I remember always looking forward to Halloween because of the mounds of candy I would get. Trick-or-Treating was like a job: the more hustle, the more candy I got. However, times are changing; food allergies are more prominent in many households, and many schools are steering away from kids bringing junk food. Instead of making Halloween a dreadful time for kids, let’s revive the fun that we once had as children, and make Halloween great again with treats that everyone can enjoy both at school and during trick-or-treating!
1. Craft Time
If you’re a crafty mom and love to go all out with goody bags, consider a costume party for food. Draw a pumpkin face on a cup of mandarin oranges or draw a ghost face on a cup of vanilla pudding. Check out these cute Minion Snack Cups. All you need is the Snack Cups in your flavor of choice, black ribbon, googly eyes, glue, and a sharpie. They can be made with Lemon pudding or Jell-O to resemble a yellow minion, but since it’s Halloween and anything goes – have fun with it!
2. Snacks on Snacks
Kids love snack time! If you’re anything like me, packing treats for your kiddo’s classmates is a must during the holidays. To this day, the most popular one was the pumpkin goldfish with mummy juice. For the pumpkin goldfish, I took clear plastic treat bags, drew a pumpkin face, filled them with enough cheddar goldfish crackers to create a plump shape, and tied the baggie with green ribbon. For the mummy juice, I simply bought apple juice boxes ( but you can substitute any flavor ) and I wrapped each box with white crepe paper to resemble a mummy. I topped it off with small googly eyes. As an alternative, you can mummify water bottles instead of a juice box.
3. No Sweets, Just Treats
You can never go wrong with toys, right? When you’re experiencing a quandary with what to add to the goody bags ( I know I have ), consider what kids love to play with the most: bubbles, Play-Doh, things that glow in the dark, pencils, and crayons, just to name a few. If the teacher permits, perhaps gift them a craft project they can use as a costume in class ( masks or capes). Dollar Tree and Oriental Trading have a great selection of these items. The best part – they’re sold in bulk at great prices!
4. What did you say this was?
Kids love to play with anything gross and out of the ordinary, so why not turn a few of their favorite foods into just that! Give them Witches Warts ( chocolate chips ), Ghost Poop ( Marshmallows), Monster Scabs ( Cinnamon Toast Crunch/Chex Cereal), or Goblin Teeth (Candy Corn).
Non-Candy Alternative: Laughter is the best medicine and eating non-candy items just got more interesting. Give the kids Spider Eggs (green grapes), Pumpkin Brains (cheese balls), Frankenstein’s Head ( Green Apple inside a baggy with a drawing of Frankenstein’s face), or Bat Brew (Grape Juice). Find free printables here.
5. Slime
My daughter loved to play with slime when she was younger. It drove me insane, but it kept her busy for hours, and it helped spark creativity with the many add-ons. I found this cute idea for Franken-Slime. It’s basically a small jar of slime held by a printable greeting bearing the likeness of Frankenstein. You can choose other Halloween characters and personalize your slime as you wish ( i.e. white slime for a skeleton, including small beads for bony texture).
For more Halloween posts, be sure to check out the archives here!
