Healthy Halloween Celebrations

Halloween may come just once a year, but there are many ways emphasize the fun without overdoing it on candy and sweet treats. 

Shift the focus of your Halloween celebration away from candy and have fun with healthy snacks, active games, and non-food prizes instead. 

Healthy Halloween Snacks

Think color

Serve snacks in Halloween’s trademark colors. Try cantaloupe, pumpernickel bread and low-fat cheedar cheese, for example. Or serve whole grain crackers, clementines, and low-fat mozzarella sticks. Go one step further and use Halloween themed cookie cutters to cut cheese and bread, or use a marker to draw jack-o-lantern faces on clementines and ghost faces on mozzarella sticks. 

Go all orange. Make taste testing orange foods part of the fun. Cantaloupe, clementines, sweet peppers, and carrots are likely hits. (You can offer a bit of low fat dressing on the side for veggies.) Sample some mangoes, apricots, peaches, or orange tomatoes, too. Try some roasted pumpkin or butternut squash if resources allow for cooking.

Active Kids has some great ideas.  Scroll through the photos to see the different spooky recipes.  

Think seasonal

Feature different varieties of fall’s favorite fruit—apples. Allow students to taste test 3 or more varieties in different colors. Granny Smith (green), Fuji (red), and Yellow Delicious (yellow), for example. 

Think theme

Embrace the dramatic side of Halloween and offer blood oranges. 

Set up a “mad scientist’s lab” or “potion table” to encourage students to drink water infused with fruit flavors. For this do-it-yourself water bar, you’ll need a pitcher of water, cups, and a few sliced fruits. Students might try adding an orange slice and a few blueberries to their cup of water, or an orange slice and a few halved grapes. 

Active games

Get kids moving during the celebration. Obstacle courses, hula hoop contests, and extra recess are great activities for any celebration. Or try one of these Halloween themed ideas:

• Go for a walk—around the building or around the block—in costumes, or simply to spy Halloween decorations.
• Dance to Halloween classics like Monster Mash.
• Go on a themed scavenger hunt. Students can look for skeleton parts, spiders, small pumpkins and other items you’ve hidden (cut them from paper or pick up inexpensive plastic versions from the dollar store). 
• Play Blob Tag

Prizes and giveaways

If you want kids to get a prize or giveaway to take home, choose non-food items:

Pencils
Erasers
Stickers
Crayons
Mini notebooks
Small animal or dinosaur toys
Small toy vehicles
Temporary tattoos
Bendable straws
Bubbles
Plastic rings
Glow sticks

You might also like

• Nothing scary about these healthy Halloween ideas
• Tips for healthy trick-or-treating
• 15 fun and healthy school celebration ideas

You’ll also find great resources in our Resource Hub, including this CanDo guide chocked full of school celebration ideas for specific holidays and events.