Halloween Snack Board

We’re less than a week away from Halloween, can you believe it? I saw a social media post the other day that shows we’re ‘6 days until we fall back, 31 days until Thanksgiving, 60 days until Christmas, and 67 days until 2020 ends! Time flies when we’re having fun. AM I right? We can all say we wish for this year to be over, more like we wish for COVID to be over. But alas, it’s not. Even though Halloween is going to look different, it doesn’t mean Halloween can’t be fun with you and your loved ones (socially distant and masks of course). Enter a Halloween snack board. A version of your cheese and charcuterie boards, Halloween style!

As a dietitian I’m the first to suggest you eat a dinner before you go out trick-or-treating (in a normal year). Eat a sustainable meal and enjoy some candy when you come home. Maybe Halloween normally is celebrated as a party situation and hors d’oeuvres are the claim to fame at the party along with actual full scale desserts. Whatever the case, snack boards, dessert boards, cheese boards, they really are all the rage right now. Take a look at social media and you’ll see.

I love the idea of a snack board. Snack boards have all the makings of a possible combination of what you need. Realize I’m not the Debbie downer of the party. I love desserts too! However, I always like to think of you being the person to bring a little health to the party (if you will). Starting new traditions and having a few munchy type foods that incorporate fruits and veggies in a fun way. Kids will find these appealing! And it really just goes to show that balance is the spice of life. All foods fit.

How to Build A Halloween Snack Board

Include a few homemade recipes, a few store-bought staples (no one needs to be doing everything from scratch – unless in this crazy year you do it as a way to get the kids involved and it’s a fun activity vs a chore!) & of course a few special desserts. The more substantial snacks help you fill up just a bit before the desserts/candy hit. And because it’s all on one board (or separate boards, but all displayed festively) the idea is that the kids will eat a mix of all that’s there. All to be determined and explored 🙂

A little more substance: English muffin pizzas, tea sandwiches (in a few different varieties) cut out in a fun shapes (monsters, bats, pumpkins), deviled egg spiders. This is a good base to start with, and the rest will be more fruits and veggies.

Store-bought snacks: guacamole or hummus, cheese sticks (you can stick a pretzel stick in a chunk of the cheese so it resembles a witch’s broom, celery sticks, carrot sticks, grapes (with googly eyes), apple slices (with a little peanut butter and then decorated with a few marshmallows so they look like vampire teeth, clementines (with a celery stick to look like a pumpkin , roasted pumpkin seeds, and/or a mixture of nuts, a few different cheeses along with a variety of crackers. Now we’re getting festive! Who doesn’t love a clementine to resemble a pumpkin? And grapes with googly eyes? Adorable!

Special treats. Love throwing a few pieces of candy on the actual snack board, however, I do keep it more minimal. I’ve only recently done a full dessert board, but in all honesty if you are doing trick-or-treating that might not be necessary. And if there is no trick-or-treating this year, it might be fun to whip up something special for the evening. When you have a lot of treats, it’s easy to want to try them all. And while that’s not a bad thing, I do think sometimes the simpler the better. Bake up a few brownie bites, make pumpkin spice cookies, or ghosts in the graveyard pudding. Again, have the kids get involved and decide what you all want to make together!

For your board, use a baking sheet, pizza stone, or cutting board. If you have a festive tray, in the shape of a pumpkin, even better! And from there I start by putting the bowls on the board first. Next go ahead and add your larger snacks. You can then follow up by adding the vegetables and fruit. Right before you’re about to serve you can add your dips to the empty bows, and get a spoon for serving. The board should be pretty full at this point. You’ll fill in any gaps with those special treats. Gummy worms for me!

There you have it. A simple, less stress idea to offer a little something to everyone and you can get the kids involved. Sounds like a win win to me. Not to mention the options are endless. Have a safe and Happy Halloween!