Healthy Halloween Treats For The Classroom

This post was originally written by me and published for CraftsUnleashed.com, but in case you missed it I am reposting on my blog.

I know Halloween is all about the candy, but there is only so much candy a kid can eat right?  I like giving out healthy Halloween treats (yes, I am the house that gives out pretzels, toys, and toothbrushes).  This year for my daughter’s school, she needs to bring in treats for Halloween.  I decided to use oranges and wrap them in tissue paper to make them look like pumpkins.  This was so fun and turned out so well.  Originally I wanted to use small “Cuties” but they are out of season, so I just used Valencia Oranges that I purchased from the farmers market.  The oranges are organic so they aren’t colored bright orange like the supermarket oranges, so the orange tissue paper really makes it look like a pumpkin.  Don’t be fooled by the color though, these are the sweetest, juiciest oranges I have ever had! Even sweeter than candy, in my opinion.

I love this take on Halloween treats, because it’s actually a fun craft to do with your kids and something that could help them eat more fruit.

Supplies needed to make your own healthy Halloween treats:

• Orange Tissue Paper (1 sheet will make 6 oranges)
• Scissors
• Green Pipe Cleaners (One for each orange)
• Black Vinyl

Cut the tissue paper into a square that will wrap around the entire orange.  Mine was cut 8×8 for an orange about 3 inches in diameter.

Wrap tissue paper up to the top of the orange, and twist around the top.

Using a pipe cleaner, cinch the base of the orange where the tissue paper is gathered, then twist around the tissue paper tail until you reach the top.  Then twist back down to the bottom of the stem of the “pumpkin”. Leave a little room on the pipe cleaner for the next step.

You should have about 2 inches left on the pipe cleaner.  Take those two inches and wrap around a pencil to create a spiral vine effect.

Once all of your oranges are wrapped, they are ready to be decorated to complete these fun Halloween treats.

Using black vinyl, cut out jack-o-lantern faces.  Get creative!  You could draw it out on the back of the vinyl and then cut it out, but I find that free handing is the easiest.

Now these adorable Halloween treats are ready to be handed out to trick-or-treaters or party guests! They won’t even know there’s fruit inside until they open them up. Sneaky!

I truly love the way these healthy Halloween treats turned out.  They would even make great centerpieces or decor for around the house.