Fall Harvest vs. Halloween {The Switch Witch, Healthy Homemade Treats + Natural, Organic & Fair Trade Chocolates and Candy Ideas}

Willow Pond Organic Farm

How does your family celebrate?  Do you celebrate the Fall Harvest or Halloween?  Do you celebrate both?  How do you incorporate the two?  Does the Switch Witch come to your house for Halloween?  If you have time to share, I’d love to hear what you do. 

For many of us “Real Food” parents, Halloween can be an interesting time. 

Now that my daughter is in Kindergarten, Halloween is being talked about more.  In the past, Little Love has dressed up in costumes for Halloween and gone to see my mom, my Aunt and a few neighbors, but it’s never been for the traditional commercial candy/trick-or-treat.  I have tried to incorporate the Fall Harvest into Halloween with annual trips to pick organic pumpkins and apples, carving pumpkins at home and making a little party out of it, making homemade treats, and instead of commercial candies on Halloween, she gets little presents from my mom and organic chocolates. 

This year, since more and more kids are talking about Halloween at her school (she goes to a Waldorf school, they have a Harvest Festival and do not celebrate Halloween, so that helps some), I’ve decided to incorporate The Switch Witch.

There is a beautiful book called "The Switch Witch"{*affiliate} by Charity A. O'Neil-O'Kane that talks about a different way for families to celebrate Halloween (without the overload of commercial candy).  She is not a scary witch (which I appreciate), she lives in her house (which is more enchanted than haunted) with her cat Magic and has pumpkins and cornfields in her yard.  She visits homes on Halloween night where children with imaginations live, and she has the power to make a healthier Halloween.  I love this concept and this book.  The idea is that on Halloween night the Switch Witch can come and visit, take away the commercial candies (or some of them) and switch it out with healthier alternatives or treats, or even a special gift. 

* {Amazon Affiliate link included helps support this blog.  Price is the same for you.}

Little Love getting ready to choose some pumpkins.

In our home, we start to celebrate the Fall Harvest before Halloween.  My Little Love already got to go to our favorite organic farm, pick out her pumpkins and pick some apples (with me and her grandma/my mom), she looks forward to this tradition every year.  She celebrates the Harvest Festival today at her school.  As Halloween approaches, we will celebrate by carving pumpkins and having homemade treats.  This year I will probably make some gluten-free Owl-looking chocolate pumpkin cupcakes, some fresh fruit skewers, and maybe some caramel corn or caramel apples. 

Little Love and her little organic pumpkin.

Little Love picking some apples with her grandma.

Litte Love and Me

Wishing everyone a beautiful Fall Harvest and a Happy Halloween!

Need Recipe Ideas for Healthier Homemade Treats?

Here are some of my family’s favorites:

Spiced Pumpkin Smoothie

Honey-Sweetened Hot Chocolate

Spiced Pumpkin Tea (Chai – w/o black tea, caffeine free)

Slow Cooked Pears

Chocolate Fudge Sauce (to top your favorite ice cream)

Chocolate Pumpkin Cake (sprouted gluten-free flour & egg-free)

Mini Warm Chocolate Cakes

Chocolate Covered Frozen Banana Bites

Sprouted Cut-Out Cookies (use Fall or Halloween theme cookie cutters)

Need Ideas for Healthier, Organic, Fair Trade Chocolates & Candy?


Endangered Species Chocolate – Natural, Organic, Fair Trade, Ethically Traded

Milk and Dark Chocolates

Heavenly Organics – Organic, Sustainable, Fairly Traded, No Refined Sugars

 These amazing chocolates come in Mint, Pomegranate, Ginger, and Almond … my absolute favorite is the Chocolate Mints, they remind me of my childhood days when I used to eat Junior Mints.  The soft honey center is unbelievable.  Fillings are made with Raw, Organic White Himalayan Honey, Chocolate Shells made with Organic Unsweetened Chocolate.

Stirs the SOUL – Organic Raw Chocolates, Fairly Traded, Sustainable, Allergy and Gluten-Free, Unrefined Sugars

Chocolates are Banana-Fig-Currant Sweetened, Date Sweetened, Coconut Palm Sugar Sweetened, or Raw Honey Sweetened.

There are many flavors to choose from such as Blissful Dark, Spiced Chai, Mint, Orange Gogi, Cayenne Cinnamon, Honey Rose, Lavender, Coconut, Espresso, Hemp, Hemp & Maitake.  I have had the honey and date sweetened chocolates – the dark, spiced chai, mint, cayenne cinnamon and orange gogi flavors.  All were delicious.    

Yummy Earth – Organic, Gluten-Free, No Artificial Flavors or Colors, No High Fructose Corn Syrup, Real Fruit Extracts

Lollipops, Jelly Beans, Gummy Worms, Gummy Bears, Twist Wrapped Hard Candies.