Have you heard of this? A network of dentists will buy back your Halloween candy for $1 to $2 per pound at HalloweenCandyBuyBack.com. After a few zip code searches, there actually does seem to be a few dentists in many metro areas. They are then encouraged to donate the candy to be sent to troops overseas.
Seems like an idea with good intentions, but somehow seems funny to me. Candy is bought by my neighbors, which is given out free to kids in costume, which gets sold to dentists for cash, and then is finally donated?
As a kid, the best part was trading candy between friends afterward. (I’ll add that I was always made to brush regularly and have never had a cavity in my life.) What was your favorite Halloween candy? I still love Dum-Dum lollipops.
The Best Credit Card Bonus Offers – November 2024
Big List of Free Stocks from Brokerage Apps
Best Interest Rates on Cash - November 2024
Free Credit Scores x 3 + Free Credit Monitoring
Best No Fee 0% APR Balance Transfer Offers
Little-Known Cellular Data Plans That Can Save Big Money
How To Haggle Your Cable or Direct TV Bill
Big List of Free Consumer Data Reports (Credit, Rent, Work)
Candy corn, taken by the handful. (No sissy hand-gel back in my day, kids.)
My dentist drives an S600 for a reason.
Smarties and SweeTarts for me. And I’ve always brushed twice a day and still ended up with 3 or 4 cavities.
thumbs up for the KING size Snickers or Baby Ruth bar. Not that cheapy “fun size”.
Ugh I hated SweetTarts and Smarties! They were always left over after I ate all the good stuff, also Bazookas and tootsie rolls were the bottom of the barrel for me.
In the fancier neighborhoods I’d get regular sized candy bars, which was awesome. Remember the weirdo family that would hand out mini toothbrushes & toothpaste?! Must have been a dentist!
Oh man, I love candy corn as well. I think I might have to buy some now.
Anyone get bags of pennies sometimes? Usually picked last were tootsie rolls and those black/orange paper-wrapped gooey candies.
love candy corn, hate smarties. yuck!
Now, sending candy to the troops is awesome. I volunteer at my local food bank, and have it on my list to talk to my dentist next time I go there. My dentist gives me a free toothbrush and floss with my cleaning (I’m sure given to him by a rep). I want him to give me a bunch of single-wrapped toothbrushes and as much travel size toothpaste as he can so I can give it out to clients to come to the food bank I volunteer at
You say you never had a cavity in your life Jonathan? How does your dentist stay in business then? If one goes to 3 different dentists he will get 3 very different diagnosis.
Bags of pennies were a killer, they would make your bags so heavy to carry home after trick or treating as a kid.
I’ve had probably 10 different dentists in the last 10 years. All just check after a cleaning and say “hmm… uh-huh… mm… you have nice teeth” and then leave after 30 seconds. I have no idea what a filling is like, and I hope to keep it that way!
I HATE CANDY CORNS!!!!
I LOVE KIT-KATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I HATE TOOTSIE ROLLS!!!! YUCK YUCK YUCK YUCK
It’s good to see these buy back programs gaining momentum. Operation Gratitude http://www.halloweencandybuyback.com/
buys back the candy then sends it to the troops. We have a community program called “Holidays For Heroes” which sends Christmas stockings filled with snacks, candy, DVDs, phone cards, etc., to troops in Afghanistan & Iraq who are from our community.
The best defense is really to avoid. We’re trying to get the community to give out alternatives like day-glo bracelets, funky pencils, etc. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of candy.
Old thread, but since a dentist just got in on it, I will too. One local dentist in my town runs a buyback program, which I think is a bad idea.
First, these buyback programs disrespect the folks who are just trying to give their neighbor children the expected Halloween experience — candy. They pay lots of money to buy loads of candy, only for some dentist to pay a fraction of the price to keep the kids from eating it.
I’m not sure who is more at fault, the dentist for undermining the good intentions of the neighbors, or the parents for letting their kids take people’s candy with the knowledge that they are simply going to convert it to cash. If they know they don’t want the candy in the first place, they should not go out and take it from people.
Second, non-fair-trade chocolate has a bad backstory: http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/06/the-dark-side-of-chocolate/
So for those of us who want to do something different and give kids the better choice, that costs even more (~$20/lb). It offends me that my extra effort could be cheapened so easily, which is why I won’t hand out candy at Halloween anymore, as long as buyback programs exist in my town.
I should add that I only recently heard (today) where at least some of the ransomed candy goes — to overseas soldiers. If that is happening in my town, that helps a little, since at least the candy is not going in the trash can. I was having a really hard time accepting that candy worth $5-20/lb was going in the dumpster, especially since I (and many others) would gladly eat it! 🙂