The air is crisp and smells of fall. The days are shorter and cooler. If all this makes you think of Halloween, you’re not alone. While children think about what to wear as they go house to house, asking for a treat, parents’ thoughts turn to, “but what about all that sugar?”

It is possible to provide a less sugar-laden Halloween for your children (and the neighbors, too). The “trick” is to start early before anyone goes out the front door. Talk to your children about your expectations of them around trick-or-treating. For example, set a time limit for being home. Or, that they may have only two pieces of candy when they get back home, not the seven or eight they are hoping to eat.

Before leaving on their Halloween journey, make sure everyone has a nutritious meal, preferably one that includes items from the food pyramid: protein, grain, vegetables and dairy. With a healthy meal in their tummies, they will be less likely to snack from their trick-or-treat bag.

One way to discourage candy gluttony is to skip the pillowcase method and go for a smaller bag. Encourage your little goblin or princess to take just one piece of candy from each house. When they arrive back home, parents should check all the treats before allowing children to consume them. Check for allergens in the candy, if your child has a reaction to nuts, milk products, wheat. Remind them of the candy rule — they may choose one or two pieces to eat and no more for the night.

If you are the one greeting trick-or-treaters, give each child one piece of candy — no self-serving. If you choose not to give out candy, but still want to participate in the fun of Halloween, consider handing out juice boxes, small oranges or apples, pre-portioned bags of trail mix with nuts and dried fruits or sugar-free packs of gum. Non-food items are also welcome options, such as glow sticks, stickers or stamps, temporary tattoos, friendship bracelets or school supplies.

If Halloween includes a party, incorporate healthy foods into the party fare — decorate oranges to look like pumpkins, bobbing for apples, etc. To avoid soda and other sugary drinks, offer iced tea, water, or 100% fruit juice to guests.

When children return with their bounty of treats, consider offering a healthy snack to offset the sugar rush. Snacks such as air-popped popcorn, cheese sticks (which help neutralize the acid from the sugar, lessening the impact on teeth), yogurt (for calcium), nuts and seeds (for protein), fresh fruits and vegetables such as baby carrots, apple slices or grapes are all good options and packed with vitamins and minerals.

In the excitement of the moment, it may be hard to believe but the charm of Halloween will wear off in a week or two. The question then is, “what to do with all that candy?” Portion out the candy so that there is about one to two pieces of candy per day per child; put the rest out of sight and out of reach.

When your child asks for a piece of their Halloween candy, let them choose the piece or pieces they want. Make sure they understand that you, as the parent, are in charge of dispensing. When children request a piece of candy, try to match it with a healthy snack such as a handful of nuts, celery and peanut butter, a piece of fruit or a container of yogurt. This is a good time to introduce the concept of “candy is okay once in a while, as long we don’t fill up on it.

We need to leave room for more nutritious foods that help our bodies grow.” If you have leftover candy, consider donating it to a homeless shelter or saving it for holiday baking.

With a little planning ahead of time, you and your trick-or-treaters can maintain a healthy eating pattern and still enjoy a bit of candy.