Find the ingredients in Halloween candy a little spooky? You’re not alone. I’ve created loads of healthy Homemade Halloween Candy for your little ones to fill up on before they go trick or treating. Truth be told, big kids, aka adults, love these healthy Halloween treats too!
Trick or Treats
This healthy homemade candy will take the trick out of the treat. No refined sugar, artificial coloring, or toxic chemicals in these easy, wholesome recipes. These healthy Homemade Halloween Candy recipes are the perfect way to please palates in search of sweets this season!
Healthy Homemade Halloween Candy Recipes
Here are my favorite healthy Homemade Halloween Candy recipes!
Gummy Bears
Gluten-Free Candy Bars
Homemade Mounds
Peppermint Patties
Almond Joy Bars
Nut Butter Cups
Orange Coconut Clusters
Macadamia Caramel Clusters
Fudge Babies
Our Creepy Crawly Halloween Strategy
Our boys, now 11 and 13, started their Halloween candy careers when they were 7 and 9 years old. BTT (before trick-or-treating) we took them to a haunted house at the Waldorf school which distracted them from the unhealthy aspects of Halloween. Now our strategy is to let them trick-or-treat. We offer them money for their candy, paying by the piece, and they love it. They sell us about 80% of their haul and keep what they really like.
The Halloween Buy Back System
This works for me because the boys are in middle school, an age where they are increasingly out of the house with more freedom of choice to exercise regarding food. Selling the candy to us allows them to create their own boundaries with foods they know are seductive, yet devoid of nutrition.
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Your Halloween Plan
If you’re trying to maintain a healthy household, how do you deal with the onslaught of processed Halloween sugar that arrives each year? Do you let your children trick-or-treat? If you do, do you let them keep their candy? What about the Halloween fairy? Does she visit your house? Let’s all share our strategies (or lack thereof) for dealing with the season of sugar.
Tracee says
Our son is six. We give out spooky little toys at halloween, this year it’s green fingers and eyeball pingpong balls. Earlier in the evening we go to a halloween carnival. There’s lots of festivities so candy doesn’t take center stage.
Elana says
That’s great Tracee!
Paula Brown says
I have a little bit of a problem with kids bringing home a bunch of candy to be “bought” or traded and then thrown away, because it just doesn’t seem right. After all, the giver paid good money for that stuff! But the dentist buyback, the Christmas Child or similar program, or the donation to a food bank solves that issue. I love the switch witch with the rotten teeth!
As far as what to hand out–pencils, stickers, gum, small bags of sunflower seeds are a few ideas. There are also several companies where you can order a bag of little toys such as you see at school Halloween carnivals as prizes– pencil toppers, bouncy balls, fake teeth, etc. for a very reasonable price. (All probably made in China, though…oh, dear!) Of course, healthier homemade treats could be handed out to children you know, bagged in baggies and labelled with your name, phone number, and ingredients.
Elana says
Thanks Paula!
Karina says
At my house, the Halloween witch visits each year the night after halloween, in the morning all the candy is gone and replaced with a special present or gift which the children have been wishing for.
Karina says
and for the trick or treaters there is always organic fairtraid chocolate bars and natural fruit juice sweetened lollipops.
Elana says
Thanks Karina! That sounds great :-)
Amanda@EasyPeasyOrganic says
Once you start making your own of these classics, the originals will never, ever taste the same again. :)
Elana says
Amanda, I totally agree :-)
Jessica says
This is our first Halloween sans gluten and sugar (among many other things). I had planned to buy my son’s candy or gift him with something he’s been eyeing. Figuring out what to place into the eager hands of tiny sugar fiends is my bigger problem. I just can’t bear to hand out twizzlers and sweet tarts when my family can no longer have them. What do you guys hand out to trick or treaters?
Elana says
Jessica, here’s a link to some healthier Halloween candy that you can buy and pass out:
https://elanaspantry.com/gluten-free-halloween-treats/
Enjoy!
Elana
Steph says
Thank you so much for all these great recipes!! I can’t wait to make them!
Elana says
Steph, you’re welcome!
Juliette says
We let the kids trick or treat, then they come home and separate their loot by categories. They keep only the chocolate candies they enjoy (Hershey bars, Reese’s PB cups, etc.,)stored in ziplocks marked with their name. (They must ask first, and are allowed one mini-size bar a day, usually.) and all the rest goes into boxes we pack for Operation Christmas Child in November. Every year, each of my kids shops for a shoe box full of small gift items,such as toys, toothpaste, socks, crayons, and … hard candy for children in underprivileged countries. (We cannot send chocolates, because they melt in transport to warm climates.) We never need to buy hard candy, thanks to Halloween.
Elana says
Thanks Juliette!
erisgrrrl says
My son is sensitive to artificial colors (it basically makes him lose his mind and become very out-of-control and sometimes aggressive) so we don’t allow much candy or processed foods during the year. Halloween is the one time he gets to go crazy. He can eat whatever he wants from his haul after we get home but after that it’s gone. Since he’s been out running around and it’s usually past bedtime when we get home he’s so exhausted that the colors don’t have much effect.
Elana says
Thanks for your comment Eris!
Marisa says
Elana: You. Are. My. Hero.
Elana says
Aww, thanks Marisa :-)
Lynn Krukowski says
My sons are now giving out treats to children who come to their rented house near their University. They are quite careful about what they deal out!
We live in a rural area and as youngsters, we only did the one block around our house, using it as a time to visit the neighbours – which limited the amount they got. We then emptied the pile on the table, sorted out what did not look safe and paired up the treats (one for each of them). These were stored away and they could both agree when they needed a treat and pick a matching set. (My husband helped get rid of the unmatched ones!)
The past few years we have given kids a choice between small bags of organic potato chips, mini granola bars or little packs of gummy bears. I usually have decorated Halloween pencils for kids not allowed sugar.
Elana says
Thanks Lynn!