Halloween treats for kids? Need ideas.

[maraw]

Hey guys - I'm thinking ahead just a bit and trying to put together some ideas for trick or treaters. You guys are always so brilliant with this sort of thing, so I hoped we could brain-storm a bit. We live in a very small neighborhood in the country so I can get away with giving out home-made stuff.

Last year I made popcorn balls with honey, nuts and almond butter. It was cooked/baked, the kids really liked it and all, but this year I'd love to do something raw. It will need to be able to withstand the hazards of a jumbled carry bag - so no brownies or mushy-at-room-temp candy.

I'm open to anything. Thoughts? Comments? Ideas anyone?

[livingatthetop]

Raw chocolate spiders!

[maraw]

That's a great idea! How do you make them?

[livingatthetop]

Well I use the normal agave melted caco butter raw caco powder then pour them into spider shells freeze and serve or even bloody chcolate agave caco butter and beets just for color hay that a great idea for a cheese cake topping! even at the cafe I don't mesure so make the chocolate sweet enough.

[lane]

Hi Maraw,
This isn't the most creative idea, but- this year- I am going to make a trail mix with almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, gogi berries, raisins, dried coconut, and cacoa nibs. You could make some kind of mix such as this (that won't break apart in the "goody" bag) and cleverly package it...small bags with ghosts, spiders or the like.
cc

[Conscious Midwife]

MARAW

don't you do a kids in the kitchen type class??
you could give a coupon to a kids kitchen party day, fall fest kind of thing

if it's cool at night how about some homemade spiced apple cider
w/ some sort of crunchy raw cookie

fruit leather roll ups wrapped in wax paper and decorated with stickers

Or you could always give fresh fruit with whimsical stickers

give packets of seeds for kids to plant

[maraw]

Great ideas all! I love the seed packet thingy and the fruit roll-ups! That's why I always turn to you guys for inspiration. Perfect! Really. Thanks.

[livingatthetop]

fruit leather roll ups wrapped in wax paper and decorated with stickers

I will make this at the store great idea

[Sharon in Colorado]

Last year I made these out of carob, tahini, almond butter and sweetener. Shaped them into cubes. I colored coconut with carrot juice and used black sesame seeds to coat them. I think they might get a big smashed, but maybe you can blow air into snack sized zip bags or something for the bumpy ride home.

E-mail for precise measurements.

[Conscious Midwife]

Candied pumpkin seeds

and I love the trail mix idea

[dreamrawalwz]

All great ideas. This year I'll be the one passing out thet candy. We don't live directly in the city and have a spread out neighborhood with trusting folks, but the usual is the candy. I don't know what I could do that's raw for them?? I don't think many home made things would be good here? I want to give away fruit haha, but we get about 10-30 kids a year, it always depends. Maybe you could make cocnut balls or date rolls or something? Hey, why not just stuff dates wtih an almond and put in a Halloween baggie and tie with orange ribbon. I may just do that!

[sailaway]

Coming from the generation of tainted fruit and candy I don’t allow my children to eat any fruit or home made products from people I don’t know personally and come in daily contact with. Most of the people I know feel the same, so for me it is a matter of wasting money that is hard earned to hand out organic apples that will not be eaten. I would have a hard time giving out regular apples because of the cost and the moral feelings about pesticides being given. Instead I give out stickers, pennies( a few nickels and dines thrown in to pot), toothbrushes (bought in bulk) etc. Before raw I also included the dreaded Mc D’s certificates! I do let my children get together with friends and make treats that they share, mostly raw like banana ice cream sundaes or fruit sorbets, popcorn balls made into spiders etc. (popcorn is still one of the things my children still eat that is not raw.) My family is about 80% raw. My kids do go trick or treating and they can pick 2 small candies (a compromise) and the rest is turned in at a local dentist who exchanges it for things like frisbees, small balls, kites, dental work etc. He use to donate the candy to shelters until he realized that by doing so continued the cycle to those that can least afford poor nutrition. Now he personally opens the candy and then takes the candy to the dump. When my children were smaller we just took them camping over Halloween to avoid the whole thing. Much harder now that my children are out in the world so we work on good choices instead.
Buy the way the kids that come to the house are always excited and say cool stickers and money!
We have about 20-50 kids come each year.

[maraw]

I would normally agree with your concern and expect other parents to do the same. However, as I mentioned before, our neighborhood is very small (maybe 20 houses) and in a remote area in the country. We have a neighborhood party and all the kids go around on a hayride stopping at each house, and then the night is done. There are many home-made treats in the baskets at the end of the evening. And I am always careful to put a small label on the goodie bag with our name and phone number should there be questions about the ingredients.

I still like the fruit leather idea and am headed in that direction.

Thanks again everyone!

[juliebove]

We don't do candy. Because of my daughter's food allergies, there is little she can eat in the way of candy anyway. And although I can make things for her, I would never give out homemade things to trick or treaters. Where we live, people would not trust such things and they'd go straight in the trash.

