How I Teach My Kids About Money: By Taking Their Candy

Raising financially savvy kids starts with little lessons that help them understand value, patience, and sharing.

This year, Halloween brought us the perfect opportunity to have fun while teaching some financial basics. With my 7-year-old son and 5-year-old twins, we had more candy than we could handle after several trunk-or-treats and Halloween night itself.

Here’s how I turned a mountain of sweets into a valuable life lesson.

The Candy Avalanche: Trunk-or-Treats and Trick-or-Treating

This year was a whirlwind of Halloween festivities. Between multiple trunk-or-treats (thanks to my son’s gifted program and the twins’ school events) and Halloween night, we ended up with several pounds of candy.

More than any kid could possibly need. While some families buy extra candy for trick-or-treaters, my wife has a smart tradition of having our kids put some of their haul aside to give away.

They throw a portion into a communal pile, which we then place outside on Halloween night to hand out. This approach means we don’t need to buy any candy, and the kids get a sense of sharing their abundance with others.

But this year, the haul was enormous. Even after Halloween night, we had bags upon bags of sweets. I knew it was time to get creative with our candy stash.

Sorting the Stash: The Playroom Rules

With candy spilling out of every bag, I gathered the kids in our playroom and dumped everything onto the floor. Their eyes widened at the pile, but I quickly introduced some ground rules for our “game.”

The first step was to organize the candy into specific categories:

The Red Dye 40 Pile:

My kids avoid Red Dye 40. Red Dye 40 is linked to hyperactivity and can make them feel a little too “wild.” Seriously, this is a thing. My wife discovered it when our son was a baby, and she did tests to show me it was true.

Then we had twins. We can give one twin Red Dye 40 and not the other and the results are predictable. The one with Red Dye 40 becomes wild and emotional.

So we took the Red Dye 40 pile, and threw it away.

The Chocolate Pile:

Chocolate is popular in our house, so this pile quickly grew as the kids sorted through the mound. Why did we separate chocolates from non chocolates? Because I prefer chocolate in the freezer!

Non-Chocolates:

From gummies to lollipops, this was where all the sweets without chocolate landed.

The Rejects

Candy that none of them wanted went into a final pile. This pile also included the trash from the candy they claimed they didn’t open.

This sorting process got them engaged and thinking about different types of candy, just like sorting money into different uses or categories.

Choosing and Enjoying: Setting Limits and Earning Rewards

Once the candy was sorted, I gave each child a limit: they could pick 15 pieces to keep in their own stash. This number encouraged them to prioritize the candy they truly wanted.

After everyone made their selections, I allowed them to enjoy one piece right there. They weren’t expecting this so it was really exciting to them. They had restrained themselves from eating candy while they sorted, and now I popped that balloon and allowed them to enjoy a piece.

Then to make things even more fun, we introduced a bonus round. Since they had been patient and didn’t fight, my wife joined in as a “claw machine.” With her eyes closed, the kids used her thumb as a joystick, directing her other hand toward the candy pile.

When she reached down to grab, each child got a handful of bonus candy for their pile, and the excitement in the room was contagious.

This part of the process taught them that sometimes patience and good behavior are rewarded. This is a lesson they can apply to handling money and working towards financial goals.

Candy Security: Setting Boundaries and Creating a System

With their chosen candies and bonuses in hand, each child grabbed a ziplock bag, labeled it with their name, and packed away their stash. This part was crucial for teaching boundaries and respect for others’ belongings.

I made it clear that if anyone touched someone else’s bag, they’d lose theirs. Similarly, if they ate any candy without asking first, their entire stash would be forfeited.

By establishing these rules, they learned about respecting boundaries and following rules to protect what’s theirs. It also eliminated any potential fights about whose candy was whose.

Setting boundaries and rules helps them learn self-control, a lesson that applies to handling money and shared resources.

The Life Lessons: Patience, Sacrifice, and Value

This entire process wasn’t just about candy; it was a hands-on way of teaching my kids some key principles about money and life.

1. Value: By having them choose only 15 pieces, they had to prioritize what was most valuable to them. This is similar to budgeting—when resources are limited, you need to make intentional choices.
2. Letting Go: Throwing some of their candy in the “to give away” pile on Halloween night and parting with the Red Dye 40 pile helped them understand the idea of letting go. Sometimes, you can’t hold onto everything, and learning to give things up—whether it’s money, candy, or possessions—can make room for better opportunities.
3. Patience and Rewards: Waiting for the “claw game” bonus candy taught them that patience and following the rules can lead to extra rewards, much like how saving and budgeting can open up opportunities down the road.
4. Boundaries: By establishing and respecting the candy bags, they learned the importance of boundaries and personal space—a skill they’ll need when it comes to respecting others’ possessions, as well as in the context of financial and personal relationships.

Candy Today, Money Tomorrow

By turning Halloween candy into a lesson on budgeting, boundaries, and patience, my kids got more than just a treat. They got a foundation for managing resources and understanding value.

Each small lesson helps build their skills, one step at a time, so they grow up with a healthy relationship with money and a strong sense of responsibility.

This approach might seem like a simple Halloween exercise, but it’s one of many ways I try to prepare my kids for a world where understanding and managing money will be crucial. After all, if they can learn to budget their candy today, they’ll be ready to budget their finances tomorrow.

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