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The Halloween Candy Buyback Chris Kammer, DDS

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Can you imagine your community buzzing with excitement about your brilliant promotion? Yes, you the dentist have finally figured out what to do with that nightmarish holiday where the over-consumption of sugary treats is an American tradition. It is now time for dental practices to own this day with the Halloween Candy Buyback! This fun promotion has the potential to be the biggest public relations event that your practice has ever been involved in.

The concept is rather simple. Your office offers to pay trick-or-treaters one dollar per pound for their excess uneaten, unopened Halloween candy. The children also receive a flashing Dr. Fresh Firefly toothbrush and a coupon for a kid's meal at a local restaurant. The candy and other collected goods are then shipped to our troops in support of their efforts.

Mothers Love This Event!
With less candy consumed by children, mothers will love you because you are the dentist with the best plan to deal with the excess amounts of candy regularly consumed by children for days and days following Halloween. No one should be eating that much candy, especially kids because childhood decay and obesity are on the rise. But don't worry because dentists still believe in fun! We are not talking about banning trick-or-treating but we are now giving kids an alternative use for their excess candy that they can feel good about because the collected candy supports the troops!

The Halloween Candy Buyback promotion is a great opportunity to get children involved in a charitable act to truly show support for our brothers and sisters risking their lives overseas. The children can also write out encouraging letters to the troops at your Buyback event. These letters accompany the care packages and they are huge morale boosters.



The Media Loves This Event!
Every year, the media expects to do its share of Halloween stories, and reporters are always looking for a new angle as the holiday approaches. This unique approach has been overwhelmingly embraced in city after city throughout the USA! I have enjoyed watching my colleagues and their practices become media stars because TV, radio, and print all want to tell this story. The exposure creates amazing goodwill and you'll find that everyone in your town will be complimenting your office on this great Candy Buyback idea. Expect this kind of buzz! The original idea for buying back candy has been around for a while and is not mine, but you will be viewed as the genius and your office will get a standing ovation for bringing it to your community.

The Team Loves This Event!
We schedule the Buyback during a two-hour period after school on November 1. The staff wears their Halloween costumes, and a vibrant party atmosphere greets the steady stream of parents and children that file into our office. One team member works the scale and calls out the official weight. Another holds a stack of crisp, new dollar bills and peels them off into the hands of the excited children with words of congratulations and thanks for supporting the troops. Another team member wears a tooth costume and hands out the "light saber" Dr. Fresh Firefly flashing toothbrushes. An additional team member passes out the kid's meal coupons (all of which have been donated by local restaurants). Parents receive office fliers with special promotional offers inviting them to join our practice.



So now, you have to be getting pumped up about this promotion! I guarantee your office will have the most enjoyable Halloween season ever by holding this event. Last year, I voluntarily guided hundreds of offices through every detail of the Halloween Candy Buyback. This event is just too special to keep it a secret and it has now become my mission! If you would like to get involved this year, you can register (at no charge) at www.halloweencandybuyback.com and then you'll have access to the step-by-step instruction on the Web, which includes the press release you can use, toothbrush ordering specials, candy shipping information, and much more. We also send out occasional HCBB e-mail news updates with great ideas from participating colleagues across the country and updates on the national publicity we receive. We have the only nationwide source for the general public and the national media to locate the dental practices involved.

The majority of your press will occur during the week leading up to Halloween, so you could actually start your PR campaign as late as mid-October and still pull off an amazing event. A nonprofit U.S. organization called Operation Gratitude (www.operationgratitude.com) will collect your candy and other goods here in the states and ship it overseas. You are responsible for shipping your collection to them, but they'll do the rest to package it for the troops and send it overseas. The head of the organization, Carolyn Blashek, was thrilled with last year's dental response: 62 tons of candy, thousands of letters, and many other "Wish List" items, including Beanie Babies. Calling it the best promotion they had ever seen, Blashek noted that the troops love the candy and other items not only for themselves, but also to give out to the children in the communities they patrol – winning hearts and minds all over the world!
Author’s Bio
Dr. Chris Kammer is the leader of the "Gums of Steel" Hygiene Transformation group and Dental Media Power training. He is a founding member of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry and is currently holding the founding meeting of the American Academy for Oral Systemic Health October 15-16 in Madison, WI. Contact Dr. Kammer at drchris@thesmileexperts.com.
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September 2025
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