Just looking at this bowl of Halloween candy has my stomach in knots. There was a time when I could be found traipsing around my neighborhood collecting candy like a pro. Screw that lame plastic pumpkin pail, I rolled with a pillow case over my shoulder and I was out to collect as much of the stuff as I could. I remember coming home, upending the bag and sorting out the premium sweets from the garbage, eating every other piece as I went. Now I'd have a hard time making it through a king-sized candy bar.
The reality was I didn't need any of that candy back then, and surplus bounties are surely plaguing American families everywhere now. Now five days after Halloween night, kids might be through their Baby Ruth bars and peanut butter cups, but there's surely still a lot of sugary excess laying abound.
It's that glut that lead dentists and orthodontists around the country to initiate a candy buyback program. They've formed a network across the country, theoretically robbing themselves of future drilling-and-filling revenue, all to get candy out of kids mouths and shopt it to troops oversees. Across the country the going rate is $1 a pound. That might have been enough to sway me as a kid.
The only catch is many of the dentists participate in their own way, and some dentists who collect candy are still shipping the candy overseas, they aren't paying out for it. Use this zip code locator to find the participating dentist closest to you, and call ahead. You might have some better luck if you shop around.
Donations stop around November 7 (depending on your local dentists) so you'll need to move quick. And try not to be a jerk about the candy you cough up. The service people don't like that sticky Mary Jane any more than you do.
