With Halloween comes all kinds of fun and excitement, ranging from pumpkin carving and dressing up, to spooky stories and trick-or-treating. But, even once Halloween has been and gone, the legacy of the ‘treats’ from trick-or-treating live on. Whether your children have come home with hoards of sweets they have procured from the neighbours or if you stocked up for trick-or-treaters and have got lots left over, the chances are your house might be looking a lot like a sweet shop at the moment.

Here’s some ideas from CK Dental in Bristol on how to keep Halloween fun while keeping your teeth a bit more healthy….

Make fun substitutions

Instead of a bag of sweets, think more creatively about what ‘treats’ might look like. Stickers are a great alternative, cheap, fun and a big hit on the playground. Especially if they happen to be sticker packs that your little ones can swap with their friends.

Bubbles and balloons are another good party bag offering that would substitute for sweets nicely. Children love blowing bubbles, especially younger ones. At this time of year, it’s very easy to pick up some ghoulish-themed bottles of bubbles or some black and orange balloons which will keep them entertained for ages.

This can extend to other Halloween dress-up items, like some witches fingers, a set of vampire teeth, a (pretend) spider, a plastic eyeball or two….these items can be picked up very cheaply at supermarkets and discount stores and kids will have great fun customising their outfits with them.

Make sure you’re still encouraging good dental habits

Although these spooky substitutions will help reduce sugar intake, they won’t evade the problem entirely, so be prepared to embrace the fun of trick-or-treating and make sure you reiterate the importance of a thorough teeth brushing session once the sweets have been consumed. Also, bear in mind that if your children have acquired a lot of sweets these may need to be consumed over a number of nights. If this is the case then make sure to explain that this is all part of the Halloween hangover, and that having sweets after tea is not to become a habit, otherwise you may find it is hard to break!