Non-Candy Halloween Treats: 5 Toys for 80 Cents or Less
TL;DR: If you want to hand out something besides candy this Halloween, skip the tiny plastic pile and pick small toys kids will actually play with. My seven picks are bubbles, Oriental Trading Company’s color-your-own bookmarks, mini puzzles, mini coloring books, Play-Doh from Hasbro, Wikki Stix and sticky hands. Check the age label for small parts, and remember you can offer candy and toys and let kids choose!
Every Halloween, my house ends up with enough candy to last until approximately Easter, so I completely understand why more parents are looking for non-candy Halloween treats to hand out to trick-or-treaters.
I do have one request, though. Can we please not replace the candy with a pile of tiny plastic things that nobody actually wants? My biggest pet peeve are halloween themed pencils, especially since the next day is not halloween and kids don’t use something that’s already passé!
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What Can You Hand Out Instead of Candy on Halloween?
If I am going to hand a child a toy instead of a Reese’s Cup, I want it to be something they might actually play with. It does not need to be expensive, elaborate or educational in some heavy-handed way. There are plenty of small, affordable toys that let kids create, move, experiment, solve something or simply be silly and use it so it doesn’t end up as clutter.
For me, the question is not simply whether something is cheap enough to hand out to 30 kids. I want to know whether it offers some actual play value. Can a child make something with it, figure something out, move, create, experiment or use it more than once? If the answer is yes, I am much more interested.
Why Give Toys Instead of Candy?
You certainly do not have to. Candy and Halloween have had a pretty successful relationship for a very long time.
Having a non-candy option can still be useful, though. Some kids cannot eat particular treats. Some simply prefer getting something they can play with. It can also be fun watching a child realize that the thing going into the trick-or-treat bag is a little activity rather than another piece of candy.
Personally, I like the idea of offering both and letting kids decide. One child may go directly for the chocolate while another is much more excited about bubbles or Play-Doh. That seems considerably easier than creating another set of rules around Halloween.
7 Halloween Toys to Hand Out Instead of Candy
From left to right: Play-Doh (Hasbro), Wikki-Stix, Bubbles (Leetous), Puzzles (Springflower), Sticky Webs (Wondrus), Bookmarks (Frienda), Coloring Books (Cracoring)
Bubbles
Bubbles are simple, inexpensive and instantly recognizable to kids. They also pack quite a bit of play into a tiny bottle. Kids can blow them, chase them, pop them, experiment with making bigger ones or turn the whole thing into a game with siblings and friends.
For younger trick-or-treaters especially, bubbles are an easy choice because there is almost no learning curve. Open the bottle and play.
Color-Your-Own Bookmarks
Color-your-own bookmarks (there are a lot to chose from on Oriental Trading) give kids a quick creative activity and something they can actually use afterward. They can decorate them with crayons, markers or colored pencils and then tuck them into whatever book they are reading.
I like that combination. It is inexpensive enough to work as a Halloween handout, but it still asks the child to do something rather than simply collect another little object.
Mini Puzzles
Mini puzzles and brain teasers are great for kids who enjoy figuring things out. They can also become surprisingly social because the minute one person struggles with a puzzle, someone else inevitably wants to try.
That gives these little toys more mileage than their size might suggest. A puzzle can move from the trick-or-treat bag to the kitchen table, into the car or around a group of siblings and friends.
Mini Coloring Books
Mini coloring books are another inexpensive option that gives kids an actual activity. They work especially well for younger children and can provide a quieter way to wind down after the excitement of costumes, doorbells and an impressive amount of sugar.
Most families already have crayons or markers somewhere in the house, so the coloring book does not require much else to turn it into play.
Play-Doh
There is a reason Play-Doh from Hasbro has been around for generations. It is open-ended, tactile and creative, and there is no prescribed way a child has to use it.
Kids can squish it, roll it, sculpt it, mix colors or create whatever happens to pop into their heads. The small containers also happen to be a convenient size for handing out individually to trick-or-treaters.
**Play-Doh contains wheat, according to Poison Control, so it can trigger a reaction in someone with a wheat allergy. If that’s a concern for your street, skip it or read the current label first.
Wikki Stix
Wikki Stix are one of my favorite small creative activities because children can bend and shape them into pictures, letters, animals, designs or whatever else they imagine.
They are quiet, reusable and require no batteries or complicated setup. Kids can start playing with them immediately, which is exactly what I want from something this small.
Sticky Hands
Sticky hands fall into a completely different category: ridiculous fun.
Kids can stretch them, fling them, slap them against things and try to grab objects with them. They may not be the most sophisticated toy on this list, but they encourage movement, experimentation and a surprising amount of laughter.
The Play-Doh Halloween themed sticks are available at Kohls and Michaels.
Keep Ages in Mind When Choosing Small Toys
The tricky part about handing toys out on Halloween is that you probably do not know the age of every child who will come to your door.
Some small toys or toy parts are not appropriate for children under three, so check the manufacturer’s age recommendation and any small-parts warnings before buying something in bulk. If you have items that are clearly better suited to older children, you can keep those separate and offer them to the bigger trick-or-treaters.
That does not need to make the whole process complicated. It is simply something worth thinking about when choosing what goes into the bowl.
What Is the Teal Pumpkin Project?
There is another good reason to have a non-food option available on Halloween. The Teal Pumpkin Project was created to help make trick-or-treating more inclusive for children with food allergies and other conditions that may make certain treats unsafe for them.
Placing a teal pumpkin outside your home lets families know that you have non-food treats available. You do not need to replace the candy bowl entirely. You can simply keep toys or other non-food items in a separate container and allow children to choose.
If you participate, it is a good idea to keep the non-food treats separate from candy to help reduce the chance of allergen cross-contact.
Candy or Toys? Let the Kids Choose
This may be the easiest solution of all: put out some candy, put out some toys and let the kids pick.
One child may grab the chocolate without giving the toy a second glance. Another may be thrilled to find Play-Doh, bubbles or a little puzzle. Both have successfully participated in Halloween.
Halloween does not need another set of parenting expectations. It is supposed to be fun. If you do decide to offer toys, though, I would rather see kids go home with something they might genuinely play with than another piece of disposable plastic headed for the junk drawer.
That is the standard I used when choosing the toys on my list. A little less clutter and a little more play seems like a pretty good Halloween trade to me.
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