The Csunya Neni - A New Take on Trick-or-Treating

Micky (Skeleton), Emi (Dragon), Me (Anime School Girl), Renton (Bat)
Halloween 2009

I LOVE HALLOWEEN!  I don't think I can say that emphatically enough.  I LOVE HALLOWEEN!  But I've never been a big fan of candy, so when my kids started Trick-or-Treating, it was a big dilemma for me.  I wanted to allow them to go collect candy, but I didn't want them stuffing their faces with it for the next three months and turning into raging lunatics as a result.  (Okay, I know I can't really blame the candy on that, but still . . .)

The first year my kids started trick-or-treating (2007), it was just Renton (3) and Emily (1-1/2).  At that point it was pretty easy to simply "disappear" most of the candy and portion out the rest one piece at a time until the Easter Bunny brought more.  But in 2008, Renton turned four and was waaaaay to smart for me to pull that trick anymore.  So . . . I introduced the Csunya Neni to our Halloween tradition.  (Csunya Neni - pronounced "CHUNE ya NAY nee" - is the Hungarian word for witch.)

The tradition goes something like this:  Our family has a Csunya Neni that watches over us and keeps the bad luck away.  BUT she LOVES candy (that's why her skin and teeth are so yucky, because, you know, candy does that. :) and Halloween is her favorite day of the year!  On that day, we have to trick-or-treat to collect candy for our Csunya Neni so that she will stay with us and continue to protect us over the next year.  The Csunya Neni will come to our house that night, take the candy left for her and leave a small toy behind for the kids as a thank you.

The kids get to go around to all the houses, trick-or-treating, and collecting their candy.  When the bag or bucket gets too heavy for them to carry, then we head home.  Once home, each child finds a good spot on the kitchen floor, dumps everything out, and starts sorting.  They each get a small bowl into which they can put the candy they want to keep.  Once the bowl is full, that's it, no more candy.  The rest of the candy goes back into their plastic pumpkin buckets for the Csunya Neni!  (And just so you know, OUR Csunya Neni LOVES peanut butter cups - so the more of those the kids can leave for her the better.)  This is also the perfect time for Mommy to look over the loot with the kids and throw out anything that looks suspicious or dangerous.


Emily Sorting her candy . . . (2010)

The kids absolutely LOVE this tradition!  It's so much fun and they don't even notice that they've been left with only 10 pieces of candy or so.  Halloween night is like Christmas at our house and the kids go screaming down the stairs the next morning to see what Csunya Neni has left for them.

Any left over candy gets sorted through by Mommy who secretly stashes away her favorites (thank you for the peanut butter cups) and gives the rest away to our deployed troops.  (One good non-profit group is A Smile for the Troops)

Just last year, Renton told me he was talking to his friends at school about his "Csunya Neni Gift" and they had no idea what he was talking about.  He asked me why we were the only family with a Csunya Neni.  I answered totally straight faced, "Well, we've just always had one.  I guess we're a lucky family, aren't we?"  =)

So . . . if you're just starting out with the whole trick-or-treating tradition, or looking for a new take.  Feel free to borrow this one.  My family LOVES it!

Happy Halloween and Happy Trick-or-Treating!

Csunya Neni Gifts and Notes (2010)