Happy Healthy Halloween - have fun, learn some tricks, get some ideas and recipes for healthy Halloween treats.
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Healthy Halloween Treats
The average US trick or treater takes home 600g of sugar, the equivalent to 3 cups!!! Americans alone, spend $2.08 billion dollars on Halloween candy. Many have asked for healthy alternatives to candy on Halloween.
Now we're not saying don't have fun, just don't overload your children (and others) with excessive bags of sugar laden candy. If you hand out alternatives to candy, children will still end up with plenty of candy from others in the neighbourhood. It is your choice as to whether you participate or want to cut back on the candy, just please don't put pressure and negativity on others who do choose to cut back.
Before you all say I'm a Halloween party pooper, things have changed over the last few decades. One night of fun and a massive sugar hit has become an issue because -
- children have never eaten so much sugar. By the time a child is 8 years old they will have consumed as much sugar as an adult did in their lifetime 100 years ago.
- sugar is in so much food these days, hidden in sauces, baked beans, bread, fizzy drinks, energy drinks, flavoured yoghurts, cereals, muesli bars and so many more day to day foods
- Halloween is only 1 night but then there is Valentines day, birthdays, christmas, end of year events, bake sales, fundraisers, New Year, end of term, end of football season and now even Girl Guides are pushing Nestle sweetened flavoured milk. It never ends.
- obesity, T2 diabetes and tooth decay are at record levels because of all of the above
- most children don't eat all their candy in 1 night so end up eating it over the next week or so, so it isn't just 1 night, for some it's an entire week
- and don't be fooled into buying organic sweets or those made with real fruit juice. They are seen by the body as sugar, plain and simple, and just as damaging.
Healthy Halloween Treats - how to limit the sugar to just one night
If you want to let your kids go for it on Halloween, it's totally up to you, but maybe collect any uneaten candy the next day and throw it away. Let your children know it's a fun treat for 1 night only. Or have you heard of Suzie Switch Witch? She will buy back your uneaten candy on Halloween night! Take a look at her cute poem on Natural Kids website and she will Switch your candy for money, a game or something special. This is a cute way to let your children have fun on the night, but Susie Switch Witch ensures it is only for 1 night.
I've collected the cutest healthy Halloween treats and ideas and posted them below. These are not intended for trick or treating but for get togethers or parties. They are so cute, they will be great for spooky birthday parties year round.
When I asked on Facebook what everyone thought of Halloween, what came though loud and clear was pressure. Pressure by parents to allow their children to go trick or treating and to accept and then eat all that candy. There was also huge pressure to buy and supply huge volumes of candy for those who knocked on their doors. So if more of us spoke up, it would take the pressure off both sides. Here in New Zealand, trick or treating is only just taking off. There is a huge marketing campaign by sweet manufacturers, supermarkets, by 'The Warehouse' and Kmart. If we all refused to buy them, it might stop NZ going the way other countries have gone. Here is a sign you may want to print and put on your gate.
Healthy Halloween Treats - alternative party bag ideas
For those who do participate, instead of handing out candy or a sweets to trick or treaters, how about these instead?
- glow sticks
- stickers
- toys
- spider rings
- spooky playing cards
- mini playdough
- bottles of bubbles
- pencils
- erasers
- if you're a dentist, apparently it is OK to hand out toothbrushes
So here are the best of the best Healthy Halloween Treats to have at parties and gatherings. They are too cute not to have year round, so maybe plan a spooky birthday party to get to use all these ideas again.
Best Of The Best Healthy Halloween Treats
Jack-o-lanterns made from mandarins or satsumas. Draw their faces with a black permanent marker (it won't penetrate the skin so won't contaminate your fruit). Leave this one for your children to make. See how scary or funny you can make their faces. Pop them in their lunch boxes leading up to Halloween. No carving required, no mess and you can hand them out to trick or treaters because they are unpeeled. From Ditch The Carbs.
Sugar-free gummies and worms + VIDEO - are a fun activity to make with your kiddos and you can get super creative with colours, flavours and shapes. I love the worms, how about you?
Watermelon Brain - By gimmiefreebies.com has to be my favourite. It is gruesome with the pink of the watermelon peeking out from the brain. See the website for instructions and step wise photos on how to carve the watermelon.
Orange Mummies by A Thrifty Mom are just the cutest little things and easy for little fingers to make. Wrap up an orange with tissue, bandages or crepe paper then glue on some googly eyes.
Cheese Pops - By Cute Food For Kids.com. Using a Babybel cheese, nori sheet and some black sesame seeds. Even adults would like this idea. I love the scar mouth.
Cheese Finger Food - from Spoonful (Disney) makes fingers out of cheese and green peppers. Realistic with carved knuckles makes them even more creepy and spooky.
Banana Ghosts and Mandarin Pumpkins - from My Easy Recipes. Turn little mandarins into pumpkins by peeling and putting a stick of celery into the centre. Banana ghosts are simply bananas with chocolate drops stuck on.
