Best (and Easiest!) Halloween Treats for Kids

In the age of Pinterest, many of us feel increasing pressure to treat every holiday, event, or party as a DIY challenge. From cute handwritten chalkboards to carefully crafted cupcakes to hand-cut felt banners spelling out the party’s theme, we try to dig deep, channeling our inner Martha Stewart to address every little detail. However, not all of us were gifted with the skill of craftiness, which is why there are entire Pinterest boards devoted to nothing but Pinterest fails. Oh the irony. But with that being said, Halloween is coming up quickly, and while not every celebrates the holiday or likes to decorate their house in ghosts and goblins and cobwebs, many of us have Halloween events at school or even trick-or-treating functions to attend at churches and other social groups. And for many of us, the thought of having to show up with cute, themed Halloween treats, despite having limited crafting ability, is the scariest thing about Halloween.

So today, we’re going to throw you a bone (skeleton pun intended) and offer up some fantastically easy-to-make Halloween treats!

Thanks to the wonderful world wide web, even the least creative of us can access other people’s creative genius. So we scoured the internet for some of the best – and easiest—ideas for Halloween treats. Now, if you follow our Best of Richmond series (and we hope you do!), you’ll know that we typically like to pick our top five in whichever category we’re covering. But today, we’re going to veer a little from the routine and offer up a few more ideas. After all, when it comes to Halloween treats that look like you put in a lot more effort than you did…well, you can never have enough!

For today’s list, we looked for Halloween treat ideas that offered the following:

1. Easy recipes
2. Limited cooking/kitchen mess
3. A short list of ingredients

Not only are these Halloween treats fun and easy-to-make, many of them can be done with your kids’ help. So take a look at our list below and get ready to impress!

Happy Halloween!

1. Reese’s Cup Bats

This cute ideas only requires four ingredients – and NO cooking! We found this idea thanks to Delish.com.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Mini Reese’s cups
Oreos or other chocolate sandwich cookies
Candy eyes
Peanut butter

To make the bats, simply cut your Oreos in half and remove the cream to create four half-circles. Then use dabs of peanut butter to attach them to the Reese’s cups. Add your eyes with some more peanut butter – and you’re done!

Get the full recipe here.

2. Halloween S’Mores Dip

Even outdoors, the thought of s’mores is scary – all of that oozy, stickiness and melted chocolate? No thanks. But kids love s’mores and that’s while they’ll LOVE this easy, no mess s’mores dip. We found this fantastic Halloween treat thanks to The Decorated Cookie.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Ghost, Pumpkin, or other Halloween-themed Peeps
Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Graham Crackers for serving
Butter

To make the dip, line a 9×9 pan with butter, add the chocolate chips, top with the Peeps, and bake at 450 degrees for about 7 minutes or until everything is melted. Serve with graham crackers…and enjoy!

Richmond Mom note: If you’re worried about the consistency of the chocolate chips, you can add a little bit of heavy cream over the chocolate chips to make the final results a bit creamier.

The Decorated Cookie

3. Strawberry Ghosts 

For a holiday devoted entirely to candy, you might as well sneak in some fruit where you can, right? And these white chocolate-covered strawberries are a great way to do it. Our thanks go out to Love From The Oven for these easy Halloween treats.

Here’s what you’ll need:

For this recipe, you’ll melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave, dip the strawberries, and freeze for a few minutes until the chocolate hardens. Then melt the semi-sweet chocolate chips and draw ghostly faces on with a toothpick. That’s it!

Get the full recipe here. 

 

4. Apple “Teeth” 

Get your kids grinning with these easy, no-bake apple “teeth.” Super easy to make, apple-inspired, and fun to eat, these Halloween treats are one of our favorite Halloween finds. The recipe comes to us from the Kidspot Kitchen.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Apple slices
Peanut butter
Mini marshmallows

Slice up red apples (or green if you prefer) then coat one side of each slice with peanut butter. Add mini marshmallows along the edge of one slice to make the teeth, then top with another slice (peanut butter side down) to make a toothy grin.

Get the full recipe here. 

 

5. Spooky Spider Cookies 

Always a trusted source for kitchen crafts, Betty Crocker brings us this great Halloween treat idea – and it couldn’t be easier. With only a few ingredients and no baking, heating, or hard work involved, it’s a treat everyone will love.

