5 Healthier Halloween Treats

Whether you’re an adult or a kid, Halloween is the perfect time to let your imagination go wild and have some spooky fun.  Plaster your home with creepy decorations, carve a jack o’ lantern or three, crash some crazy parties, and do it all while you’re dressed up as anything you want to be.  That’s enough to keep just about anyone entertained, but Halloween just wouldn’t be Halloween without adding some candy into the mix.

Unfortunately, that’s also when the fun can get legitimately scary.  Whether you’re trying to avoid artificial colors and flavors or just want to cut back on sugar, a bag full of Halloween candy can be as frightening as any monster.  But who says delicious treats need to be full of terrible ingredients?  No, I’m not going to suggest everyone hand out apples and bananas for Halloween (not that I would mind if they did), but there are healthier options out there that are still fun and delicious.

Let me tell you about the treats that we’ll be giving out this Halloween!

KIND Nuts & Spices Bars.

I probably don’t need to tell you that the first ingredient in most candy is sugar.  With KIND bars, you can feel good knowing that the first ingredient will be something nutritious like fruit, nuts, or whole grains.

Each of their Nuts & Spices bars contains 5g of sugar or less and is free of any artificial sweeteners or sugar alcohols.  Plus, they come in amazing flavors like Caramel Almond & Sea Salt (my fav!), Dark Chocolate Almond Mint, Mad Vanilla Almond, and Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt.  Swap a candy bar for a kind bar, and you’ll be giving kids a satisfying snack that won’t send them into a sugar coma.

Garden Veggie Ghosts + Bats.

Sensible Portions Veggie Straws are popular with all of the kids I know, and now they’re available in spooky Halloween shapes.  Gluten-free, non-GMO, and free of artificial flavors and preservatives, these are a great savory alternative.  They also happen to be my son’s favorite item on the list because they’re crispy, crunchy spookiness in a bag.

Smart Cookies Spooky Snacks.

Bitsy’s Brainfood is offering their popular Smart Cookies in snack-size bags that are perfect for handing out to trick or treaters.  These yummy, organic cookies are oven-baked with veggies and whole grains, and they come in fun alphabet shapes!  Smart Cookies are made in a nut-free and peanut-free facility, so they’re great for classroom parties too.

Mamma Chia’s Organic Chia Squeeze.

I put these in here because my girl absolutely loves them; she can’t get enough of the flavors and squishy texture.  These fruity and colorful pouches are organic, vegan, gluten-free, and sweetened naturally.  Featuring the magic of the chia seed, each pouch is packed full of omega-3s, protein, and fiber.  These are so fun to eat, the kids won’t even care that it’s not a candy bar.

Good Health Gluten-Free Pretzels.

Pretzels aren’t anything new for Halloween, but this gluten-free variety is a brand new offering from our friends at Good Health.  They’ve got all the delicious crunch of a traditional pretzel but with the added bonus of spinach, broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, beets, shiitake mushrooms.  My son, the pretzel connoisseur, has not been able to detect a difference, so I consider these an amazing find.

Nothing on this list is exactly broccoli, but if you compare labels, you’ll see that they’re much better for you than most of the candy the kids bring home.  So when you’re picking up your Halloween candy, consider some healthier alternatives to the usual junk that surfaces at this time of year.  I promise it won’t make you the least popular house on the block, and you just might be helping the kids develop better eating habits.