Convincing your littles that eating healthy is fun, and that nutritious food is what makes them strong and mighty can be quite the struggle. Parents often default to little white lies of what they’re actually serving their kids. They practice various acts of bribery, and as much as our own parents told us not to play with our food, it can certainly aid in getting the job done. After all, a little fun never hurt anyone. Take advantage of fall and of Halloween to make cute, nutritious snacks that they’ll actually want to eat... (plus a couple that aren't the healthiest. But life is about balance, people.) Here are a few adorable, Halloween-themed snacks you can plop into their lunch boxes that will make you both smile.
TANGERINE PUMPKINS
Peel a tangerine, chop some celery sticks and assemble accordingly to create the most adorable snack ever. Easy and nutritious — a win, win for everyone!
CHEESE STICK GHOSTS
Buy some string cheese. Grab a permanent marker, and give that string cheese ghost some personality. Voila. Toss it in the lunch box and call it a day.
FRANKEN-GRAPES
Keep the permanent marker handy. Grab a clear plastic cup and lid, or a clear plastic baggy and decorate it with Frankenstein. Or let your kids give it a go. After, fill it with green grapes! Adorbs.
TANGERINE JACK-O-LANTERN
Yet another cute snack craft that requires a permanent marker. Grab an orange or small tangerine and pen a cute jack-o-lantern face.
WITCH’S PRETZEL BROOMSTICK
You’ll need small plastic baggies, short pretzel sticks, ribbon and festive Halloween pencils. Place some pretzel sticks in a bag, the pencil in the middle and tie the ribbon around the pretzels so your finished product looks like a little broom.
CARROT PUMPKINS
Peel your carrot and carve out sections like you see in the photo. When then sliced, the carrot rounds will look like pumpkins!
BOO-NANA POPS
Half a banana, stick in a popsicle stick, dip in white chocolate, add mini chocolate chip eyes and freeze! Semi-healthy. Totally delicious.
MUMMY PRETZELS
You’ll need pretzel rods for this Halloween snack. Dip the majority of the pretzel in white chocolate and let harden or at least partially harden. Using a spoon, drizzle more white chocolate in a left and right motion, creating a mummy-like pretzel! Adhere mini chocolate chips for eyes.
PUMPKIN PRETZELS
Grab small, twisted pretzels and orange meltable candies. Melt the orange candies and dip in your pretzels. Add a chocolate chip as a pumpkin stem, and lay them on a parchment-paper lined cookie sheet and allow to harden in the fridge or freezer.
PUMPKIN RICE KRISPIE TREATS
What’s better than a rice krispie treat? A rice krispie treat that’s shaped like a pumpkin, of course! You’ll need the typical rice krispie ingredients, red and orange food coloring and Tootsie rolls or little green candies. Follow the recipe here to make the best little pumpkin treats you’ve ever seen.