Thread: Rather than buying...

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In this economy, sometimes its better just to make the candy that we hand out at home. I found a recipe over at Instructables - Make, How To, and DIY for homemade snickers bars. I haven't made it yet but I do feel that it would come out pretty well. (I do a lot of cooking and baking at home, so I do have a sort of "feel" for this.) Homemade Snickers Candy Bar Recipe

I also have a favorite recipe site that you might want to consider as well: Haunted House of Halloween Recipes

I know you will be putting in so much of your efforts for this but I have to mention that even when I was a kid anytime we had anything home made, whether its popcorn balls or candy apples, my parents always threw these away during bag inspection. Theres a few bad apples out there that have ruined homemade anything for what I believe into perpetuality. I would love to try homemade snickers, want my address?

Don't really want your address for safety reasons but you could just make the recipe for yourself and your guests if you have an at-home Halloween party. I think that's what they were originally designed for. Like I said, I haven't made them because I'm on Weight Watchers and have been doing quite well on it. (down nearly 60lbs.)

well, the address thing was a joke :P gratz on losing the weight, but you started a thread about making candy to pass out for TOTS not an at home party. So I wanted to tell you your efforts might be wasted on more than a few TOTS. Im intrigued with candy making, I love watching the shows that lay out the whole process behind our snacks and candies. The work involved to make it? nooo way, lol. Too much effort, Id rather just buy.

I do not think anyone will eat them. Today is a time of fear in TOT. People will not eat prepared treats only the packaged ones. And worse, a person handing out prepared treats may be reported undersuspiciaon of nefarious deeds. Safe yourself a lot of bother by not doing it. Sorry to be a kill joy, but that is the reality we live with.

Making your own treats for a party would work out okay, but I'm with the others on this about handing them out. Even if you buy factory candy in bulk and repackage it, parents and even some TOTs are likely to toss it out before they even get home.

People have been in a perpetual state of fear over Halloween candy because of urban legends and over hyped news stories. A majority (if not all) cases of a kid's Halloween candy being tampered with has come back to the parent of the injured child, which is terribly sad.

The fear lingers on for homemade treats and in some respects it is rightful. People aren't always super clean or hygienic in their own kitchens and a child who is allergic to peanuts may get a piece of non peanut candy that was exposed to peanuts because something wasn't cleaned properly or the candies were stored together. Worse yet someone may taste test a candy coating off of a mixing spoon and not clean it or use a different spoon and whatever germs they may have could be spread around town.

All in all, homemade treats aren't trusted when they are handed out and all that effort goes right in the trash can. Party food is sometimes all homemade so people are more comfortable and less paranoid about it.

forgot to mention that even packaged candy needs to be inspected, I was surprised to read the news stories about how things got into allegedly sealed wrappers (razors, needles, toxic liquids). I saw a prank once where someone used a needle to inject diarrhea inducing liquid into some candy. Stuff like that makes me shudder as an adult and am thankful my dad inspected our candy bags after our runs, though not as thankful he would pick out the good stuff for himself. >

Parents usually throw away homemade stuff, too risky. I know I would if it was my kids treats. Only if it was from a friend or relative.

It is a real shame too, because when I was a ToT we got lots of homemade cookies, caramel and candy apples, popcorn balls, bags of Chexmix, etc. The druggies of the 60's and 70's ruined it for everyone with the razors in the apples and the Speed and other drugs put in the candy. Not to mention Pot or ExLax brownies.

Originally Posted by IshWitch

The druggies of the 60's and 70's ruined it for everyone with the razors in the apples and the Speed and other drugs put in the candy. Not to mention Pot or ExLax brownies.

Um, you do know that most of those instances have been proven to be nothing more than an urban myth right? And that a lot of real cases of tampered candy was caused by parents wanting "to teach their kid a lesson" about accepting candy from strangers.

Saying things like that and perpetuating the myth is like saying Halloween is for devil worshipers and that pedophiles will steal your children away on Halloween. It's unfounded propaganda.

Yeah, maybe in the 60's some kid somewhere was given a pot brownie, possibly by mistake. It is wholly unfair to use one (possible) instance against A) an entire generation and B) use as blame for the over paranoid parents fearing for every hair on their kids head.

If you want to blame something for the mistrust of homemade goods, blame the media attention given to hoaxes and fear pandering. They do it every year to get people worked up and foaming at the mouth and all it does is damage the holiday's reputation even further.

a couple of good reads here- Poisoned candy scare - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

snopes.com: Pins and Needles in Halloween Candy

Goes to show even store bought candy isnt always safe! >)