So this is going to sound really silly, but last year when I was working at the library I came across the old Judy Blumes from the 1970s. As my name is Margaret I received for Christmases and Birthdays a number of copies of Are You There God, It’s me Margaret? I thumbed through an old copy. And somewhere in there I remember a Halloween section and Trick or Treating for UNICEF.

That sounded like a good idea. After three Halloweens with kids where I tried to pretend that the shiny wrappings where not anything edible, (Hey , it worked the first two years),
I was looking for something new. The whole process of going door to door for candy had worn thin on my kids. Diego: “That’s it? Walk around as Scooby Doo for candy?” Now that did seem a little silly.

So off I went to Googleland. And the program still exists! Yay!

http://youth.unicefusa.org/trickortreat

My kids really liked the idea of collecting change anyway! That seems like all they do these days is go into my purse and car coin box. But now it had a purpose. We are collecting the coins, I said, to help by medicine for kids who need it. My kids had just had colds at the time and were hyper aware of ‘medicine’. They got the idea down. “Not all mommies and daddies can buy medicine, so we need to help the kids cause we are kids,” said Paloma –half repeating what I’d said but also making it her own. She was 2 ½ at the time.

If you go on the UNICEF website above there’s also suggested ideas for integrating Trick or Treat for UNICEF into your Halloween. There’s also a section for Games and Contests.

We just got our UNICEF Trick or Treat boxes in the mail for this year
And are folding them and readying them today. We still get a few pieces of candy on Halloween, but the UNICEF boxes really focus the kids on something a little more than momentary sweetness.