Halloween can bring a mixed haul of candy, and sometimes the kids gotta negotiate: five SweeTarts in exchange for a Twix. Reese's Pieces for a Kit Kat and a ring pop.

Parents, however, might be looking to swap out some of that sugar. Rather than engage in high-stakes bargaining with tight-fisted trick-or-treaters, grownups can either pilfer the pile in the wee hours or direct the kids to a couple of area dentists who are trading wrapped candy for money and trinkets instead.

The Halloween Candy Buyback program was launched in 2007 and now includes hundreds of dentists around the nation collecting candy for Operation Gratitude, which sends care packages -- including collected Halloween candy -- to military troops overseas.

In recent years, the buyback program scored more than 250,000 pounds of candy annually, with businesses, schools, civic groups, and religious organizations pitching in. Locally, dentists set their own guidelines for buybacks, so dates and rewards vary. A list of participating offices by ZIP code is on the Halloween Candy Buyback website, halloweencandybuyback.org.

Here are a few of the participating offices:

Ultimate Smile, 2026 NE 19th St., Fort Lauderdale, 954-566-5428, UltimateSMILEftl.com: Offering 50 cents per pound of candy and toy items November 5.

Spodak Dental Group, 3911 W. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach, 561-498-0050, spodakdental.com: Offering $1 per pound, up to five pounds maximum, November 3 to November 14.

Dr. Gary Yanowitz, 1000 N. Hiatus Road, Pembroke Pines, 954- 431-9500, yanowitzdentistry.com: Offering $1 per pound, up to five pounds maximum, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. November 1.

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