Instead, we are doing toys. I've done the same over the years and have learned that the two most popular things are small stuffed animals and rubber ducks. This year we have stuffed bats, rabbits, ducks and bears with Hawaiin shirts. We have all kinds of rubber ducks, including those dressed in Halloween outfits. We also have boxes of stickers, stationary sets, hacky sacks and balls with lights in them. We tend to get a lot of teens at our house and not so much the younger kids. I think word of mouth brings a lot of people to our house because we go all out.

Last year we did up a treasure chest with the toys in it. My daughter and I dress as witches and we decorate the house. Currently we have strung orange lights and spider webs around the trees. For the big night we will have purple flashing beacons, color changing balls and faux candles, a faux flame pot, lighted pumpkins, black cats, spiders and bats.

Last year I found that I could not open the storm door, front door, and hold the treasure chest because it is so large. So I popped open the back of my van, threw some decorations in there and sat by it in a lawn chair. There was some sort of accident or something and traffic was re-routed down our street. So we got more people than usual. It was fairly warm last year.

This year we are planning in advance. I'm going to block off the part of the gargage nearest the door to the outside using tablecloths and Halloween banners. We only need a big enough space to hold the treasure chest, plus a few extra feet and enough clearance to where we can shut the door if need be. My daughter has dance class Halloween night and two classes the night before so we'll need to do this on the weekened. I can then set up some of the outside stuff at the last minute. We live in a high crime area so I don't want to put out too much ahead of time. Last year I had these lighted eyes in the trees and vandals broke them. :mad:

So I figure if we keep part of the garage all set up, we can go behind the partition during the slow times to do homework or something, and it will be a bit warmer than sitting out in the elements. Although it was warm last year it was raining a bit.

Anyway... We're treating this is a big impromptu party. My daughter does not go trick or treating because she just gets a lot of stuff she can't eat, and very little she can. I have made up a bag for her with special toys and things she can eat. And she loves passing out the treats. She said there are still kids coming up to her on the school bus with stuffed animals they got from our house last year. They love what we do because it is so different!

They toys need not be expensive. I keep my eye out all year for things that are inexpensive. I often buy from Oriental Trading Company, US Toy, S & S Worldwide and other places. And the toys do not necessarily have to be specifically Halloween toys, although I do try to get a few that are. If there are leftovers, they can be kept till the next year or used as prizes for parties. I've noticed more stores are selling bags of small toys along with the Halloween candy. We got the stickers in the drugstore this year.

[Conscious Midwife]

Coming from the generation of tainted fruit and candy I don’t allow my children to eat any fruit or home made products from people I don’t know personally and come in daily contact with. Most of the people I know feel the same, so for me it is a matter of wasting money that is hard earned to hand out organic apples that will not be eaten. I would have a hard time giving out regular apples because of the cost and the moral feelings about pesticides being given. Instead I give out stickers, pennies( a few nickels and dines thrown in to pot), toothbrushes (bought in bulk) etc. Before raw I also included the dreaded Mc D’s certificates! I do let my children get together with friends and make treats that they share, mostly raw like banana ice cream sundaes or fruit sorbets, popcorn balls made into spiders etc. (popcorn is still one of the things my children still eat that is not raw.) My family is about 80% raw. My kids do go trick or treating and they can pick 2 small candies (a compromise) and the rest is turned in at a local dentist who exchanges it for things like frisbees, small balls, kites, dental work etc. He use to donate the candy to shelters until he realized that by doing so continued the cycle to those that can least afford poor nutrition. Now he personally opens the candy and then takes the candy to the dump. When my children were smaller we just took them camping over Halloween to avoid the whole thing. Much harder now that my children are out in the world so we work on good choices instead.
Buy the way the kids that come to the house are always excited and say cool stickers and money!
We have about 20-50 kids come each year.


My ideas were based upo folks knowing and being comfortable with folks.

We've never taken our own children trick or treating, because I never understood the concept of having your kids beg stranghers for goodies one night a year and then tewll them not to talk to strangers the rest of the year.

I remeber the dangers of the late 70's early 80's halloween and remeber thinking even as a kid that if my candy had to xrayed at the local hospital for saety, then I probably shouldn't be getting it. the xray was a local promotion one year.

[juliebove]

My ideas were based upo folks knowing and being comfortable with folks.

We've never taken our own children trick or treating, because I never understood the concept of having your kids beg stranghers for goodies one night a year and then tewll them not to talk to strangers the rest of the year.

I remeber the dangers of the late 70's early 80's halloween and remeber thinking even as a kid that if my candy had to xrayed at the local hospital for saety, then I probably shouldn't be getting it. the xray was a local promotion one year.

I do remember the scare about LSD in stickers, poison in candy, razor blades in apples. I think it was all unfounded. From what I have read, every incident was traced back to the person who reported it. It was likely they tampered with the candy. And honestly. If there were a razor blade in an apple, you'd notice something was funny from the outside. There's no way to get one in there without slicing it!

