If you are terrified about the prospect of being left alone with the tempting sweets that your children drag in from the cold, here are some common sense ideas to help you step away from the garbage pail. While candy isn't exactly the most beneficial thing for our bodies, with a little creativity and self control, you can transform a Halloween night haul into sweet treats for your household guests that will last the entire holiday season, that is if you can pry it out of the hot little hands of your kiddies!  (Maybe you should have pity on them by giving them a few token pieces for their efforts before you confiscate the rest...)

1) Organize a neighborhood candy swap the day after Halloween so that all the children (and adults) in your area can pare their haul down to the varieties that they'll really enjoy.

2) Have friends, family and neighbors over for a Halloween candy potluck dessert hoe-down, specifying that each contribution must incorporate recycled sweets. Make sure that everyone brings a copy of their recipe to share!

3) Bring excess candy to your office so that everyone (clients and colleagues, alike) can enjoy an afternoon pick me up.

4) Advertise your halloween haul on the free section of Craigslist or Freecycle -- hey, if you're not going to use it, let someone else have a shot!

5) Think about holiday cooking! Chop up Butterfingers, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, M & M's, Toffee, etc. and add the sweets to homemade chocolate bark, fudge, everything-and-the-kitchen-sink cookies, Rice Krispie treats, caramel corn balls, homemade trail mix or GORP, or use it to decorate chocolate-dipped marshmallows or pretzel rods.  Think about all of the recession-friendly gift-giving possibilities....

6) Melt down chocolate bars to make fondue, hot chocolate, icing, smores or add them to brownie batter. If you freeze chocolate, it will last for many months so this could very well take care of your romantic Valentine's Day dessert plans, too!

7) Donate wrapped candy to a local food bank, college dorm, nursing home, soup kitchen, church, homeless shelter or other charity. This is a sure-fire way to put all of that candy to good use!

8) Stud holiday gingerbread houses, sugar cookies, caramel apples and "cookie pizzas" with whole and chopped candy bits.

9) Make a seriously delicious milk shake, mix chopped candy into plain vanilla ice cream or create a festive frozen ice cream pie for your holiday dessert table.

10) Create party favor bags to offer to guests on Thanksgiving and other holiday open house events or fill an autumn pinata with leftover halloween candy.

11) Save hard candies to use in art and craft projects or turn them into holiday decorations with a little imagination. What about stringing celophane wrapped hard candies together to create a garland, or gluing gumdrops to an old lightbulb for a cool looking Christmas tree decoration?

12) Participate in the Halloween Candy BuyBack program organized by nationwide dentists -- after paying you a respectable $1/pound, dentists will gift overseas members of the military with the candy payload that they collect.

13) If your child is young enough, you might want to reserve a secret stash of candy for future positive behavioral reinforcement opportunities. It's a simple idea -- when they do something that is really good (excellent test grade, following instructions, completing chores, whatever), offer them one piece of candy.

Do you have any other brilliant candy recycling tips that I may have overlooked? I'd love to hear all about 'em!