Top 8 Healthy Halloween Treats

Lisa Franchi October 29, 2012

Few more days to go and it’s Halloween! Everyone will be wearing their best spooky costumes and for sure, there will be an overflow of treats. Halloween is traditionally a day centred on eating sweets, candies, and those beautifully decorated, sugar-coated biscuits. Who doesn’t love them?

But too much sugar can take a toll on your health, and on your children’s health. Aside from sugar, sweets contain high amount of fats, sodium, and artificial colours and preservatives that may harm the body.

This coming Halloween is perhaps the best time to change our treat-or-trick tradition. Instead of giving out sweets, here are some of the best Halloween treats that are not just delicious, but healthy as well!

1. Scary fruity treats

Eating fruits is probably the last thing kids would want to do on Halloween. But with a little creativity, you can turn these healthy foods into something spooky and attractive. Pick an orange-coloured fruit variety like peach or orange with a clear plastic top, and then draw a scary face on it. For sure, kids will rush to get their scary fruity treats!

2. Organic dark chocolate

Instead of the milky chocolates, put some organic dark chocolates in their baskets. Dark chocolates are loaded with antioxidants such as flavonoids that are known to lower blood pressure and cholesterol.

3. Dried figs

Did you know that dried figs provide more nutritional benefits than most dried fruits? Figs contain calcium, potassium, iron, and fibre. To make it more attractive for children, dip the dried figs in chocolate or caramel syrup. For more flavours, you can buy some other dried fruit products like dried mangos, strawberries, etc.

4. Soy Treats

Instead of feeding them with refined sugar, why not feed your kids with lots of protein this Halloween? Soy snacks are available in many local stores, but check out the label first to be able to choose the product with the best nutritional value.

5. Jack-O-Lantern Oranges

Surely, kids would love to see some mini jack-o-lanterns this Halloween! Buy some fresh clementines or oranges and draw ghoulish faces, spiders, bats, or other spooky figures using a food marker. Oranges are fully-packed with vitamin C and other nutrients that help counteract the negative effects of sweets.

6. Cheese String Ghosts

Cheese is an all-time favourite of kids so why not give them some more this Halloween? Prepare some individually-wrapped cheese string, and decorate them with eyes and mouth so you got a cheese string ghost! You can also use bananas instead of cheese. Tuck in two tiny chocolates as eyes.

7. Sugar-free treats

There are commercially-available sweets and gums that do not contain sugar. Most of them contain artificial sweeteners like xylitol or sorbitol which help prevent cavities. Don’t forget to get a variety of flavours for your picky guests.

8. Fruit juice

After eating lots of sweets, kids will surely need some fluids to quench their thirst. So don’t forget to give them juice boxes made from fruits and natural ingredients. Or, you can serve them a cup of warm (or cold if you wish), low-fat chocolate drink.