How to Swap Candy for Healthy Halloween Treats
By Katy S
With fall almost here, we’re starting to see stores stocking up on Halloween candy and decorations. While it’s so much fun for kids to go trick-or-treating, no parent wants to deal with the resulting sugar rush that many kids experience at Halloween. One piece of chocolate might not send your child over the edge, but a half bag of Halloween candy certainly will! So why not limit your kids to one or two pieces of candy, or better yet, try some of these healthy Halloween treats. They’re sure to satisfy the whole family while still being tasty and fun.
Healthy Homemade Halloween Treats
Avoid overly processed candy from the grocery store and make your own Halloween goodies instead. By making food yourself, you can control the type and quantity of ingredients. (Don’t you want to be able to pronounce the ingredients in your food?)
One of the easiest candy swaps you can make is chocolate-covered fruit (see next section for store-bought versions). Fruit is naturally sweet so it doesn’t take a whole lot to turn fruit into a delicious dessert. This super-simple recipe requires only three ingredients with optional toppings. Although chocolate-dipped strawberries and bananas are absolutely divine, think outside the box and try blueberries, cherries, or pineapple. Apples would be wonderful at this time of year. Get your children involved by having them dip the fruit in chocolate and decorate with nuts, seeds, or sprinkles.
Sticking with chocolate, you’ve got to try this five-ingredient chocolate bark. It has no added sugar and is easy to whip up, provided you make it ahead of time (bark will need to set for about an hour). Along with serving at a Halloween party, you can even wrap up the bark with the ingredients listed and hand out to trick-or-treaters. You could also give homemade (and vegan) Almond Joys.
Put a healthier spin on candy corn with these candy corn-inspired fruit pops. Add chocolate spider decorations to healthy muffins or cupcakes. Avoid the extra sugar from Reese’s and make a healthier version with almond butter.
How easy is this for a kid-friendly Halloween party? Arrange a bunch of peeled clementine oranges on a festive plate. Then place small, cut celery sticks in the middle as the stems. Voilà—“pumpkins” for each kid.
If you’re looking to spice up your Halloween party with DIY decorations, look no further than our article on Halloween printables. You’ll find easy and affordable ways to create Halloween decorations and games.
Healthier Store-Bought Halloween Candy
Even if you don’t have time to make your own healthy Halloween treats, you can still find some decent options at the supermarket.
Lose the sugar while loading up your shopping cart with dark chocolate. The darker the chocolate is the more antioxidants it has, with less sugar than milk chocolate. Several manufacturers make bite-size dark chocolates, perfect for giving out at Halloween.
Another good chocolate choice is store-bought chocolate-covered fruit. Raisinets® used to be the only mainstream option for choco-covered fruit; now there are other varieties, including chocolate-covered blueberries, apricots, and more. Kids may turn up their noses at plain raisins, but they’ll eat them when the raisins are covered in chocolate. Just make sure you check the nutrition labels—some kinds are loaded with sugar thanks to corn syrup.
Hard candies, such as lollipops and Jolly Ranchers, are pure sugar. However, they have little to no fat and are a lot lower in calories than other types of candy. As long as you limit your child to one lollipop or a few Jolly Ranchers, then your little ghost shouldn’t turn into a little ghoul from too much sugar.
Anyone remember Smarties® and SweeTARTS®? Due to the relatively small serving size (1 package each) these two are some of the healthier store-bought candies. Both are low in calories and even sugar (surprisingly). Smarties are also great for kids with food allergies, including those allergic to gluten, milk, egg, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and soy.
If you want to avoid doling out candy altogether, try one of the many healthy snack-size popcorn bags now available. Most just have popcorn, oil, and salt listed on the nutrition label.
What are some ways your family makes Halloween healthier? Will you try one of these healthy Halloween treats this year? Let us know below or on Facebook and Twitter.
Have a fun and safe Halloween!