What To Do With Leftover Halloween Candy: 13 Creative Ideas

Once the trick-or-treaters in your neighborhood have discarded their colorful costumes and gone to bed, and you’ve retreated to your home in Woodland hills or your apartment in Charlotte, you might be left with heaping bowls of Halloween candy this fall. Sure, you can eat the leftovers over time. But there are plenty of creative uses for these treats — from baking them into fun desserts to making crafts or using them to teach science and math. Here's what to do with leftover Halloween candy.

1. Get crafty

Did you know you can make paint with leftover colored candy like Skittles? Sort about one-quarter cup of candy by color into different cups and top each one with about a cup of water. Let it sit for half an hour, stir it up and you'll have perfect watercolor paint for your next art project. Want your paint to be thicker? Add some corn syrup instead. Bonus: Your DIY art supplies will smell deliciously sweet!

You can also save the wrappers from Halloween candy to decorate gift boxes or use them as stuffing in gift bags so you don't have to buy tissue paper. Or, use candies to garnish the top of a wrapped present for an added treat.

Joshua Evans, camp director at Act One Theatre Camp shares how wrappers can also be used for more intricate craft opportunities. “Get some mod podge at any craft store and use it to stick all the candy wrappers to various mediums to create a beautifully colorful collage.”

Instead of using the wrappers, the team with Got Game Sports Summer Camp shares how “kids can create colorful art pieces by arranging different candies on a canvas or paper.” Feel free to also blend wrappers with candy to create a stunning piece of DIY art that can be displayed on a wall or shelf.

2. Add leftover Halloween candy to your baking

Lorrie Myers with donation-based scrap store, Who Gives a SCRAP, says how there are many “wonderful things” you can use your chocolate for when it comes to baking, including “in your upcoming holiday desserts!” Chocolate and candy work great in many dessert recipes. You can chop up any kind of candy — especially if it's chocolate or caramel-based — and add it to basic cookie dough, fudge or brownie batter. Or, you can crush hard candy or peppermints and use them as toppings to decorate cupcakes, cheesecakes or cookies.

Divide leftover gummies, M&Ms and other candy into small bowls and create a DIY ice cream sundae bar for friends and family. You can also add in chopped candy bars, caramels or Reese's Pieces right into some softened ice cream. Melt leftover chocolate in your microwave for the perfect hot fudge topping. Or, use it as a fondue dip or a glaze for your cookies or cakes.

For a healthier treat, make your own trail mix by adding dried fruit, nuts, whole-grain cereal, and pretzels to chocolate-covered candies. Or, mix in leftover candy corn or chocolate-covered candy to make popcorn balls for a sweet-and-salty snack.

3. Make homemade bark

One fun option recommended by the Illinois-based chocolatier team at Nut and Candy is to turn your leftover Halloween candy into exciting and delicious chocolate bark. The team recommends “starting with a hauntingly smooth chocolate and then going wild–break up candy bars, toss in candy corn, smash cookies, sprinkle gummies, and let your imagination run amok. Drizzle, swirl, and smash everything into a frightfully festive bark that's equal parts spooky and sweet.”

4. Create some adult beverages and cocktails

Drop a chocolate or two into your morning coffee for a sweet mocha treat. It's also easy to add candy — such as Starburst, Jolly Ranchers or candy corn — to alcohol and create delicious liqueurs and infusions that take on the vibrant color of the candy. Sort candy by color into glass bottles or flasks and then add tequila or vodka. Allow the candy to soak at least a day, and give the bottles a shake a few times.

You can also thread some gummies or other soft candies onto skewers to make pretty drink stirrers for your cocktail or soda.

5. Make a blossoming edible arrangement

After you’re done trick-or-treating and you find yourself with a dozen or more lollipops, Lee-Jean Lin, director of Art Experience Studio in Torrance, CA, recommends “cutting a melon in half and arranging your lollipops into the melon like a bouquet of flowers.” You can then either offer your creation as a gift or keep it as a more decorative way to hold your lollipops.

