hold dear.
Head to the Operation Gratitude website to find a location near you or learn how you can directly send your candy and package to the troops.
The deadline for shipping boxes in 2019 is November 8.