Healthy Halloween Food, Snacks & Candy Ideas + Tips for Kids & Parties.
A healthy Halloween is a happy Halloween. What are the best healthy Halloween snacks, food and candy ideas / tips and recipes? How do you ensure kids at school parties, home or while trick-or-treating enjoy a Healthy October 31? Read on learn more
Healthy Halloween Ideas? Why?
Jump to:
What are the reasons for observing a healthy Halloween? Is it important to eat healthy food, snacks or candy?
The DurableHealth team is really concerned about your health. All the team cares about is staying health and living longer! You already know October 31 is time to have fun especially for kids. Don’t you think taking a step further to make it not just fun but also healthier is wise? That is what will make you stand out and may be smarter. Well, just think of a hale and hearty Halloween. Below are some of the reasons as to why you need a healthy Halloween
Too much sugar not good for overweight children or even adults.
It is a fact that most of the Halloween candies / treats are high in either sugar or fat. According to the National Confectioner’s Association, the average American eats up 24 pounds (10.8 kilograms) of candy each year and as records put it, October 31 is the day most the candy is consumed. Find out more Halloween candy facts.
The reality that follows is that high-fat, energy-dense and high-sugar foods is a major contributing factor to childhood obesity. While sales of candy average about $2 billion annually on October 31, as of 2008, the annual medical cost of obesity in the U.S. was was estimated to $147 billion and; the medical costs for individuals who were overweight were $1,429 higher than those of normal weight [ Center of Disease Control ]. According to reports, approximately one in three kids are overweight or obese and the rate of childhood obesity is going up!Basing on the facts above, obesity is serious, popular and expensive! This is a reason to watch the amount of sugar during this festival.
Dental Cavities & Diabetes
In addition to obesity, too much sugar can also cause dental cavities and other ailments like diabetes.
What is the point here? You should cut down on high sugar / fat foods this Halloween. Make efforts to substitute sugary foods with healthier alternatives as you will learn shortly.
After all October 31 festival is just an hours’ thing…can eating high sugary treats/Candy in just a day be such a hazardous act? You might be pondering…Well it might worsen the condition especially in cases of overindulgence. But the point here is offering treats that are nutritious during this Halloween. This can definitely help your kids to learn significant lessons in;
- General healthy eating,
- How to make sensible and nutritious choices
- Portion control.
- The difference between plenty and greed
These lessons are bound to have a positive impact on your children’s health not just during Halloween but in the course of their lifetime.
Healthy Halloween Food, Snacks, Treats or Candy for Parties plus Recipes
As already mentioned, a healthy Halloween is a happy Halloween. So how do you make this October 31 nourishing and joyous? What are the healthiest foods, snacks, candy or treats for your kids? Are there sample recipes for a healthy Halloween? Read on to find out.
Organic Foods for a healthy Halloween
Have you considered organic foods for this Halloween? These foods include dairy, fruits and vegetables. However, organic foods are known to be scarce and costly.
According to Chensheng (Alex) Lu, environmental exposure biology associate professor-Harvard School of Public Health, you may actually pay 40% more for these kind of foods but at end of the day they are worth the price. Why? Because they are healthier and safer than the commonly available foods. They are free of chemicals as well as pesticides.
So your first step towards a healthy Halloween is to make sound judgment while selecting the foods for this festival. Give organic foods a priority or at least consider snacks, treats or candy with organic ingredients. While shopping, be sure to check for the label organic.
Healthy Halloween Snacks , Treats or Candy list
Below are some healthy snacks, treats for Halloween.
Instead of the kind of chocolate made from milk, let the trick-or-treaters have organic dark chocolate. Other than being high in antioxidants, it has an amazing amount of flavanoids which have been shown to lower cholesterol and blood pressure. Try out Organic Dark Chocolate Bug Bite
Dried Fruits
Consider to surprise your little angels with dried fruits instead of other high calorie/sugar snacks. Dried fruits do not contain sugar but they still taste sweet. They are organic, have a fruity taste and most important they lack preservatives.
