Halloween is a holiday we celebrate as a family! It is all about the kids! Their costumes, the trick-or-treating and making memories! I have many fond memories of celebrating Halloween with Continue reading
Halloween has become one of my favorite holidays because I enjoy it with my nieces and nephews! Spending Halloween with children increases the joy of this holiday for me! Seeing them get excited about their costumes, gathering for Continue reading
He did it again! My hubby bought lots of Halloween candy, more than we can give away to trick-or-treaters! He bought it a few weeks before Halloween and bought chocolates! Yes, chocolates! Not the hard candy which I won’t be tempted to eat, but milk chocolate…and some of my favorite types! Last year, I shared my tricks to avoid eating Halloween candy. The two main things I do is purchase candy I don’t like (hard candy) and secondly, give away the left over candy after Halloween. These tricks worked for me when I was single. Now that I am married, my hubby buys the candy a few weeks ahead of time and before I know it, there are multiple bags of delicious chocolate in the pantry! The chocolate seems to be calling my name!
Last year, my hubby did the same thing. What I did was have a few pieces of chocolate, but by Halloween we had eaten half the bag of Kit Kats. This year, I decided not to even open the bags. I had the urge many times, but I would walk away from the chocolates. What I did was leave the chocolates in the grocery bags and place them in a far corner of the pantry, on the bottom shelf. The corner that I see less often when I walk into the pantry. It worked because I forgot the chocolates were there. Every once in while, I’d see the bags and remember they were filled with delicious chocolates. But, I also knew that if I didn’t open the bags, I wouldn’t eat any of it. I didn’t completely deprive myself of chocolate (since I always keep chocolate in the pantry), I still had a few chocolate covered almonds when I had a craving for chocolate. But, I didn’t eat lots of chocolate candy bars! It is hard for me to just eat one candy bar and since the packets are snack size, I usually eat two or three, which pretty much adds up to a regular size candy bar.
For these pictures, I took the candy out of the pantry, afterwards I put it right back in the grocery bags and into the far corner of the pantry. I will probably eat some chocolate candy bars on Halloween night. After Halloween, I will give away the left over candy. If I don’t give it away, do you know what will happen? Yup! We will eat every last piece of it…..and not over six months, we will likely eat it within a few weeks.
Storing the candy out of sight in the far corner of the pantry and not opening the bags were the tricks I used this year, and they worked!
Do you eat the Halloween candy before Halloween night? Do you use any tricks to avoid eating too much candy before or after Halloween?
Hugs,
Paola
Hello my delicious chocolate friends!!!!!
Oh how I love thee!
Yikes, now that I see them, I am craving these chocolates!
So many chocolates….and some are my favorites: Almond Joy, Kit Kat, Reese’s, Hershey’s!
I can do this! I can take a picture with all these chocolates and not open the bags….and not eat any!
These are going right back into the grocery bags…..
And, into the back corner of the pantry….if I don’t see the chocolates, I won’t be tempted to eat them!
It seems just a few years ago, Halloween for me was about dressing up to go to a party at a night club or friend’s house. Then, the television station where I work sponsored a family-friendly Halloween event at a local mall and I spent three years in a row working on Halloween night, which was fun because I would get to meet viewers and lots of cute children in their costumes. I’d head to my friends parties afterwards. The last Halloween party I went to was about three years ago at my friend Pablo Palomino’s house, it was fun! Now that I have nieces and nephews, Halloween for me is about spending time with them, talking to them weeks ahead of time about which costume they want to wear, and then taking them to trick-or-treat on Halloween night! Five years ago, my nephews weren’t even born and my other brother did not live in town. So, it was funny because we took my nieces trick-or-treating and there were seven adults and two children, haha! We’d all stand on the sidewalk as one adult walked them to the neighbors door to knock.
This year, we got together at my sister’s house and all the kids were in costumes. She was also wearing a Hawaiian costume. I have a few costumes at home from past years and decided to wear the geisha costume to match with my nephews Asian theme as a ninja. All the kids looked adorable in their costumes! After trick-or-treating, we went back to my sis’ house and had snacks, chips, with chamoy, chile, & lime of course, we are Mexican after all! Now, getting together on Halloween to go trick-or-treating with the kids has become a family tradition. We are building fun memories and these moments are priceless for me! What did you do this Halloween? Do you have any Halloween traditions?