Cheese Monsters by Danya Banya are easily made from mini Babybel, a sharp knife and a watchful eye if the children are involved. Stick on some scary eyes and create some awesome fangs. I know my children would adore to receive these.
Easy Halloween Eyeball Recipe from Lilly at KidsKubby. Mini Babybel, some drawn on veins and slices of olives. Imagine a plate of these all staring back at you?
Olive Spider Cheese Balls by Spaceships and Laserbeams . Top a piece of yellow cheese or carrot, with a cream cheese ball and a spider made out of black olives. To make it even cuter, place a black bat on a stick into each one.
Cheese Pumpkins by Pop Sugar. Carve little balls of soft cheese into pumpkin shapes and add a stalk. They used pretzels, but I would add a piece of salami stick or something similar. Arrange them on a plate with a few winter leaves scattered around.
Crunchy Halloween Mummies by Betty Crocker are adorable cream cheese mummies wrapped in slices of ham, lying on a celery bed. These would require some patience, but the results are amazing.
Veggie Skeleton by Feeding Frenzy. Arrange sliced vegetables into a skeleton shape with the head being a cream cheese dip. You could even add slices of ham for the 'skin' to make it more gruesome.
Spooky Spider Eggs by Sunset.com. Devilled eggs are scary enough, but add some tarantulas made from chopped up black olives and you have little devilled spiders.
Creepy Monster Eyeballs from the Gourmet Mama are made with mayonnaise and green food colouring, I would go a step further and make the centres with avocado or smooth guacamole then use a stuffed olive for the eyeball centre. Mwa ha ah.
Cheesy Halloween Snacks by Susie J are for those with absolutely zero artistic or culinary skill whatsoever. No excuses. Let your children loose on these ones. You don't even need to buy the orange processed cheese seen, use a cheese slicer and make your own slices of edam, mild or colby cheese.
Apple Bites by Oh She Glows. A cute sweet treat to end it all off. Slices of apply with peanut butter, nut butter or some berry puree instead of jam.
I really hope you have enjoyed these Healthy Halloween Treats which I have posted from the best of the best food websites. Please visit their sites for full instructions and leave them comments on their fabulous Healthy Halloween Treats. Be sure to mention you saw them on ditchthecarbs.com
FREE part bag toppers
Just print the party bag toppers onto card, cut them out and fold over the party bag. How cute.
Rai
Halloween is fast approaching! I'm so excited to try these recipes! Thanks for sharing!
SD, Sydney
Hi. Great recipes and ideas, thank you! I LOVE Halloween, always have, since before it was cool (in Australia, anyway) 😉 My 5 year old daughter loves it too. But it doesn't have to be about sugar!
We don't do Trick-or-Treating, but we always have a party with her little friends.
At parties, I have savoury food out first (meatballs,. zucchini slice, pizza etc), then maybe a fruit plate, and find kids usually fill up on that sufficiently that by the time I bring out sweet stuff, they're generally kinda full and don't go too silly.
I try to keep the sweets (home made cupcakes, cookies etc, not plates of lollies!) as low sugar as I can, and certainly low fructose. My daughter is fairly accustomed to paleo snacks and lower carb and low sugar stuff, but her friends are not, so you've got to find a balance, it is a party after all! And water only! Kids do not need juice or soft drink! There's sometimes a bit of grumbling from other kids, but too bad! Water = less feral kids, and if there's a spill, no big deal 🙂
Keeping kids adequately entertained helps too, we had a wonderful lady doing face painting last year and signed her up a year in advance for this year too!
When I do up party bags (for Halloween and birthdays), I focus on non-lolly items, stickers, erasers, toys, those little Lego mini figures etc. Glow sticks is a good idea that I will use this year, thank you!
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Brilliant, brilliant suggestions. I love that you are still celebrating Halloween but the kids just won't even notice that you have cut back on the sugar and C.R.A.P and made healthier food. And I'm so with you on the no juice/soda aspect. If water is the only option, most of the time they don't notice (or like you say, too bad, they DO NOT NEED SODA). You made me laugh about the feral kids 😉 You have focused on the fun stuff not the sugar and they will have a fabulous time. Awesome.
My birthday is on Halloween so I can remember exactly how it has changed over the years. My birthday parties when I was a girl was your average party food of sausage rolls, fairy bread and cake, that kind of thing. But I can also remember these foods were only at parties. Trick or treating was unheard of (in NZ anyway) and there was no ghoulish zombie aspect to it. Like with most celebrations these days, it all revolves around sweets because of marketing and advertising - Valentines, Easter, Halloween, Christmas to name a few. Yes kids deserve fun, but they also deserve health (and their own teeth)! Thanks for your wonderful ideas, Libby x
Joanne Mitchell Formisano
Loved this - thank you for sharing so many good ideas for a more healthy Halloween!