Giddy Up & Go Granola
During Halloween, kids are very active and you probably need a way to replenish their energy. How do you go about it? Giddy Up & Go Granola can be handy healthy source of energy for your kids. The most amazing thing about this snack is that it has a lovely sweet taste -the sweetness comes from organic agave nectar & sugar (8 g). It too offers a ton of MUFAs ( monounsaturated fatty acids, plant-based fats found in foods), 5 grams of protein. More so, it is organic, gluten-free and non-GMO
Crunchies Roasted Veggies
You really don’t want your kids to miss out the fun this Halloween…Do you? Make this festival joyous and unforgettable with Crunchies Roasted Veggies! This meal of veggies is super nutritious, pure and simple. What does it contain? Just; peas, red peppers, corn, tomatoes and carrots.
Organic Creamery Silly String Cheese– It is made of pure organic milk. Provides 8grams of protein and it comes with roughly twenty percent of your everyday calcium. Compared to other brands, it is lower in cholesterol and fat.
Clif KidZ Crispy Rice Zbars– This is a healthy snack especially after dinner or mid in the day. The Zbars are organic, made of whole grains (8g) and contain minerals such as calcium & iron. They are free of artificial flavorings and corn syrup which is known to be high in fructose
Quinn Popcorn -This snack is organic and non-GMO. In addition, quinn popcorn comes in a compostable (capable of being used as compost), microwavable bag that is chemical free
Healthy Halloween Foods for Party & Recipes
Organizing a party for your kids and close friends can ensure that you are keeping Halloween safe and healthy. Why? A party means that the children will be restricted to foods that are healthy as well as risk free. If they, especially irresponsible teenagers, are left to go out there then they will probably eat whatever that comes their way.
To make the party nutritious, let your treats include fruits such as apples, grapes & bananas, in addition, include popcorn, unshelled peanuts, and cookies (preferably sugarless). Do remember to include the trick-or-treaters in the process of preparing the treats and the party as a whole. You don’t want the children to be left idle. Including them in these activities will make the process complete, fun and engaging.
What about the Healthy Halloween Recipes?
Here a links to a collection of nourishing recipes and ideas for Halloween snacks, candy or treats
- Lifehack: 20 Spooky-Yet-Healthy Halloween Recipes
- BBC Good Food: Halloween recipes
- Listotic: 64 Non-Candy Halloween Snack Ideas
Healthy Halloween Tips and Ideas.
Before going to healthy Halloween ideas and tips, it is important to note it may not be an easy task. Why? Maintaining a healthy Halloween might prove to be a challenging exercise basing on the idea that you will be dealing with children.
- Some kids are playfully naughty or troublesome
- If you try to limit candy, your kids may discover your secret hiding places for candy meaning they will consume more than enough. At the same time kids may decide to come up with their own secret hiding places meaning that they may overindulge.
- Kids may have multiple caregivers who have their own and most probably different rules for the candy.
While trying the tips and ideas outlined in here do consider the above challenges. Following are ideas and tips to keep this October 31 healthy and safe.
Limit Treats
After trick-or-treating, limit your kids to a certain number of pieces each day or put the candy stash out of reach and out of sight. It will help keep you alert or rather in control as it will force your kids have to ask for it — that is, if they remember that it’s there!
Serve Your Candy Alongside Healthy Foods with no Sugar
While serving the trick-or-treaters, limit the amount of sweets while also making sure that it was served up alongside something healthy. In place of sweet treats, experts in nutrition recommend some more health-giving treats that you may hand out to trick-or-treaters. According to Kristi King, a senior pediatric dietician at Texas Children’s Hospital, some of such wholesome or health-giving treats include;
- Granola bars
- Cheddar cheese crackers made of whole grain
- Animal crackers,
- Sugar free hot chocolate packets
- Mini rice cereal
Others nutritionists suggest treats including fruit leathers, pretzels, tangerines, apples or whole grain cereal trail mix. Refer above for more healthy snacks.
Trick-or-Treat and Exercise or simply Stay Active
Instead of driving your kids from one house to the other, take a long walk around your neighborhood while trick or treating. This will offer you a wonderful opportunity to enjoy all the decorations and customs that kids have on. To spice up the exercises wear pedometers (a portable device that counts each step you make) or activity meters and begin a friendly contest whereby who is most active while collecting candy can be identified and may be rewarded.