Hugs,
Paola
Let the trick-or-treating begin!
Some of the neighbors really went all out in decorating their homes!
My sis and adorable nephew! I love how she is always smiling!
My sister-in-law with my nephew. Guess who she was dressed as (she is missing her black frame glasses in this pic)? What a clever costume!
The two little one’s going up to a house and ringing the bell, they are growing so fast!
Group pic 🙂
This lady’s house had scary decorations, she was sitting at a table at the door passing out candy and even had a smoke machine going.
The whole trick-or-treating gang (except my brother – he took the pic).
My brother – also – taking pics of the kids.
This house was super scary, I went up to it with my older niece’s…you can’t see it here, but this car in the driveway had smoke coming out of it….the entire driveway and path to get candy was decorated in a spooky manner! 
This person had an inflatable costume, it was huge!
My sister and her youngest son, she had bought him another costume, but he wanted to be a lion again, so they put last year’s costume on again! He would roar after he told you he was a lion, so cute!! Love my sis & this little boy!
She had drinks and snacks set up for us to enjoy after trick-or-treating 🙂
My niece was dressed as a pirate, she is a sweetheart of a girl!
My sis had an assortment of chips for us to snack on…can you see all the chile bottles and lemon squeezer in the background? Yummy snacks!
Tis’ the Season! For me, Halloween marks the beginning of the holiday season! At this point of the year, I am happy enough to maintain my weight, to try to lose weight would be very, very challenging, haha! In addition to all the fun parties and outings, there is shopping for gifts and for food for special events, putting up decorations, wrapping gifts, and lots more to do. This leads to changes in my routine, in particular less time to exercise. I enjoy the holidays and like to also enjoy the special meals served this time of the year! It is all about moderation. For Halloween, I have tricks use to avoid eating too many treats!
1) Buy Candy I Won’t Want to Eat: I try not to buy chocolates because they are my guilty pleasure, so I know I will want to eat them! I usually buy hard candy, such as lollipops, or Starburst to give out. This way, I am not tempted to have some of it because I don’t really like these types of candy.
2) Don’t Open the Bag: If I don’t open the bag until Halloween night, I won’t eat any before that night.
3) Give Away Left Over Candy: As much as I love chocolate, any chocolates we don’t give out will be taken to my office or my husband’s office, to share with co-workers. If we don’t have it in the house, we won’t eat it. If we keep it at home, we will eat it, all of it, even if over a few weeks, that is lots of additional calories and fat!
This year my hubby bought the candy we will give out. Yesterday, he came home with all these chocolates! What? This is not a good strategy for me! This does not follow my tricks to not eat too many treats! It is like torture for me, haha! I had two pieces last night and four today! Yes, four! I didn’t open the bag of Twix to ensure I don’t eat any of those! I usually keep chocolate at home, but buy chocolate covered almonds or malt balls, so if I have a craving for chocolate I’ll just have a few small pieces, not an entire candy bar.
Ironically, I had just gotten home from a Zumba class at the gym before I took this picture! And yes, I ate some chocolate. It’s so hard to resist!
Happy Halloween everyone! Enjoy the treats, just don’t have too many! And if you do eat too many, exercise more or watch your calorie intake in other meals for a few days. Or, if you want to avoid eating too many treats, try the tricks I listed above….and don’t let your husband buy candy you will want to eat!
What is your favorite Halloween treat?
Hugs,
Paola
I LOVE CHOCOLATE!
Darn…I want one! The temptation! To taste the sweetness melting in my mouth!
And, I just had to have one!
Or two! 
Yikes, look it all the calories and fat in three pieces!
And…the calories in two pieces of these! 
Note to self: Tell hubby to please not buy chocolates for Halloween next year! Or at least not chocolates I like! I didn’t open the large bag because I don’t really love the chocolates in that package!