What you’ll need:

Double-stuffed Oreos
M&Ms mini chocolate candies
A tube of store-bought frosting
Shoestring licorice

To make these treats, cut your licorice into even pieces and insert the pieces into the cream filling on either side of your Oreos to make legs. Then use the frosting to attach two M&M candies as eyes on top of your “spider.” And you’re done!

Richmond Mom note: If your crew is not a fan of licorice, you can always use pretzel sticks as legs.

Get the full recipe here.

6. Caramel Apple Nachos

In case you haven’t noticed, we’re really into making sure a little bit of fruit gets mixed into our Halloween treats this year. That’s why we’re loving this recipe for caramel apple nachos from Butter With a Side of Bread. In this recipe, a few ingredients and minimal work makes for a fantastic treat.

What you’ll need:

Apple slices
Marshmallows
Caramels or caramel bits
Butter
Toppings…pretzels, candies, sprinkles, etc.

This one is so easy, you’ll hardly think it’s a recipe…simply melt the marshmallows with some butter in a saucepan (think Rice Krispies treats), melt the caramels with some water in the microwave, drizzle the melted mixtures over the top of a plate of apple slice, and top with the toppings of your choice. Three words: fast, easy, and delicious!

Get the full recipe here. 

7. Mummy Milanos

There’s nothing like using store bought cookies to make a homemade treat…and that’s why this recipe is a winner in our books! Chelsea’s Messy Apron gives us this fantastic idea for a Halloween treat that is as easy to make as it fun to eat.

What you’ll need:

Double Chocolate Milano cookies
White chocolate chips
Vegetable oil
Black “pearl” sprinkles

To make these creepy cookie treats, melt the white chocolate and spoon it over the top 2/3 of each cookie, then allow to harden on a tray. Next, put the remaining melted white chocolate in an icing bag or plastic zipper bag with a corner cut off and create stripes over each cookie (to look like the mummy’s bandages). Lastly, make two eyes on each cookie with your black sprinkles and serve!

Get the full recipe here. 

8. Mummy and Monster Dirt Cups

We all know that kids love “dirt cups” made from pudding, chocolate cookies, and gummy worms, so we know they’ll love these dirt cups with a Halloween twist. We turned to Dorothy Kern at Crazy for Crust for this recipe.

What you’ll need:

Chocolate pudding
Crushed chocolate cookies
Shortbread cookies or “fingers”
White and green candy melts (or store bought frosting)
Candy eyes
Candy pumpkins

After making your pudding and spooning it evenly into cups (and we won’t judge if you use pre-packaged pudding cups!), top with crushed chocolate cookies to make the “dirt.” Next, use the candy melts (melted, of course) or frosting to make mummies and monsters out of your shortbread and top each with a set of candy eyes. Last but not least, stick your cookie mummies and monster in the pudding cups and finish them off with a candy pumpkin. You’re done!

Get the full recipe here. 

9. Cheesy Eyeballs

Halloween treats don’t always have to be sweet. So, if you’re looking for something savory to add to your Halloween menu, be sure to try these cheesy, bite-sized “eyeballs” from Woman’s Day. And while this recipe takes a little more cooking than some others, the results will still make it look like you put in a lot more effort than you did!

What you’ll need:

10. Caramel Candy Corn Pretzel Hugs

We’re going to end our list of Best Halloween Treats with a hug – and candy hug, that is. These delightfully easy (and delicious) treats are the perfect salty and sweet combo and come to us via Sarah’s Bake Studio.

What you’ll need:

Square or round pretzels
Hershey’s Kiss “Hugs” (or any flavor you’d like)
Caramel candy corn

Line your pretzels up on a baking tray and top each on with your Hershey’s candy. Bake at 200 degrees for a few minutes or until your Hershey’s candy has melted – but be sure to have your candy corn ready, because the last step is to press a candy corn into the center of each chocolate-pretzel treat before the chocolate hardens. Once everything cools, finish them off in the fridge so the chocolate can harden – then hand out hugs to all!

Get the full recipe here. 

If you know of any great Halloween treats that are fantastically fun, but super easy-to-make, let us know! You can always find us at cs@richmondmom.com.