Healthy Holiday Treats

The Easter Bunny stopped by our house the other night and guess what? Apparently, the Easter Bunny is on a health kick! This is terrific news. After all, who wants to deal with a house full of kids amped up on sugary kid's treats? Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit. The Easter Bunny did bring the token chocolate bunny and a few chocolate Easter eggs, but he also loaded the baskets with healthy treats. This got me thinking: must all of our holiday traditions involve loading the kids up with sugar? With this in mind, here are a few alternatives to candy treats for some of the major candy-centric holidays.

Healthy Valentine's Day Treats

Chocolate is the rule on Valentine's Day. Dark chocolate is preferred for its health qualities, so start there if you must have a token chocolate treat. Take it further by buying large strawberries or using orange slices and dip your fruit in melted chocolate! You've got a taste of chocolate and plenty of fruit! Now that the candy treat is out of the way, let's look at other festive Valentine's Day goodies. Anything heart-shaped is fair game. Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter and make heart-shaped peanut butter sandwiches or serve heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast. Teddy bear shaped graham crackers are an adorable Valentine's Day treat. Stick a few Teddy bear snacks in a bowl of yogurt or sprinkle a few over a dish of low-fat ice cream for dessert.

Healthy Easter Treats

Holiday gift baskets have shown us that baskets don't need to be filled with candy treats in order to be festive. The same is true of Easter baskets. Choose yogurt covered raisins, dried fruit snacks, and chocolate-dipped pretzels over marshmallow chicks and jelly beans. Buy a few bottles of strawberry flavored Nesquik milk - not only is milk a healthy holiday treat, the Nesquik brand uses a cute bunny as its mascot. Keep the milk refrigerated until the Easter Bunny arrives.

Healthy Halloween Treats

Halloween is the candy extravaganza of the year. Try to step back from the cookie and candy treat mentality and think of ways to make creepy or fun Halloween treats using healthier foods. Try sliced apples coated with a dusting of cinnamon instead of candy apples. Not only is this a delicious Halloween treat, it's healthy! Popcorn balls are also good alternatives Halloween candy. Choose sugar-free gum

Healthy Christmas Treats

The Christmas holidays have spread from just a few days to over a month. Starting the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas, and all the holiday treats associated with it, is in full swing. The sugar rush lasts through New Year's Day. What's a responsible parent to do? Keep limiting those holiday treats and substituting as many as you can with healthier treats. Again, chocolate dipped fruits are festive and healthy. Ritz puts out a snowflake-shaped cracker this time of year, so buy a new type of cheese and serve up holiday cheese and crackers as a new holiday tradition. Stock up on dried fruits and nuts and share the nutcracker tradition with your kids. Serve hotcakes with a dusting of powdered sugar "snow" and introduce a fun holiday treat with less actual sugar than syrup.

Use your imagination and think of as many healthy holiday treats as you can each holiday. When you're in the mood to bake cupcakes or fudge, stop and consider the alternatives. You can control your kids' sugar intake by controlling the holiday treats that you prepare.