AD.  Party bags, Trick or Treat, birthday cakes made of sweets, birthdays at school, Christmas stockings, Valentine's Day. Sweets are part of most of our celebrations and traditions and I’m totally here for it. There is a part of me that feels that as an adult I shouldn’t have such a sweet tooth, but I absolutely love sweets and I can’t see that changing. My love for all things sweet is something I share with my children too. 

Getting in the Halloween spirit

Strangely my eldest daughter doesn’t like chocolate. Well, she likes white chocolate, but I’m not sure that it really counts as chocolate. My other two children have a dairy intolerance and can’t eat normal chocolate so we always reach for sweets over chocolate. The biggest reason we normally have sweets in the house though is me. I probably eat more that anyone else and I have even been known to help my children out when they have too many. I thought I did this quite sneakily until M, then 7 years old, told Father Christmas I steal her sweets in response to him asking if mummy had been good. I was stunned at her answer, but it was absolutely true.

There are 2 days every year where I basically let my children eat as many sweet things as they want: Halloween and Easter. The rest of the year they have to ask before they have any and they are only allowed a small amount each day. This basically means Easter morning and Halloween Eve they eat a lot of sweets. It’s interesting to see at which point they decide to stop; after the initial binge they tend to only have a very small amount throughout the rest of the day. 

There's no chance of sweets being left long enough to gather real cobwebs in our house

Swizzels have a Monster Treats bag available for Halloween with special wrappers

Of course I think it’s important to limit the amount of sugar in our diet, but I also think it’s important to not build sweets up into too much of a treat. There is a risk that the more controlled they are, the more they become a forbidden fruit they try to sneakily eat. I have seen this with my daughter M who isn’t meant to have sugar rich foods after 6pm because they keep her awake. This has lead to her sneaking snacks upstairs and us finding empty packets under her pillow when we change the sheets. Basically banning something leads her to do it anyway and in a worse way. If she does this now, what will happen when pretty soon she has the freedom to head to shops on her own and buy what she wants?

Perfect for Trick or Treat this Halloween

So with Halloween once more fast approaching I am looking forward to the pumpkins, dressing up and trick or treating. Last year we stayed at home and had a Halloween Hunt in the garden, but this year I am hoping we can once again visit our neighbours. I love seeing everyone dressed up and the efforts people go to with their decorations. My daughters are looking forwards to filling their bags with enough sweets to last them until Christmas.

In the past when we have got home everyone tips their haul out and we check out what they all have. Doors where they only had chocolate based treats are switched out and luckily I have a hamper of Swizzels sweets I can exchange them for. It’s a bit like the Switch Witch that some allergy mum’s do, but I do it in a less magical way. They get to dig in sooner my way so they haven’t complained!

Win a Swizzels hamper in my giveaway, no spider webs, spiders or bats included

Swizzels Hamper Giveaway

If you too are a sweet lover then you will want to enter my latest competition to win a Personalised Retro Premium Red Sweet Hamper (970g) from the Swizzels Shop. On the Swizzels website they have all your favourites in gift packs and multipacks which make great presents for any occasion, even if that occasion is it is being a Wednesday. There are even lots of options for personalisation.

To enter the giveaway enter via the Rafflecopter Widget below, UK entry only, closes 30th October 2021 11.59pm so I will be contacting the winner on Halloween.