Halloween is an exciting time of year for children, with the costumes, the scary stories, and the silly, spooky decorations. At St Peter’s Prep, we also understand that Halloween often comes with an overload of sugary sweets and unhealthy snacks that act as a cause for concern for many parents at this time.
As an independent primary school, we know how vital the role of nutrition is for children to be active and engaged. As such, we have compiled some ideas for alternative, healthy Halloween treats.
Orange Jack-o-Lantern Fruit Bowls
Pumpkin carving is a Halloween activity loved by many. If it is one of your Halloween must-does, then maybe a fruit-filled Orange Jack-o-Lanterns will be an ideal addition to your family’s spooky fun this year.
You will need to get a hold of some larger, firmer oranges with a thick peel as you will be cutting off the top and scooping out the flesh just as you do with a pumpkin, and the peels will need to hold their own. This requires very careful hands and a sharp knife, so it is best for an adult to do this part.
Once the flesh is scooped out, carve a face into the hollowed out orange. It can be as terrifying or as funny as you like! In a small bowl, chop up fruit of your choice and combine with the orange you have just removed to make a delicious and nutritious fruit salad. To finish, pop the fruit salad back into the carved peel and there you have it, Jack-o-Lantern Fruit Bowls made from oranges!
Pretzel Broomsticks
This simple recipe is brilliant for all ages, and even the smallest of hands, as it requires no prior prepping and no chopping. Coming together in only a matter of moments, these easy Pretzel Broomsticks require only three ingredients and are a great way to get the whole family involved in the Halloween treat making.
From the supermarket all you will need are pretzel sticks, cheese strings, and fresh chives. Start with breaking a cheese string into thirds. Then, peel as you normally would to create strings, to resemble the brush end of the broomstick. Do this with patience, to ensure that you do not go all the way to the end, so that the strings stay together.
Push this onto the end of a pretzel stick. For the finishing touch, tie a fresh chive around the top of the cheese string where it meets the pretzel. Quick and easy, the Pretzel Broomstick is a savoury alternative to the sugar overload that Halloween is known for.
Scary Jell-eye
Jelly is a treat that is guaranteed to be a success. This easy recipe turns it into a truly gory dessert. It’s wobbly, it’s scary, and it tastes good too. To keep this a healthy treat, consider using a low sugar or sugar-free jelly.
You will need to buy a tin of lychees, a punnet of blueberries, and a packet of jelly of your choosing. You may want to use strawberry jelly, with its colour resembling blood, for an extra level of gruesome amusement.
Make the jelly as normal, following the instructions on the packet and leave it to cool. Meanwhile, drain the lychees. Then, simply press a blueberry into the middle of each lychee. These will look like eyeballs.
Once finished, add the lychees to the jelly and refrigerate to set. After a few hours, you will have a wobbly, fruity, healthy treat that stares back at you.
Apple Monster Mouths
These monster mouths are just as fun to eat as they are to make. Even better, you will most likely have everything you need at home.
This recipe calls for apples, any nut butter, and some nuts, seeds, or raisins. Make the apples into slices of around 3-4cm thickness. Join two slices together with a generous amount of nut butter, not pressing completely together as you want this to be a scary monster with its mouth wide open!
The final touch is placing the nuts (or whatever you have in the cupboard) to look like teeth, adding as much or as little as you like. Stick two, or three, or, four of these to the top apple slice for eyes using the nut butter, and your Apple Monster Mouth has come to life!
We hope these healthy Halloween treat ideas have made it easier to navigate healthy eating at this time of year, and to encourage your children to explore food through getting involved in eating and making these fun alternative treats.
