Halloween is not the time to be a contrarian. Holidays are about tradition, particularly when they’re things to look forward to all year long, such as Halloween and Halloween candy. See, kids don’t really have any money, and Halloween allows them to get as much candy as they can carry, one night a year, for free. That means when they knock on your door, give them candy. And make sure it’s the good stuff. Do not give Trick-or-Treaters anything else, or you’ll surely be spending Nov. 1 cleaning eggs and toilet paper off of your house.
7. Coupons.
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There was this one house in my neighborhood that always handed out coupons redeemable for a free doughnut at the grocery store. Doughnuts are fantastic; they’re the candy of breakfast, after all. But Halloween is about the now, and about the actual physical candy in the bag. Handing out a coupon, even if it’s for something good, like a doughnut, cookie, or some other treat, is unacceptable. Instead of a treat, you’ve given out an errand.
6. Pennies.
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Somehow, with all of the spooktacular displays in stores and Hocus Pocus running on cable around the clock, you somehow forgot it was Halloween. And yet you didn’t turn off the porch light, inviting Trick-or-Treaters to approach, and getting their hopes up, even though you do not have any candy to offer. The price of a piece of fun-size candy works out to, what, a dime? And you’re handing out literal pennies. In this case, nothing is better than something, so instead, shut off the porch light and tell your phone to remind you to buy candy next Oct. 30.
5. Jack T. Chick tracts.
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There is a time and place for proselytizing, and Halloween isn’t it. You aren’t going to save any kids from hellfire by angering them when you give them a disturbing comic book about church instead of a mini Snickers.
4. Toothbrushes and toothpaste.
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The person that hands out dental hygiene products on Halloween is an especially douchey dentist and/or was once the kid who reminded the teacher when they didn’t assign homework. Plus, it’s a waste of money. Kids are terrible about brushing their teeth 365 days a year, not just on the one night where they get sugary candy. Every neon-colored toothbrush and every miniature tube of “fun-flavored” toothpaste is going straight into the garbage, if not the lawn and mailbox of the person who handed them out.
3. Mary Janes.
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These aren't technically candy. Only really old people like these weird peanut/molasses things because it reminds them of their childhood, when everything was terrible. Technically taffy, they’re hard as a rock because no new Mary Janes have been produced since 1911.
2. Raisins.
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In general, most kids like raisins. They’re incredibly sweet and you can slam a handful into your mouth and ingest a week’s worth of sugar all at once. Raisins are literally nature’s candy. Put when going head-to-head with actual candy, raisins will lose every time. Raisins aren’t candy—they’re fruit. They are, relatively speaking, healthy. Don’t even try to step on Halloween, raisins…unless you’re covered in chocolate.
1. Sugar-free candy.
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Personal note: I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when I was really young, and right before Halloween. So, several of my neighbors bought special sugar-free candy for me, and only me, so I wouldn’t feel left out when I went Trick-or-Treating. This was an incredibly kind and thoughtful gesture and one that really helped me feel “normal” again for the first time since the diagnosis. However, did you know that sugar-free candy makes you shit out all of your insides? Apparently, the artificial sweeteners used in sugar-free candy are so chemically engineered that the human body has no idea what to do with them, and it goes into lockdown mode, which is diarrhea. The ironic part is that while sugar-free candy is technically free of sucrose, the thing we call “sugar,” it is not free of carbohydrates, which means I still had to take insulin for the sugar-free candy, as I would have for regular candy. In other words, I still had to give myself the injection I would for regular candy, but then also, I got diarrhea. And then I had to write a bunch of thank-you notes to my neighbors.
Don’t hand out sugar-free candy.