Organic and Fair-Trade Halloween Treats

Halloween is a time when kids expect to load up on all sorts of "fun-size" fat-laden chocolates and teeth-sticking sweets, but it doesn't have to be an entirely unhealthy holiday, either for trick-or-treaters or the world around them. You don't have to be the neighborhood pill who hands out granola bars or boxes of raisins, either: just consider some of these ideas for a more wholesome and kinder, gentler Oct. 31:

Artisan Sweets is an online candy store that specializes in natural and organic candies and other gourmet treats. Their Halloween selections include a gourmet goody bag ($12.00) with mint candies, natural gum, caramels and organic Green & Black's chocolate bites; French gingerbread caramels ($14.00 for 18 individually wrapped pieces); and an 80-piece natural and organic candy mix with Organic Yummy Earth lollipops, Endangered Species Milk Chocolate Bug Bites, natural hard candies and mini-packs of natural gum ($30.00). More treats are set to be added as this Halloween draws nearer.

Global Exchange's Fair Trade online store offers goodies like fair-trade chocolate gold coins (a bag of 22 pieces for $3.99); fair-trade, organic dark-chocolate mini-bars (42 pieces for $7.95); and Native Harvest maple candies (an 8-ounce bag for $8.95). Established in 1988, Global Exchange is an international human rights organization "dedicated to promoting environmental, political and social justice."

Endangered Species Chocolate makes a variety of bite-size treats, including premium organic dark chocolates (10 pieces for $3.99), organic milk chocolate Bug Bites (64 individually wrapped pieces for $39.42) and milk chocolate Love Treats ($6.72 for 24 wrapped pieces or $18.50 for three bags with 24 pieces each). Based in Indianapolis, Endangered Species Chocolate specializes in natural, ethically traded sweets and donates 10 percent of its net profits to "help support species, habitat and humanity."

Betty Lou's sells bags of Organic Almond Smackers (24 pieces for $30.72), Chocolate Golden Smackers ($21.73 for a box of 24 pieces) and Peanut Butter Balls ($33.80 for 40 pieces). Betty Lou's is a 28-year-old maker of natural treats based in McMinnville, Oregon.

A Greater Gift sells a variety of treats made by Divine Chocolate, including cases of milk chocolate snack bars (30 bars for $24.50), dark chocolate snack bars (5 bars for $7.00) and dark chocolate peppermint fondant squares (a box of 20 mints for $7.50). A program of SERRV International, A Greater Gift works to "promote the social and economic progress of people in developing regions of the world by marketing their products in a just and direct manner."

Finally, while your kids are out collecting their goodies, they might also want to help other children around the world by taking part in the tradition of trick-or-treating for UNICEF. During the fund-raiser's history, trick-or-treating for UNICEF has raised more than $132 million for UNICEF children's programs around the world. Trick-or-treat for UNICEF collection boxes can be ordered through the UNICEF Website or picked up after Oct. 1 at Pier 1 Imports, Pier 1 Kids and certain Hallmark Gold Crown stores.