It’s nearly time for one of our favorite holidays, and if you have young children at home then you’ll understand how excitement levels begin to reach dizzying heights as the day approaches. Costumes need to be made; decorations need to be dragged out of storage and all the treats needs to be shopped for. Halloween is of course synonymous with sugar – I recently read that the average trick-or-treater collects 600g of sugar which equates to three cups of sugar! I don’t think any parent would willingly hand over three cups of sugar for their child to eat, so moderation (without being a killjoy of course) really is key along with increasing their water intake.

Between the energy expended trick-or-treating and all that extra sugar coursing through their bodies, they really do need the extra water to remain properly hydrated and to help clean out their systems. One way to help the process along is ‘Halloween Water’ – a two-pronged approach to make drinking water easier and more fun. Two-pronged, because it focuses on both the water bottles and the water itself.

To encourage trick-or-treaters to carry their water bottles with them, we suggest theming the bottles. There are a whole host of printable Halloween labels out there – Pinterest alone will keep you busy for hours trying to decide between different designs. The other option is to match the costume to the water bottle, if your child is dressing up as a vampire, make a matching outfit for their water bottle – a simple piece of black felt cut to size and tied around the neck of the water bottle makes the perfect vampire cape.

And then to make what goes inside their water bottles more enticing, have them help dice pieces of fruit to pop into their water bottles to add colour and flavor. Good combinations to try are strawberry and slices of lime; apple and cinnamon; cucumber and mint; raspberry and lemon or blueberries with ginger. Try to incorporate whatever tastes your child might enjoy as this will encourage them to keep taking those much-needed sips.

And if you happen to be celebrating Halloween at the office and it involves a glass or two of something ‘adult’, remember to make extra trips to the water cooler, because you too will need extra water to remain properly hydrated.

Happy Halloween Everyone!