I’m sure I’m not the only one with a successful Halloween candy haul sitting untouched in their kitchen. I love candy as much as the next girl, probably even a little more, but I struggle to consume all of it by myself. I’ve spent years and years trying to find a solution to this Earth-shaking problem, and this is what I’ve managed to come up with.
So, I’ve compiled this magnificent and only slightly in-depth list for all those who share in this insurmountable struggle. If you don’t have any candy at all (nada, zilch, zero), imagine candy is in place of something else. This could be anything; as long as you have too much of it, it’s applicable.
- Pull a Pavlov
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If you’re unaware of who Pavlov is and why he’s important, he was a Russian scientist who discovered classical conditioning through dogs. He basically found that if you introduce a neutral stimulus (a sound) while giving a subject an unconditioned stimulus (food), the subject will salivate merely at the presence of the neutral stimulus.
So, for example, you want your friends to rewatch the new Resident Evil movie with you, because it’s just been released digitally. However, your silly little buddies don’t want to watch Resident Evil for the fifth time.
To get them eager for the idea of watching the best video game adaptation ever, you could play the Sony production credit (it just sounds like a bell) while handing them a piece of their favorite candy. Voilà, you have a bunch of rowdy adults just itching to watch one of the greatest movies to be released this year.
Though if you’re a The Office fan, you’ll already be familiar with the concept.
- Semi-Permanent Treat Dish
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As someone with a dangerous sweet tooth, I crave candy most, if not all, of the time. If you’re reading this, you probably have one too. It’s okay to admit it; you’re in a safe space with many like-minded individuals.
A semi-permanent treat dish is a great way to keep your sweet tooth in check, while also pretending the candy isn’t just for yourself. You could put it in the kitchen or the living room; the most important aspect of the dish is that it’s public, so that each person that you’re living with has the option to supply the dish.
Therefore, you would be getting a stream of candy from more than one person (yourself). The possibilities are enormous, just incomprehensible. The variety of options would keep you satisfied for weeks, possibly even days.
- Hide Them
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If you don’t have a sweet tooth or if you don’t like sweets at all, you could always give these candies away.
This is a kind idea, and if I weren’t myself, maybe I would subscribe to it. To me, just giving candy away is tired. You’re just repeating the process; you’re simply the middleman. Instead, you could hide these candies in various spots around your apartment, your campus, or your town. Anywhere you frequent would be good.
If you want to see the reactions of those who find the candies, I suggest stashing the candies in places where you are more often than you’re not. Seeing the joy on other people’s faces once they figure out they’ve found a fun-sized piece of candy is something that’s probably nice. I don’t know; I’ve never seen it.
You could even leave a calling card of some sort, if you don’t want full anonymity. Just have fun with it; that’s the point.
- Treat Your Professors
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Students aren’t the only people in the world with a sweet tooth, and there’s always the option of giving your professors some candy. Offering up a sweet treat as thanks for a good semester or pushing back that assignment you really didn’t have time for might just help get you on their sweet side. This is all I’ll say on the subject.
- Sweets in Your Treats
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While I was being chronically online, I found many articles about reusing leftover candy in various treats.
You can do pretty much anything with your leftover candy. It doesn’t matter what kind; it can be included in any recipe, as long as it calls for candy first.
If you love baking, I’m sure this is the most appealing option for you. You could ration your Halloween candy through various recipes; it allows you to savor the candy, and it gives you much more time to figure out what exactly you want to do with the buckets of candy I’m sure you have.
I found various websites and videos about the topic. My personal favorite features 15 recipes! There is no shortage of what you could do with your candy. You can just look up what to do with whatever specific candy, chocolate, or sweet that you have an abundance of.
- Treat Yourself
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If you have a bunch of candy that you want to keep for yourself, don’t be ashamed. I feel the same way, so you’re not alone in this sentiment. We all deserve a little something for ourselves, especially so close to finals week. To “treat yourself,” find your leftover candy, put it somewhere only you can access, and then eat it as you want.
Despite how short and simple this list appears, it’s a double-edged sword. You can’t forgo any aspect, or “treat yourself” won’t work. If you tell any of your secret sweet stash, they’ll slowly treat themselves to it, slowly depleting it of its most precious resource: candy. You deserve the candy you’ve hidden and not allowed any other person to consume.
- Save It For Next Year
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If you don’t care about the candy and you don’t want to do anything with it, just keep it until next Halloween. Then you can give it to the trick-or-treaters. One thing to know is that different candy expires at different rates. Dark chocolate lasts the longest, around one to two years if unopened and stored in a cool, dry, and dark place.
Other Halloween treats like gummy candies and milk chocolate don’t last as long, but a great way to increase the longevity of candy is to freeze it. The best frozen candy can last for around 12 to 18 months.
This is the easiest option, and I recommend it if you don’t care for candy. It only has a few steps: keep the candy, freeze it, and hand it out a year after you got it.
Hopefully, this list was helpful to those of you who chose to read it. If you have any options that I may have omitted, please hesitate to contact me, reach out, or anything else.
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