Kids love special Halloween food = but sometimes making a spooky meal from scratch isn't possible or just feels too much like hard work. These ideas for the Halloween table can be thrown together in a flash, and are easy enough for older kids to make themselves.
Eyeball Rice Cakes
These are crunchy, tasty and suitable disgusting-looking! Arrange some rice cakes on a plate and, preferably with a squeezy bottle of ketchup, draw red spidery lines randomly over the surface of each. Cut circles out of a cheese slice for a violent yellow "pupil", and top with a slice of salami or pepperoni. Of course you can vary your eyeballs with all sorts of ingredients; just choose something that your kids will enjoy.
Ghostly Burgers
Cook your favorite burgers. While they are cooking, cut ghost shapes out of sliced cheese, either with a Halloween cookie cutter or perhaps with a template. Cut out two holes for eyes. When the burgers are cooked, drape the cheese ghosts over the top and flash under the grill/broiler until just melting.
Guts Jelly (Jello)
Make up some strawberry and blackcurrant jelly in different containers. When set, chop up roughly and throw together in a glass bowl. Make sure you tell the kids what it is. Yuk!
Spider Jelly (Jello)
Make up some green or yellow jelly and pour into suitable single containers. We used some clear plastic goblet-shaped containers which looked very grand and impressive, but ramekins or plastic drinks glasses would do. When set, drop a plastic spider onto the top of each container. Stand them on a plate with extra spiders scattered around for effect.
Marshmallow Ghosts and Ghouls
If you are having a Halloween party, this is a great quiet activity for the kids to get involved in. Melt some white chocolate or white chocolate chips in a glass bowl in the microwave. This takes a minute or two. While you are waiting, thread a couple of white marshmallows onto a lollipop (popsicle) stick. Now dip the marshmallows into the melted chocolate and swirl it around to cover the top of the ghosts' "heads". Bring them out and lay them flat on a paper plate for the chocolate to harden, pushing a couple of silver balls on for eyes before it does. You can use a tube of writing icing to draw on a mouth and any other features you would like. Make the ghouls with colored marshmallows. Thread one on per stick and add some green coloring to the chocolate before swirling the marshmallows in it, covering as much of the surface as possible. Use silver balls for eyes as before, but this time add some other decoration too: we used strawberry candy strands for hair and would have added chocolate drops for ears if we hadn't eaten them all already! Leave to harden as before.
Lindsay Small is the owner of ActivityVillage.co.uk, packed full of free fun and educational activities for kids. Do you have children aged 2-10? Visit http://www.ActivityVillage.co.uk to find kids crafts, printables, educational resources, worksheets, coloring pages and puzzles, jigsaws, Sudoku for kids and much more! |
