Not Your Ordinary Halloween Treats

No, this blog is NOT about how to make rice krispy treats that look like Frankenstein's monster, or jack-o-lantern popcorn balls, or shortbread cookies shaped like amputated fingers, or edible ghostly graveyards made of chocolate pudding and mint milano cookies (although those are all awesome). Instead, these are ideas for how to make your pre-packaged, give-them-to-strangers-at-the-door, trick-or-treating treats look extra-spooky and special.

This is probably not an idea for those of you who live in busy areas and get several hundred ToTers every year. It's for those of us like me, who live a bit off the beaten path, who get less than a dozen costumed visitors on Halloween. It's for those of us who'd like to give a little extra reward to the goblins who actually make it to our door. These are ideas for how to dress up pre-packaged treats rather than making homemade ones.

Chocolate Bar Holders

This decoration works for any relatively flat, rectangular candy bar (Hershey bars, Nestle Crunch, Kit Kats, etc.). Lay the bar on a piece of construction paper and cut out the shape of bat wings, a vampire cape, or ghost arms, along with a head and eyes peeking over the top. Add details with a sharpie, cut out pieces of paper, or googly eyes, glue the bar in place, and fold over the wings/cape/arms. 

Frankenstein's Monster Jello Cups 

If you want to give out treats other than candy, lime jello cups can be flipped over and doctored with a sharpie and glued-on googly eyes, feathers, and pom-poms (or just a sharpie) to create a creepy green monster. You can do something similar with orange jello or even mandarin orange or peach slices to make a jack o'lantern. 

Lollipop Ghosts

Lollipop ghosts are super-easy to make using either coffee filters or facial tissue. Simply lay the center of the pop in the center of the filter or tissue, gather around, and secure with a small elastic, yarn, or ribbon, and add two eyes with a marker. (It works equally well on cheap Dum-Dums or big Tootsie Pops.)

Lollipop Spiders

Another fun lollipop option is to make pipe cleaner legs (two standard pipe cleaners, cut in half, make eight legs). Glue on a pair of googly eyes and your spider is ready to crawl right into those treat bags.

Want to go healthier than candy? Mandarin oranges make perfect jack o'lanterns with a few strokes of a Sharpie. 

Mummies

 

You can make a mummy out of nearly any kind of treat, including squeezable applesauce pouches, juice boxes, candy bars of any size and shape, boxes of raisins, granola or breakfast bars, and any kind of candy that comes in a box (e.g., junior mints, Mike and Ikes). Simply wrap the package with white tape (strips of tissues or tissue paper also work; just use glue or a glue stick to tack it down here and there), and draw on a face with a marker. You can also add googly eyes if you like. 

Googly Eyes on Anything

 

Speaking of googly eyes, you can up the creep (or funny) factor of any treat you give out - candy or fruit - by just sticking on a pair of googly eyes! 

Happy Trick or Treating!!