Recycled Goodies for Halloween

Parent Hacks has a short post about using leftover toys, stickers, etc. from birthday party goody bags to pad your Halloween candy supply. We're going one step further this year: We collected a big bag of candy from summertime parades and saved it to give out at Halloween. Maybe you're the kind of person who digs the suckers, tootsie rolls and hard candy they give out at parades, but my family isn't too fond of them. (These sweet treats are what my wife and I call "Not worth the calories.")

What's your opinion: Is this a smart idea for saving money and recycling otherwise unwanted candy, or is it on par with handing out used dryer sheets and socks with holes in the heel?

Mother's Day Approaches

Mother's Day is this coming Sunday in the United States, and Garrison Keillor has these words to share in his column at Salon.com:

She knows when you're in trouble. And you will get into deep trouble someday. Count on it. Someone will file a lawsuit against you and subpoena your e-mail and it will all come flooding out, your dark secrets, your nefarious dealings, and your friends will cross the street to avoid you and your brothers and sisters will fade into the woodwork, but your mother will still love you. Like an old lioness, she'll come running even if you're 2,000 miles away.

Reading this, it really rings true with how my wife and I have come to feel about our own progeny. When you meet your baby for the first time, he's a tiny, little stranger and you wonder if you'll ever feel that overwhelming love that so many people talk about. After a year with our boy, we're absolutely dedicated to being on his side come whatever may. We never knew we could feel that way about anyone besides each other.

Easter Candy Clearance

I was pretty pumped this year to head out to the stores the day after Easter and reap the rewards of ridiculously discounted holiday candy. On Monday, I was disappointed to find that Cadbury Cream Eggs had already disappeared from the shelves of the three stores I checked. These were the only thing I was actually excited about, so I wasn't really keen on anything else available, what with 50%-off candy still technically costing money. Are the days of cream eggs being available on clearance after Easter over? Are the cream egg enthusiasts making a mad dash for the stores ahead of me? It would make sense, as these are one of the few holiday-specific candies remaining that hasn't made the effort to repackage itself for other holidays (I've never seen a Cadbury Cream Pumpkin). It also doesn't help that there is such a thing as Cadbury Orange Cream Eggs. Orange Cream? Has anyone tasted one of these (judging by the clearance shelves, the answer is no) and if so are they any good? They sound terrible, especially since the resemblance to cream eggs would inevitably invite comparison.

I did happen upon a bag of Dark Chocolate Peanut M&Ms, which was a rare and happy enough combination of M&M ingredients to be worthwhile. I'm hoping that today I'll stop by CVS after work and find everything to be 75% off, which just might be enough to induce me to buy a little, hollow, chocolate bunny. They have a little Peter Rabbit and he's holding a little, orange carrot. Aww!

Has anyone out there had any notable clearance Easter candy experiences this year?