Saturday, October 30, 2010

Say BOO! to Diabetes

Happy Halloween!


We are eagerly awaiting Trick or Treat this evening!  
Yes, my child has diabetes and Yes, she DOES go trick or treating!

I am determined that diabetes will NOT take the fun from life.  And that includes Halloween.  

I was worried about it at first.  In fact, I remember thinking about it in the car on the way to the hospital the day she was diagnosed... "How in the world are we going to do Halloween?"  WHY I was worried about that, I don't know.  But your mind goes to weird places that day.

I shouldn't have worried.

Here is how we celebrate Halloween at our house....

We DO get costumes.  This year, Sweetpea is dressing up as a puppy.  She also dressed up like Cinderella for the Halloween party last night.  

 This is Sweetpea and me before the party...

We DO carve pumpkins!


We DO go Trick or Treating!  We go from house to house just like everyone  else!

What do we do with the loot?

The way we handle it is that Sweetpea does not eat candy during Trick or Treating.  I wouldn't let her do this even if she did not have D.  When she gets home, we sort through it.  We keep the Smarties and the Starburst (red only) for lows.  Sweetpea gets to choose a few things to keep - she like m&m's and Tootsie Rolls.  She can have one or two things that night.  The rest she "sells" to me.  I take it to school and put it into my prize box for the kiddos there.  She gets $$ and she can go to buy something.  

The kid really makes out on this deal... This year she got money from BOTH sets of Grandparents.  So add that to her Tick or Treat money and she's going to do well at Target!

There is no set amount we give her... This works for us right now.  We just let her pick a toy that isn't too expensive.  Say $10 - $20.  It's worth it to us to help her have fun celebrating this holiday.

I REALLY liked the idea of the "Switch Witch" that I read on another blog.  I think we may try that this year.  We will leave out the candy and during the night the "Switch Witch" comes and takes the candy and leave a toy in it's place!  LOVE THIS!

And really....  I think this would be a great idea even without D.  No kid needs to gorge on candy.  No adult does either.  Get it out of the house!  

So that's how we are celebrating... 

We will ENJOY this day!
We will PARTICIPATE in this day!
We will do the things that everyone else does - just with our own spin.

Diabetes will NOT win.  It will NOT take this away.  I won't let it.

Here's a little video I shot during pumpkin carving... 
Sweetpea asked me to video her.  And she just started talking about diabetes, so I thought I'd share!


I wish you all a very HAPPY HALLOWEEN and hope that you, too, say BOO to diabetes!


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7 comments:

  1. The SWITCH WITCH! That's kind of what we do, but it never had a name....until now :)

    After everyone picks out whichever 10 pieces they want to keep, we put it all outside on the doorstep and **POOF** it's gone by morning (we just called it the "Candy Fairy".) The next day we head to the toy aisle and everyone gets a $10 spending limit.

    Stick it in freezer bags, throw it in the garage and...guess what? With three bags of loot, we don't have to buy candy for the bowl next year :)

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  2. ok, that video is too cute! Sweetpea is ADORABLE!!!!

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  3. She is soo freakin' cute! I have a "BITCH SWITCH"...LOL...but, no "Switch Witch".

    I hope you guys have a terrific Halloween Hallie.

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  4. Have a wonderful weekend Hallie and family!

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  5. great post with wonderful ideas!! Thanks for sharing :) We like Tootsie rolls too...super cute. As soon as sweet pea started to talk my kids all flooded the computer room to see her :)

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  6. We fully participate in this holiday as well; it has always been one of my favorites. We do the selling candy thing in our house too :). My older non-D son LOVED the idea last year when we presented it (our first Halloween with D) so it is a great way to get rid of the candy. I let them go pick out their prizes on Friday but they don't get them until they turn in their loot after trick or treating tonight. LOVE the switch witch idea - may have to try that too! Oh, also, instead of giving out candy at our house this year, we are giving out little Halloween toys I picked up on clearance after Halloween last year :).

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  7. Hallie, You have inspired me once again! I love your positive attitude and I talked to Olivia and we are going to try this next year! Thanks so much for sharing! :-)

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