Focus Less on Food, More on Fun
According to Pritikin, Fitness Director Scott Danberg, MS., you should get the kids (and grownups) up and moving with party activities. This involves activities like setting up dunking for apples, a costume/dance contest, a pumpkin hunt (hide miniature pumpkins throughout the yard), pinning a heart on a scarecrow, or musical chairs etc.
Fill Up Before the Fun
Serve a healthy family dinner, a fruit plate and a cup of yogurt, before the fun begins. If kids are full before they go trick-or-treating, then they will eat fewer candy pieces afterwards. After the fun , offer a cup of warm, low fat milk with just one treat to ensure that blood sugar is stable before bedtime. Let your kids not snack while they’re out trick-or-treating. Strongly advise your kids to wait until they get home and snack after you have had an opportunity to look at or examine the contents of their “goody bags.”
Negotiate
Another healthy Halloween tip is to negotiate or bargain with your kids and request them to trade their stash of candy for a favorite nonfood item like clothes, sneakers, iPod gift cards, a chance to stay up just a little later on a school night, or simply make them little entrepreneurs…money always works for anyone! Let them sell candy and earn. Pay for each candy they “sell” you, and let them “earn” cash for a toy or game they want to buy. Reward your kids for making good decisions! Be prepared to bargain other treats for your kids stash.
Get Creative-Use Treats as Tools
Everyone is creative in their own ways. During this festival, treats are never a scarce commodity. Why not use the treats to cultivate some creativity within not just you but also your kids? First, come up with fun activities that involve candy usage. Involve your kids and let the fun go on and on. These fun activities include counting the candy, sorting it out, drawing it, graphing it etc. It is all about being creative…and does creativity really have a limit? Think about it!
Watch out for Color
Lastly, whatever that is labeled as “healthy” may not necessarily be healthy. Watch out for color. It is a fact that children are attracted to bright colors and this why you should keep your eyes open. Fruit popsicles labeled as low-calorie, gelatin free of sugar, sugar free & low- fat yogurt etc. come in different neon-bright colors. An inside-out view reveals that these are Artificial Food Colors (AFCs) which lead to unhealthy conditions in kids on All Hallows Eve.
While AFCs are recognized as safe by FDA, on the other hand, they have also been related to hyperactivity within kids in studies of over 35 years. According to Raquel Keledjian, PhD Organic Chemistry -University of Southern California, the reason why kids go crazy after eating Halloween candy is not sugar in the treats but AFCs. The craziness or hyperactivity is what is termed as the Halloween Effect. Well, you have to observe the colors for the sake of being safe.
There you have it, Healthy Halloween Food, Snacks & Candy Ideas, Tips for Kids & Parties plus a good collection of recipes. What is your opinion? Give it in the commenting section down below. At the same time please remember to share this to your friends and family members, you don’t want to be selfish…
Healthy & Safe Halloween for Parent, Kids & Pets
- Halloween Trick-or-treating, Driving Safety Tips for Parents, Guardians &Adults
- Halloween Trick-or-Treat Safety Tips for Kids-Why Observe Safety Tips
- Homemade Halloween Costume Safety Ideas & Tips for Adults & Kids
- Halloween Pet Safety Tips, Common Dangers to Pets
Halloween Fun-Games, Activities Parties and Ideas
- Halloween Games for Teens, Activities for Kids, Fun, Craft, Decorations, Party Games + Ideas
- Halloween Math, Party Activities for Kids Toddlers, Preschoolers & Adults
- Halloween Games for Adults & Christians-Fun Party Games & Activities + Ideas
Halloween Origin & Facts
- What is the Origin of Halloween? When, Where & How did Halloween Start / Originate- Christianity & American History
- Why do we Celebrate Halloween? What Countries, Christians Celebrate Halloween?
- Facts about Halloween-Fun, Interesting, History Halloween Facts for Kids & Adults
Scary, Spooky & Horrifying Halloween
- What is Fear of Halloween? 10 Scary Halloween Facts + Pictures
- Scary Halloween Costumes for Kids-Girls & Boys + Non/Not Scary Ideas
Halloween Fun-Games, Activities Parties and Ideas
- Halloween Games for Adults & Christians-Fun Party Games & Activities + Ideas
- Halloween Games for Teens, Activities for Kids, Fun, Craft, Decorations, Party Games + Ideas
- Halloween Math, Party Activities for Kids Toddlers, Preschoolers & Adults