BOO!

Well, I'm off in a few to take my munchkins trick-or-treating. For all my loyal readers, I'm referring to the kids I've been mentoring for the past year. Is it sad that I'm probably more excited about it than they are? Just goes to show, no matter how old you get, you can always stay young at heart! Anyhoo, I've heard a lot of people grumbling about what they're going to do with all their leftover Halloween candy. I've got a few ideas.

1.Trick-or-Treat for Unicef. Every Halloween, children across the globe help collect money door-to-door to support UNICEF projects. The money is often collected at the same time as the children collect Halloween candy - and then sent to a UNICEF office. The money raised goes to provide medicine, water, food, education, and other services for children around the world. For more information, visit the UNICEF site.

2. Participate in Sight Night. Halloween is "Sight Night" for the Gift of Sight Foundation. Each year, trick-or-treaters collect used eyewear - which is then cleaned, repaired and hand-delivered to underprivileged people in developing countries who couldn't otherwise afford them. Since the program began in 1999, more than 1 million pairs of eyewear have been collected. For more information, visit the Sight Night site.

3. Someone recently told me about sending leftover Halloween candy to the U.S. troops overseas - which they apparently then give out to children in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here's the information, according to my source; "You can go to your local post office and ask for a free "Priority Mail/Flat Rate Box." Since they go to APO boxes, they are not classed as international, and you can mail them for no more than $8, regardless of the weight. I go to "Anysoldier.com" and you can pick the branch of service you want to send the candy to. They have names and address of either individuals or company officers who know which soldiers in their units NEVER get any mail from home (which makes me sad) and give them out accordingly. Or some units make the candy available to all."

3. Donate your candy to a local food pantry.

4. Buy candy that supports a specific social cause - such as the pink bags of chocolate that help raise funds to fight breast cancer.

You get the idea! Use your powers for good this Halloween - not evil!

Now, I'm going to leave you today without a specific recipe, only because I know you'll be gnawing on that leftover candy for most of the weekend. But if you really want to watch calories, buy sugar-free chocolate.

And here is some Halloween trivia for all you ghosts and ghouls out there. Have a fabulous weekend!

* Orange and black are Halloween colors because orange is associated with the Fall harvest and black is associated with darkness and death.
* Jack o’ Lanterns originated in Ireland where people placed candles in hollowed-out turnips to keep away spirits and ghosts on the Samhain holiday.
* Halloween was brought to North America by immigrants from Europe who would celebrate the harvest around a bonfire, share ghost stories, sing, dance and tell fortunes.
* Tootsie Rolls were the first wrapped penny candy in America.
* The ancient Celts thought that spirits and ghosts roamed the countryside on Halloween night. They began wearing masks and costumes to avoid being recognized as human.
* Halloween candy sales average about 2 billion dollars annually in the United States.
* Chocolate candy bars top the list as the most popular candy for trick-or-treaters with Snickers #1.
* Halloween is the 2nd most commercially successful holiday, with Christmas being the first.
* Bobbing for apples is thought to have originated from the roman harvest festival that honors Pamona, the goddess of fruit trees.
* Black cats were once believed to be witch's familiars who protected their powers.

Another reason to avoid sugar these days...

Now that your house is stocked with chocolate and other tasty Halloween treats, some not-so-sweet news has surfaced. Experts are claiming that too much sugar can make your skin dull and wrinkled.
At blame is a natural process that's known as glycation, in which the sugar in your bloodstream attaches to proteins to form harmful new molecules called advanced glycation end products or AGEs. The more sugar you eat, the more AGEs you develop. Adding to the bad news, AGEs leave you more vulnerable to sun damage - which is nother major cause of skin aging. According to a study published in the British Journal of Dermatology, these sugar-related skin effects may start at about age 35 and increase rapidly after that.

The good news is, there are several ways to counteract this, such as cutting back on sugar sweets, wearing sunscreen and eating more antioxidant-rich fruits, nuts, and vegetables.

If you haven't yet bought Halloween candy, here are a few sugar-free suggestions to help avoid those wrinkles.

Andes Sugar-Free Creme De Menthe Thins

Russell Stover Sugar-Free Pecan Delights

Hershey's Sugar Free Candy

Trick or Treat!

As someone who recently turned (gulp!) 30, I've been over the whole "trick or treat" scene for quite some time. Sure, I still like to whip together a cheap costume and go out with friends to celebrate, but as far as buying candy to give away - or dressing up the apartment with spooky holiday decorations - ehhh, not so much.
This year, however, I'll be taking a group of kids trick-or-treating...and honestly, I think I'm just as excited about the big day as they are. I mentor for a Muslim family, teaching them English and about U.S. culture. So what better way to fully introduce them to American society than to help them pick out crazy costumes and take candy from strangers? I'm just hoping they set aside some of that sweet trick or treat stash for me. I'll even take the candy (as long as it's wrapped!) that looks as though a "crazed madman tampered with it." Yes, I'm a child of the '80s and vaguely remember all the Halloween candy scares of that era, most of which percolated after the infamous Tylenol poisonings. Yeah, yeah...Sorry Mom. I know I kept handing you all that candy to taste-test for me back on Halloween of 1982. But I digress.
Anyway, it looks like I'm not alone in my enthusiasm for the upcoming Halloween. According to the National Retail Federation, consumer Halloween-related spending will surpass $5 billion this year - with more than 60 percent of respondents planning to celebrate in some way. In addition to the kids, one-third of adults are expected to dress up, while one-in-ten celebrants also plan to buy costumes for their pets. However, judging by some of the Halloween pet get-ups I've seen (see above), it's no wonder dogs sometimes bite their owners.

Here are a few more fun facts, courtesy of National Confectioners Association, to help get you into the Halloween spirit.

* The celebration of Halloween started in the U.S. as an autumn harvest festival. In pioneer days, some Americans celebrated Halloween with corn-popping parties, taffy pulls and hayrides.
* In the late nineteenth century, with the large influx of Irish immigrants into the U.S., Halloween became associated with ghosts, goblins and witches.
* Jack-o-lanterns are an Irish tradition. In Ireland, oversized rutabagas, turnips and potatoes were hollowed-out, carved into faces and illuminated with candles to be used as lanterns during Halloween celebrations.
* The word “witch” comes from the Old Saxon word “wica”, meaning “wise one.” The earliest witches were respected dealers in charms and medicinal herbs and tellers of fortunes.
* The pumpkin originated in Mexico about 9,000 years ago. It is one of America’s oldest known vegetables. Pumpkins generally weigh from 15-to-30 pounds, although some weigh as much as 200 pounds. The majority of pumpkins are orange, but they also can be white or yellow. They are rich in vitamin A, beta-carotene and potassium, and their seeds provide protein and iron.
* 93 percent of children will go trick-or-treating.
* Bite-sized chocolate candies are the post popular type to be included in Halloween activities (76 percent), followed by bite-sized non-chocolate candies (30 percent).
* Kids say their favorite treats to receive when trick-or-treating are candy and gum, while their least favorite is fruit and salty snacks like chips.
* Ninety percent of parents admit to sneaking goodies from their kids' Halloween trick-or-treat bags.
* More than 35 million pounds of candy corn will be produced this year. That equates to nearly 9 billion pieces — enough to circle the moon nearly 4 times if laid end-to-end.

Another piece of advice - if you do decorate the house, I suggest you avoid including yourself as a prop. YouTube shows that idea has backfired spectacularly on more than one occasion.