Kids and grown-ups alike will love these spooky treats and games

Hosting a Halloween party this year? Fear not. With a little forward planning, you can keep one eye on your gang’s sugar consumption and still ensure the little monsters have a wicked time.

They’re not to know that the ghoul-green ‘slime’ smoothie they’re sipping is a nutritional powerhouse, filled with spinach that’s rich in vitamin A and kiwi that’s high in vitamin C. Now that’s what we’d call a trick.

Handpicked article: Spinach & Kiwi Halloween Smoothie Recipe

Read on for more healthy Halloween food ideas and scary inspiration and you’ll be all set to host an uncannily good party.

Supernatural snacks

Where toffee apple recipes call for caster sugar and golden syrup, try using sticky dates for a more virtuous caramel and make a delicious Halloween party food. The traditional method isn’t one that children should get involved with because of the hot toffee. However, once you’ve made the caramel in a blender, they can help out with dipping the apples in the paste and coating them in the (optional) chopped nuts. After that, you just need to persuade them to wait a while for the caramel to firm up in the fridge.

Handpicked recipe: Sugar-free salted caramel apples

Scary specimens

In the side of an old cardboard box, cut a hole that’s just big enough to put a hand. You can decorate the box if you like. In the box, place a spooky ‘lab sample’. Think cauliflower, peeled grapes, dried mango, or cold, cooked spaghetti. Let the kids reach in and feel the ‘brain’, ‘eyeballs’, ‘skin’ or ‘worms’! Use more boxes for additional specimens.

Dress the mummy

A good one to play with the young at heart, as well as the kids. Divide the party into teams, giving them loo roll and masking tape, plus some additional accessories, whatever you have to hand. Someone on the team will need to be the model. Offer a prize for the best-dressed mummy. Or, make it a race: which team can wrap their mummy the quickest?

The flour game

You’ll need: a raisin, a pudding basin, some flour, a dinner plate, and some butter knives (or re-usable plastic, if you prefer). Put the raisin in the basin, fill the basin with flour, packing it in, and turn the flour out onto the plate, like a sandcastle. You might need a bit of practice, but it does work! Each player takes it in turn to cut a tiny slice from the mound. The loser is the one who causes the raisin to topple – and has to retrieve it with their teeth, as a forfeit. Just the right amount of messy.

Apple bobbing

An oldie but a goodie. Fill a washing up bowl or similar with some cool (but not cold) water and a few apples. You could time how long it takes players to bob for a single apple in turn, or set up two stations and hold races. For a water-free spin on this traditional game, hang apples with some string attached to their stalk from a branch or doorway and challenge guests to take a bite. No hands, of course. It’s harder than it sounds!

Find the squash

An autumnal take on an Easter egg hunt. Hide mini squashes around the garden and equip each kid with a torch to help squirrel them out. All-white squashes are especially spooky, if you can find some.

Pumpkin decorating awards

Hold a no-carve decorating session. You could use acrylic paint, washi tape, decoupage, sequins, or even fake glasses and moustaches. Don’t let any pumpkin flesh go to waste. Post-party, you can whizz up this  pumpkin soup. Perfect in a flask and enjoyed on an autumn walk to blow the cobwebs away.