Halloween Book or Treat

Halloween is almost here again, and I'm getting ready for the crush of children and teens who will bombard our house once again this year.  We average well over 350 trick or treaters each year at our house.  Our neighborhood is the place to be.

This year, I'm doing things a little differently.  Just a little.  I talked about how I'll be handing out free Plants vs. Zombies games, but that isn't the only non-candy alternative I'll be distributing.  But then I was cleaning out our bookshelf.  Again.  I'm not sure where all our books come from, but we seem to collect them like other people collect dust bunnies.

Many of them are books that the wee ones have long outgrown and are no longer interested in reading.  And we're lucky that they tend to take pretty good care of their books, so they're in good condition, too.  Suddenly, it dawned on me that I could very easily share our wealth of books with many of the younger kids who come trick or treating at our house.

So we're putting these books into a large bowl.  We'll have it available along with the candy so children can choose which they prefer.  Without a doubt, there will be many who will choose the candy, but I'm betting that there will be many who will choose a new-to-them book instead of the candy.  And I'll bet their parents will be thrilled.

Now that's a win-win-win.

What are you doing for your trick or treaters this year?