We all know them: Halloween people. They scan the Internet for haunted house décor all year round. Invites to their All Hallows party, which always has higher production values than a Hammer Horror classic, dispatch promptly at witching hour … on Labor Day. And any trick-or-treaters who dare navigate the front yard’s sound effects, smoke machines, and animatronic zombies get very, very lucky at that house.
Maybe you’re even one of them! Halloween, after all, ranks as the most awesome of holidays, making possible all kinds of creativity and weirdness. But in case you don’t have your Smorgasbord of Dread planned yet, Little Sous rounded up 10 of our favorite, kid-friendly spooky treats. Most just apply a little imagination to ordinary ingredients. You could whip up many of them at 4 pm on October 31, while in full costume.
And as you ghost around the kitchen, remember the most important thing about Halloween: Keep the fun freaky, and vice versa.
One powerful school of thought says parents should do what they can to make Halloween healthier. Unleash your occult powers on refined sugar with these super-cute (we mean … terrifying!) banana ghosts and tangerine pumpkins, devised by our friends at Weelicious.
The mummy motif comes in very handy in Halloween snack-making—essentially, wrap anything in anything, and you’ve got a mummy something. Follow? For more precise inspiration, check out these classic sausage mummies, seen here in a particularly cute version from the Australian site Taste. (Don’t be sc-sc-scared of the metric system: set your oven to 400°F.) On the sweeter side, blueberry mummy muffins could get all the little ghouls involved in making something frightfully cute.
These adorable spider cookies make for more participatory fun—and you’ll never look at chocolate truffles quite the same way again.
If you’re looking to fortify your ghostbuster squad before they take to the streets, octopus pot pie makes a startling (and filling) actual meal. (No real octopi were harmed.)
Can we swap real pro tips for a second? At some point on Halloween, everyone is going to want a warm drink. Adults may want them with some extra elixir added. Kids mostly want the drama of the cauldron. Check out slow-cooker vampire punch or this cinematic Witches’ Brew; any 21-and-over add-ons are fully optional. Be safe with dry ice, though!
Is Halloween really a breakfast holiday? With this ominous avocado toast, now it can be.
Only you know if your family is really a freaky severed-finger cookie family. These are a bit intense. But we do know some kids whose appetite for Halloween horror exceeds that of many seasoned adults. Proceed with due caution!
To end on a much cuter note: at last we have discovered the ultimate fate of vanilla wafers: eyeball cookies! Aaaaaaaah-ooooooooooooooh.