I find myself in the beginning of November with a slight problem.  I have a ton of candy and I am on a diet.  I asked around the office and I am not the only one.  Some of you might have tried to eat all of it and can’t bring yourself to do it.  Maybe your kids have separated out all the “good stuff.” Perhaps, not enough trick or treaters showed up.  Here are a couple ways to get rid of the candy.

You could cook or bake with it.  Check out this 5 Yummy Recipes. Take it work.  I took a bunch of candy (mainly chocolate) and brought it to meetings.  People love free candy.  I was discussing what to do with Halloween Candy when people started telling me about Operation Gratitude.

You can provide Halloween Candy for the Operation Gratitude Care Packages. The troops will love it–for themselves and also to give out to the children in the communities they patrol.  All types of candy are acceptable, including chocolate this time of year.

You can also find dentists within your community who may be participating in a Halloween Candy Buy-Back program, or to encourage your own dentist to participate.

Check with your child’s school, they might be collecting.  My kid’s school is.  If you are going to send the candy yourself, be sure and ship your candy  by December 5 to:

Operation Gratitude/California Army National Guard
17330 Victory Boulevard
Van Nuys, CA 91406
Attn: Charlie Othold

Some tips about donating you candy according to Operation Gratitude:

• Feel free to use any size cartons–whatever you have on hand or can easily find.
• Please use the most economical method from your location.  You can check the websites of the various shippers (UPS, USPS, Fed-Ex, DHL) and get their respective prices based on weight and size of package.  Some of these outlets are allowed to offer discounts, as they are owned as franchises.
• You might also check with local moving or freight companies–they might be willing to add your donation to their load for very little money (or for free) if they are heading this way anyway.

Buck blogs almost daily at BuckDaddyBlog.com where he blogs about being a dad, sprinkled with some product reviews and giveaways, with humor and self deprecation.