Aside from lollipops, Alycia Mason with Candycopia in Oak Park, IL shares how you can use a kabob stick to “make candy kabobs with your favorite sweets.” You’ll want to use softer forms of candy such as gummy bears or even Twizzlers for this creative project, but once they’re all prepared feel free to stick them into styrofoam or anything else that completes your edible arrangement look.'

6. Candy chromatography

Fallon Harris, executive director of EdenAcres Environmental Education, shares, “Candy chromatography is a fun way for kids to explore the hidden colors in candy coatings and compare them to the natural pigments in fall leaves. By placing candy and crushed leaves on coffee filter strips, kids can watch water separate the colors, revealing the difference between artificial dyes and natural pigments like chlorophyll in leaves.”

7. Freeze it

Pack your leftover Halloween candy into smaller portions in airtight containers and pop them in the freezer, where it will stay fresh for about 10 months. Lauren Spencer with B&B Ice Cream and Candy shares how you can use your frozen candy as “tasty toppings on your favorite ice cream flavors.” 

Frozen candy can be used for an assortment of things including adding them to your smoothies, yogurt or use as toppings for baked goods. 

8. Use candy to make your holidays special

Leftover Halloween treats are also great to have on hand for other holidays. You can use candy to decorate gingerbread houses and make Christmas tree ornaments, wreaths or garlands.

9. Turn candy into a learning tool

Counting wrapped pieces of candy like Hershey's Kisses or Tootsie Rolls can help children with math — and give them a treat for each correct answer. Or, you can do some fun science experiments with candy, such as putting gummy worms into the water and watching how they grow as they absorb water.

Tacoma DIY craft studio, The Makery recommends transforming candy into a craft opportunity that can also serve as a learning tool. “Make personalized candy letters using leftover Halloween candy.” Their team calls this project “simple and fun.” To start, “choose from a variety of candies like candy corn, gummies, or chocolates, then attach them to cut out letters using glue or adhesive strips. Once complete, the candy-covered letters can be used to spell out names, spooky phrases, or even festive greetings!”

10. Liven up your parties with candy

If you're throwing a child's birthday party after Halloween, there are lots of ways to use leftover candy. Stuff wrapped candy into a piñata, create DIY candy jewelry or invent a board game using candy as playing pieces. Divide candy into colorful bags to make party favors for guests to take home.

11. Save it for snack attacks

Don't forget to keep some leftover candy for yourself, too. This guide details how long different types of candy stay fresh, but most unopened candy can keep well for at least six months. Jelly beans and hard candy are good for up to a year.

12. Don't want to eat it? Donate it!

If you don't want to pack on the pounds from eating so many treats, give it away to others who will appreciate it. Brenna Gutell, publisher for Macaroni KID Conejo Valley shares that “one of the most meaningful ideas is for your family to donate it. Some organizations send care packages to troops, though local police stations, fire departments, and food banks often accept it too.” Other organizations that take donations of leftover Halloween candy include:

• Some dental offices host candy "buy-backs," where they hand out toothbrushes, toothpaste and floss in exchange for candy they then donate to military troops overseas.
• Operation Gratitude sends care packages, including sweet treats, to deployed troops and first responders.
• Operation Shoebox supports troops by offering treats including sweets to troops.
• Local nursing homes, homeless shelters and other charitable organizations also accept donations of unopened candy.

Donating is a great way to ensure that any leftover candy that you don’t want doesn’t go to waste. Renee with St. Patrick's Episcopal Day School adds how donation centers such as the James Storehouse in Newbury Park, CA, will accept “homemade pinatas filled with candy” and adds how “these colorful pinatas help make foster children’s birthdays extra special.”

13. Don't let Halloween candy go to waste

Even if you don't want to eat it yourself, there are so many ways to figure out what to do with leftover Halloween candy and keep the holiday spirit going.

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