Have A Happy And Healthy Halloween with Philips Sonicare for Kids

Is it even possible to have a healthy Halloween? I know my kids love sweets and so did I growing up (that’s why I haven’t grown up! ha ha) You know what though? Moderation has been the key to living a healthy and happy life here in The Stevens household. We all know how too much sugar can be bad for us, so we teach our kids all about moderation and that brushing your teeth after meal times (especially sugary ones) can prevent their teeth from decay. This is where my good friends over at Philips come in handy.

Dani Stevens Philips Sonicare kids toothbrushes

We recently received their Philips Sonicare toothbrushes for kids and can I tell you, I can’t get the kids outta the bathroom!!! Sure, I like creating healthy habits with my kids daily but I have to tell them every single day to stop after 2 minutes (which is the dentist recommended time for proper oral health). They just love brushing their teeth and have so much fun with the interchangeable stickers (having 4 kids they all chose a different theme) and playing with the app like it’s Christmas! Oh wait! It’s Halloween, that’s right!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6UcNlw25U4

Philips Sonicare brand ambassador and Sydney based cosmetic and reconstructive dentist Dr David Dunn offers us his top tips on how to have a healthier Halloween with your kids:

  1. Nutrition is Key - all parents know that nutrition has a direct impact on their children’s teeth. Your mouth is full of bacteria (plaque) that thrive on starches and sugars found in food, to protect your enamel against decay, be sure to opt for foods that don’t contain these. While you can’t escape sugar during Halloween you can look to lower your child’s intake. Either by limiting the number of lollies they can consumer during the day, or looking for healthier, fun alternative.
  2. Be selective – If your child has to have sweets and lollies at Halloween your best option is to give them some chocolate. Avoid sticky, chewy and sour sweets. The sticky and chewy sweets get stuck and are difficult to remove. While sour lollies are highly acidic and break down tooth enamel.
  3. Don’t reward with sugar – all too often I have parents come to my practice and say their child only gets sweets when they’re good. This encourages bad behaviour from the start. Instead of sweets, reward your child with a trip to the park or an extra cartoon. Their teeth and your dentist bill will benefit in the long run.
  4. Start good oral health care habits early – Teaching your children to brush for two minutes twice a day will help set them on the right path. You can make brushing more fun by letting your kids practice on your teeth (remember to brush properly afterwards) or making a game out of brushing each tooth.
  5. Invest in their teeth – A manual toothbrush used correctly should be effective in removing plaque and fighting against tooth decay. However, a Philips Sonicare for Kids brush will help fight decay while your kids are still perfecting their technique. The brush has inbuilt fun noises to keep kids interested for the entire two minutes and comes with stickers to make brushing more fun.
  6. Book a dentist appointment – Use Halloween as an excuse to take the kids to the dentist following the sweets and lollies. A thorough check up and clean will set your kids on the path of dental success.

Great tips David and now for some yummy recipe inspirations from nutritionalist Susie Burrell;

Banana ghosts

These are super fun to make with 3 ingredients.

https://twitter.com/DaniStevens365/status/787456387412471809

Makes 12 ghosts

Ingredients

  • 2 x 170g tubs of Chobani Greek or Coconut Yoghurt
  • 24 dark chocolate bits
  • 6 small bananas cut in halves

Method

  1. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
  2. Dip each banana in yoghurt and add 2 eyes using dark chocolate bits.
  3. Place in the freezer to set for around 1 hour.

Who's your Mummy?

Check out these super cute pizza's.

Ingredients

  • Packet of 8 mini wholemeal pita pockets
  • 140g tub of Leggo’s pizza sauce (1.5g sugar per tablespoon)
  • 3 tomatoes, thinly sliced
  • 8 button mushrooms, thinly sliced
  • 16 thin slices of unprocessed ham
  • 8 slices of light tasty cheese
  • 1 jar of sliced kalamata olives

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
  2. Distribute the pita pockets on the baking trays. Top each with 1 tbsp of pizza sauce and smear out with the back of a spoon. Then top each pizza with 2-3 slices of tomato, sliced mushroom and 1-2 slices of ham so it covers the whole pizza.
  3. Slice cheese slices long ways in half centimetre strips to make the Mummy bandages. Place the cheese strips along the pita pockets to look like wrapped bandages. Tuck two pieces of sliced olives into the cheese bandages as eyes.
  4. Bake in the oven for around 10 minutes or until the cheese has begun to melt and the edges are beginning to brown and crisp.

Eyeballs

Serves 12

Ingredients

  • 12 Light Baby Bel Cheese rounds
  • 4 black olives, sliced into thin pieces,
  • 1 tbsp. tomato sauce
  • 1 tsp. natural red food colouring

Method

1) Place piece of black olive in the centre of the cheese.

2) Fill middle with a little tomato sauce.

3) Use red food colouring to draw blood vessels onto eye using a thin paint brush or eye line pen.

https://twitter.com/DaniStevens365/status/777987734623301632

We typically skip Halloween every second year or so, I know it’s more of an American tradition but it has become so BIG over the years, that I love seeing the excitement with my kids dressing up. Plus it’s a great family day where we all get to dress up and have some fun!

So go on! Get out there and have some fun with your kids and do some trick or treating. After all, brushing your teeth after this fun family Halloween night will instill future healthy brushing habits with your young ones. Philips Sonicare for Kids also has a cash back offer on brushes – so it’s the perfect time to pick up a brush for your little one. Win! Win! For everyone I say.

Have fun!!! and keep an eye on these hashtags across your social channels #PhilipsSonicareforKids #PhilipsHealthyHalloween.

xxDani

Your 365 Fitness Food Motivator