Happy, healthy Halloween

To the delight of many youngsters, Halloween falls on Saturday this year. For their parents, it means a day to recover from the inevitable sugar high after trick-or-treating, before they head back to school.

If you would prefer to reduce the amount of sugar your kids and the neighbourhood marauders consume, here are some ideas:

- offer to buy the candy from your kids, to build up their pocket money;
- walk around the neighbourhood rather than driving, to burn off some of the unhealthy calories;
- feed your monsters a healthy, nutritious dinner before treat-or-treating so they feel less inclined to over-indulge;
- encourage them to drink plenty of water.

For those staying at home who want to offer treats to appease the trick-or-treaters, some healthier offerings could include snack-sized bags of popcorn, crackers or dried fruit.

Alternatively, you could ditch the sweets altogether and hand out Halloween stickers, temporary tattoos, glow sticks, glow in the dark jewellery, toy spiders or insects, or mini colouring books.

Happy Halloween!