Treat Them Right

By Desa Philadelphia

For parents, the scariest part of Halloween can be the amount of cavity-inducing sweets their kids consume after returning home. since home-baked goods are frowned on these days and kids don't get too excited about pretzels, what treats can you substitute for candy? these might do the trick:

--COLD CASH Roll up all those unwanted pennies in papers, or put a dozen or two in drawstring bags. With any luck, the kids will use them for something other than candy shopping--maybe even give them to UNICEF. (Avoid this one for kids 3 and younger.)

--PETRIFYING PENCILS Halloween-theme pencils, erasers, sharpeners or key rings make for scary-but-good fun. You can get them at party stores that sell costumes and decorations.

--TERRIFYING TRADING CARDS Give them their favorite sports stars. Or put them a Monster ahead of the pack with Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, current playground favorites. They're at most toy stores and discount chains.

--(SHHH!) SUGARLESS CANDY Jolly Rancher, Bubble Yum and Bazooka all make sugarless batches of their delicacies, some sweetened with fruit juice. They're hard to find at supermarkets; try your local candy store. --By Desa Philadelphia