Hiya Gorgeous!
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays—mostly because I love scary movies and scare fest experiences. I’m a sucker for haunted theme parks filled with ghouls who chase me with chainsaws (ahhh!!!). I also love me a good costume party, too. This year, I’m going to attempt a David Bowie Ziggy Stardust look—we’ll see how it goes. Bring on the YouTube makeup tutorials!
As a kid, my mom (a fellow Halloween lover) would put spiders in my bed and bats in my cereal box. I’m fairly certain I’ll be getting another care package with some sort of skeleton remains this year. Fake, of course… I think.
Clearly, it’s the time of year to engage in some fun shenanigans.
Halloween is also the kick-off of sugar season. And while it’s pretty hard to avoid sweet treats altogether, it is possible to make better choices and not overdo it. Learning to be satisfied with a little somethin’ somethin’ will take you far and get you through many holidays in a healthy way.
Whether you’re deciding what to give out on Halloween, trying to help your little ones navigate their haul or wondering which piece you should snag from the candy dish, I’m here to help you find your way. Plus, make sure to check out the awesome recipe we included below. It’s loaded with messy, healthy fun for you and your scary crew.
My Top 5 Halloween Tips
1. Opt for some alternative treats.
Jazz it up a bit by handing out tattoos, stickers, glow bracelets or spider rings. You can also try the healthier standbys: whole grain pretzels, TERRA veggie chips, raisins, popcorn bags or apples. Just don’t be offended if this doesn’t make your doorbell the most popular!
2. Swap candy for coins.
If you’ve got little ones, trade candy for coins. Each piece gets them 5 or 10 cents to put in their piggy banks (shouldn’t put you out too badly!). Or have them trade all their candy in (minus a couple of their favorites) for a super special toy they’ve been wanting.
3. Create a candy schedule.
Let everyone choose up to 3 pieces of candy on Halloween night and then keep it to 1 piece with lunch and/or dinner after that. Your kiddies may run out of their favorites faster than you think. Grownups can ration candy like kids, too: 1-2 pieces a day for treats with meals. We’ve all got a little candy goblin in us!
4. Shrink your pile.
Freeze some of the chocolate bars for 3-6 months. Making the candy stock smaller right away means you and your kids will be less likely to overeat, and can even preserve a few treats for down the road. A two-fer!
5. Hunt for the nutrition.
Dark chocolate, nuts and seeds actually have some redeeming nutritional value. The antioxidants in the cocoa, along with the beneficial nutrients found in nuts and seeds, can help to balance out the empty calories from the sugar.
My Favorite Halloween Candies
Here are my current faves, which are all free of animal products and artificial ingredients, and many contain organic and fair trade ingredients too.
Justin’s Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
These are like Reese’s, but minus the dairy and full of fair-trade chocolate. Yum!
Choco No No’s by No Whey Foods
Modeled after M&M’s but they are free of all 8 common allergens, including peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, gluten and soy.
Scandinavian Swimmers
This is a more natural version of Swedish Fish. Each one is only 5 grams of sugar so as long as you don’t go cray cray, they’re not so bad. Plus, they don’t contain the artificial colors and dyes.
OCHO Dark Chocolate Coconut Minis
These bite-sized chocolates with a gooey coconut center have only a few grams of sugar each, and are made with all organic ingredients.
Unreal Dark Chocolate Crispy Quinoa Gems
Colored with veggies and made crunchy with quinoa, these dark chocolate treats are literally unreal! You may never go back to traditional treats once you’ve tried these.
Free2b Dark Chocolate Mint Cups
These yummy cups combine two of my favorite flavors: dark chocolate and mint.
Bonus: Check out this awesome Halloween Recipe our Dietitian whipped up!
Crazy Silly Monsters
Makes 8 monsters
- 2 large apples, cut into quarters
- 3 tablespoons nut butter or seed butter
- 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds (preferably raw because they’re lighter in color)
- 4 strawberries, sliced lengthwise
- 8 green grapes, sliced into coins
- 16 dark chocolate chips
- Slice out center of apple quarters with a small paring knife.
- With a cloth or paper towel, dry off the insides of the monster mouths and grape slices so that the nut or seed butter can stick better.
- Spread nut or seed butter in the mouths of the monsters, and with the sharp end of 5-6 sunflower seeds per mouth, carefully stick the seeds into the top of the mouth for teeth.
- Place a slice of strawberry on the bottom “lip” for a tongue.
- Dab a tiny amount of nut or seed butter onto the grape slices. Then insert the pointy end of the chocolate chips into the grape slices to secure them. With another small dollop of nut or seed butter, secure the grape chocolate chip eyes to the monsters. Monsters can have 1, 2 or 3 eyes.
- Store in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
Your turn: What’s your favorite healthy Halloween secret? Let me know in the comments below…
Peace and treats,
Thank you for making our Halloween so happy! Our children just had so much fun making these and are gobbling them up with glee. It’s a happy (sugarfree) Halloween over here in Frankfurt, Germany! Thanks for being such an inspiration and source of knowledge, Kris!
With our daughter, we’ve always had her keep a piece or two and then put the rest out on our front porch at bedtime for the “Halloween Witch” or “Halloween Fairy”. Then in the morning there’s a gift left in place of all that candy. Works great! She’s always so excited to see what gift she gets. When she was really young, she asked for a roll of tin foil. I was like, “No problem! Easy peasy!”. She made crafts with it for weeks! Like a tin foil savant of sorts! LOL. And the witch doesn’t always bring what my daughter asks for because witches are quirky and strange, so she gets some funny odd gifts but always loves them.
This is sooo good and creative! Love it, thanks for sharing Danna. And how adorable is your daughter. 🙂
Do a search for “donate candy for the troops” and find a location near you. We have the kids pick out their favorite candies and then we donate the rest to the troops overseas! Some programs even give the kids rewards for the amount they donate!
I loved these same apple mouths when I first saw them on forkandbeans.com! (And btw, shouldn’t the creator get credit for these?). So cute.
Hi Ricki, The little monsters are our own recipe eventhough they’re a similar concept to the Fork and Beans one. There are even more yummy variations out there as well. My kids just love gobbling these up when I make them! xo – Jen
A fellow Halloween junkie! I knew there was a reason I liked you!
We used to host haunted houses in our garage when my kids were young. Good times!
Ha! Halloween junkies unite! 🙂
Thanks for this article! I love love love me some Halloween, what great ideas to make it healthier and still super fun ?
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I love your books, videos, emails and information but I was really taken back by your supporting eating Swedish Fish since the ingredients do not fit with all your healthy philosophies. Ingredients: sugar, invert sugar, corn syrup, modified corn starch, citric acid, white mineral oil, artificial flavors, red 40 and carnauba wax. Maybe they make a natural type that doesn’t have all of these horrible ingredients? If so, maybe you should clarify that so people don’t ingest red dye, corn syrup, etc? Even at 5 calories it is more like poison candy.
Hey Nancy! Thanks for your note. I’m the nutrition director here so I’ll chime in for Kris. The link for the Swedish Fish is actually to the natural version by Trader Joe’s called “Scandinavian Swimmers.” We’ve updated the heading to prevent confusion. Thanks again! xo – Jen