The Switch Witch

I’ve been hearing rumblings of a “Switch Witch” around allergy friendly Halloween sites lately and I thought it was just the parent takes away unsafe candy and leaves behind safe treats instead. Our toddler was old enough this year to understand there is candy she can’t have, but not old enough to know which ones are safe by herself. So, she started out the night picking up each type of candy in the candy bowl and saying, “Can I have this one? Can I have this one?” To our neighbors who know of her allergies, this was made perfect sense and they were very patient as she looked through the candy bowl. To our neighbors who don’t know about her allergies, they just thought she was being super polite. “Aww, yeah! Just pick out the kind you want!”

What really led to some confusion was the fact that a fair number of houses didn’t have anything safe. So as she picked up peanut laden, milk covered treat and kept asking if she could have any, we eventually just gave up and told her to get the shiniest and we would deal with it later. That night, we did our version of the Switch Witch and turned all of her chocolate candies into Sour Patch Zombies (and enjoyed the chocolate as the kids' slept. As any Switch Witch should.)

Left: kid without food allergies, jam packed with anaphylaxis goodness

Right: kid with food allergies.... 95% sour patch gummies. A bag of pretzels. And some suckers.

Turns out the original Switch Witch (originally a book and doll) is a bit more nuanced- it’s a way for your kid to trade in some of their candy and get a prize (coloring book, stickers, toys… etc). Apparently, you let your kid indulge in their candy Halloween night, then they separate out their candy to a pile that they keep and a pile that they want to give away. It's supposed to encourage being more intuitive about eating, learning what candy they actually like, and generally being a little bit more healthy. The more candy they give up, the better their prize is supposed to be (though how the Switch Witch manages this, not being able to see in to the future was not an answer I found online).

I think the big difference for our family is our toddler with food allergies will be forced to give up a certain amount of candy, while the older one can learn the finer points of intuitive eating. But, it'll be nice for the Switch Witch to visit both kids, especially as they get older. 

Next year! The real Switch Witch is coming! "I'll get you my pretty, and your little candies, too!"