Love Halloween but hate the focus on candy and sugar-filled snacks? Make easy tangerine pumpkins with your kids this fall (or try one of the other healthy Halloween treats below) for a magical, healthy, and happy Halloween!
I love celebrating the seasons and holidays with my kids. A special treat or simple activity can help to create a memory that will last their entire lives. Some of my favorite childhood memories include afternoons spent making Christmas candy with my Mom or running onto porches to deliver May Day baskets to neighborhood friends.
School Time = Sugar
Today there is a lot more focus on unhealthy food and sugar filled treats then when I was a kid. School can mean a sugar overload for kids including:
- Candy rewards and prizes from teachers.
- Classmates’ birthday sweets.
- Class parties full of processed foods and treats.
I’m amazed at how the amount of sugar and unhealthy ingredients in out diet escalates rapidly from Halloween through the Christmas season. I love all the fun that the kids are having, but get a little disgruntled when I have to be the healthy eating police for three straight months.
Give a mom a break!
I want to be able to prepare treats that thrill and delight my kiddos without contributing to the sugar shock! The good news is, with a little creativity, you can be the parent who provides healthy Halloween treats that are cute AND nutritious.
Healthy Halloween Treats
My favorite healthy Halloween treat is Pumpkin Tangerines… my kids call them Orange Pumpkins and then chuckle because all pumpkins are orange (kid jokes, gotta love ’em!).
The tasty treats are easy to assemble and could not be any cuter! (Save the peels to make Orange Vinegar for Cleaning). They are perfect for a school party, a lunch box or even a side dish at your Halloween dinner.
Print
Tangerine Pumpkins & 8 Other Healthy Halloween Snacks
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 12
- Category: Snack
- Cuisine: Kids
Description
Healthy and adorable Halloween snacks for kids made with tangerines and celery.
Ingredients
- Tangerines (mandarin oranges or clementines, seedless)
- Celery stalks and leaves
- Orange peeler
Instructions
- Peel tangerines, use an orange peeler, your fingernail or a small paring knife to scrape off as much white pith membranes as possible. (Save the peels to make Orange Vinegar for Cleaning)
- Wash, dry and slice celery
- Cut 1-2 inch narrow pieces from the tops of the celery and insert into the peeled tangerines
- Cut leaves from the celery tops and arrange to look like pumpkin leaves.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 tangerine
- Calories: 52
- Fat: 0.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 13.1 g
More Healthy Snack Ideas
Kids can’t live on tangerine’s alone! Here are some more healthy Halloween treats ideas that will thrill and delight:
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Edible Carrot Eyeballs from Family Fun. These veggies snacks are ghoulishly delicious! Made from carrot slices, cream cheese & black olives you can feel great about serving. Dislike cream cheese? Sub Greek yogurt dip. |
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Candy Corn Fruit Cups from Nellie Bellie. Turn candy corn into a healthy fruit treat. The recipe uses oranges, pineapple & whipped topping to mimic the look of the Halloween staple. Use Greek yogurt or whipped coconut milk instead of whipped topping to maximize the nutritional value of this treat. |
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Frozen Banana Pops from Super Healthy Kids. Frozen bananas, yogurt, coconut and chocolate chips make these healthy spooks. Use raisins in place of chocolate chips to avoid sweets all together. Make an easy after-school-snack version by simply putting fresh peeled bananas on sticks and adding eyes of raisins or mini chocolate chips. |
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Apple Witches Teeth from Shape.com. What terrible teeth you have! Apples and slivered almonds form this healthy snack. Have a nut allergy? Use bits of pretzel sticks or even rice crispies to get the same look with no nuts. |
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String Cheese Witches Brooms from Cocinando Con Catman. String cheese, pretzels and chives brooms will transport your little witches and warlocks across the moon. These adorable treats would be perfect for a Harry Potter party too. |
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Jack-o-Lantern Fruit Cups from Bren Did. Some school require all snacks to be pre-wrapped. What’s a healthy mom to do? Buy mandarin orange cups packed in juice and tape-on simple jack-o-lantern faces. (Free printable pattern.) |
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Candy Corn Fruit Pops from Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons . A healthy take on classic candy corn. These adorable fresh fruit skewers are made from fruit slices and lollipop sticks. Easy peasy! |
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Zombie Finger Cheese Sticks from A Little Lunch. Zombies are all the rage (have you seen my all-natural Zombie brain cupcakes?). Kids love eating these healthy snacks made from mozzarella string cheese, cream cheese, and bell peppers slices. Want to go vegetarian? Peel and slice cucumber sticks into fingers and attach the pepper fingernails with dip. |
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Granola Cluster with Chocolate Eyeballs – Homemade granola is more fun when the tasty clusters are decked out with edible chocolate eyeballs. Get my easy granola clusters recipe and learn to make easy edible eyeballs. |
Free Printable Halloween Treats
Add these funny Halloween Joke Tellers to any party for more non-candy fun.
Make any healthy Halloween treats more fun with my free printable Halloween treat bag toppers. They have silly jokes on the back!
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Make sure to check out my Healthy Christmas Treats for Kids and Healthy Valentine Treats for Kids too!
Joy
What a cute and easy seasonal idea! I was room mom for the first time this year (one in Kinder!), and the class was very on board for not-so-junky parties the whole year. (Popcorn, cheese chucks, veggies, pretzel sticks…and some sugar cookies and M&Ms to keep it a touch festive…but nothing really creative). This would go over very well. Keep the ideas coming!
Bren
Thanks, Joy! I love class parties but agree with the no-so-much junk!
Allison
I saw this post for the first time this year and I decided to make it for my kids for snack the other day. I used a grapefruit spoon to scrape the membranes off the oranges and it worked so well I thought I had to tell you! Thanks for posting such great, healthy seasonal snacks – my kids love them and I love that I can “play with their food”!
Tale
The mandarins are so nice! Really cute 🙂
Bren
Thank you! 🙂
Topfivemum
You’re so right that sugar is in everything! How lovely to come across a healthy alternative that also looks beautiful for kids. Thanks for sharing!
Bren
Thank you!
Lisa
I love these cute, healthy and delicious ideas ????
Bren
Thanks Lisa!
Meghan | PlaygroundParkbench
These are ADORABLE! And love that they aren’t candy, and are allergy friendly for school parties too.
Bren
Thanks, Meghan!
dtalipsky
You are so talented! I remember being young once…..LOL! Thank you for your creative juices that stimulate the rest of us. God Bless You!
Bren
Thanks Donna!
Tiffany
These are so cute! What a great idea 🙂