And you don't have to take your kids to stranger's houses to trick or treat. My daughter didn't much like doing it even before we learned of the food allergies. She much prefers handing out the treats. But we did take her to houses of friends and relatives. Last year this presented a problem because our relatives live about 9 miles from here and in this blasted city we live in there is only two ways to get from here to there. Well, not entirely true. I can think of one or two other ways but you'd have to go miles out of your way. There are two roads that are a fairly straight shot to the city where my relatives live. And both of them had some sort of bad accident or something holding up traffic from there to here. He got her out there for the treats but they couldn't get back home. So she is refusing to even go there this year.

Maybe we've been lucky in that most of the places we've lived were military housing so we knew all of our neighbors, at least in passing. Here, we certainly don't know all of them, but I have met those on either side and a few doors down. And we know the families of the kids who are on her bus stop. So there are about a dozen houses she *could* go to where she knows the people. But she doesn't want to bother since the only two who would make an effort to have something she isn't allergic to are my relatives, 9 miles away.

I do like the idea of giving out toothbrushes (yes my daughter has gotten these and liked them), money, stickers or toys. But I don't buy the idea of exchanging candy for them. To me it seems like a waste of time and money to get them to begin with. Some people have no problems with candy. Then fine.

We have dentists in our area who exchange the candy for toys. But I do agree with your dentist not to send the candy to shelters.

My daughter was in scouts and I had a big issue with the cookies they sold. While they do not require the girl to sell cookies, they do urge her to help in some way with the cookie sale. She managed to sell 10 boxes, most of which went straight in the trash. All sold to me or my relatives. All of us were willing to donate money but didn't want the cookies. But to the scouts, it's more than just money. I can see how it is teaching the kids to interact with peope, how to organize, sell, etc. Our objection was the product being sold. Other leaders urged me not to throw the cookies away but to give them to the military, a shelter, a food bank, senior citizen center, etc. I refused to do that because it just makes no sense to me. My husband is in the military and they don't want them eating junk. My MIL is in a nursing home and they don't want them eating junk either. And many of them are supposed to be on special diets. And poor people have a hard enough time getting nutritious food.

[Salad Girl]

How about those little boxes of raisins?

[maraw]

That's a great idea too. Simple, cheap and effective.

Thanks!

[JustMe]

Hey Maraw,

I have never made this recipe though remember it because it sounded really cute and the only SAD ingredient that could be made raw was the whip cream.

SCARY EYEBALLS
grapes
raisins
whip cream
toothpicks
half an orange shell

you take a toothpick and you stick it longways throught the grape until the tip is poking out a bit and you stick a raisin at the end (this is the pupil). For the whites of the eyes, you take some raw whip cream and smear it only over the grape. When done, you stick the toothpick in the orange shell to hold it out (instead of laying it on a plate). since the whip cream will be raw, i'm sure you'd have to make it thick so it would stick on the grape.

If you try them, show some pictures and tell us how they turned out with the kiddos!

[maraw]

They sound darling. And I agree that it could be easily made completely raw. However I am looking specifically for things that can be handed out to trick or treaters. That might get a bit mushy in the bags~ :p

In the meantime, that would be a fun treat to take to my daughters' school for the day. I think the children would all really enjoy that.

I'm having trouble visualizing the orange peel part. Is it half and orange or just a small slice? Has anyone ever seen these? The toothpick part scares me a bit as well. I need to come up with an optional solution here too. My older two are only 5 and 6 and eat like wild animals some time. I don't know if their school mates would take the time to look for a toothpick. I don't know, maybe I'm just being a paranoid mom. Such is my nature...

Thanks for the idea!

[druid]

make it simple. give out oranges, apples, nectarines, nuts, etc.

[JustMe]

oh, i forgot you wanted to hand them out to trick or treaters, yes, that would not go well at all, LOL for some reason i got it in my head with the popcorn balls that they would be just for your children.

the orange part is just to hold the toothpicks in place. you cut an orange in half and place the inside part down on the plate and stick the toothpicks in the rind part. did that make any more sense?

but, yes, these would be too messy for trick or treaters, but good for a creative snack for your kids.

you could elimiate the toothpicks and just place the grape on the plate and cover it completely with whip cream and put the raisin on top. EYEBALLS ON A PLATE!

[Nini]

Roll up the fruit leather and stick a spider ring around it! (Kinda like a dinner napkin in a napkin ring) The berry leather gets really dark and would look awesome with an orange spooky ring around it. Somewhere I saw glow-in-the-dark rings, too.

[daisyduke]

I'm handing out little containers of Play-doh. They're selling them at Costco right now. I love some of your ideas though. I get way too many trick or treaters to make anything!

[maraw]

Yeah, I saw the playdough today at the store. I thought that was pretty clever.

I really like the idea of the rings too. I'm going to hit the dollar store next week sometime and see what I can find.

Great ideas!