8 Fun and Healthy Ideas to Celebrate Halloween Season

Halloween doesn’t have to be all about candy. In fact, if you’re trying to slim down, it shouldn’t be about candy at all. This year, let it be about family fun. Here are eight healthy Halloween ideas to boost the holiday fun factor, most of which have zero calories!

1. Up your jack-o’-lantern game.

While triangle eyes and nose and fanged grin are the classic pumpkin carving go-to, keep your hands a little busier this year (and less likely to dip into the candy) with something a little more, well, spooktacular. Head to the internet to get some fun pumpkin carving Halloween ideas. Buy or download free pumpkin stencils that will make your jack-o’-lanterns the talk of the neighborhood. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to create a spooky zombie face, a witch on a broomstick, a hooting owl or a Day of the Dead Mexican skull, even if you have zero artistic talent. Invest in a pumpkin carving kit that contains tools to make it easier. It’s so satisfying and fun, you may not stop!

2. Make a scary entrance.

There are some easy peasy ways to decorate your front porch or walkway to make Halloween an extra supernatural experience for trick-or-treaters. If you have a cast iron Dutch oven, add some dry ice to water which will turn it into a bubbling cauldron. Invest in some fake spider webs and spiders to cover shrubs or trees to greet visitors as they walk up to your door. You can even make spiders out of black balloons—small one for the head, larger one for the body, tied together, with black pipe cleaners for legs. Dangle them from your porch. Use a couple of bales of hay as an outdoor table if you want your trick or treaters to serve themselves. Use faux spider webbing as your “tablecloth,” and group your pumpkins, carved and otherwise, around the base. Don’t forget a few white plastic bag “ghosts” for good measure.

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3. Plan a bonfire.

With the arrival of chilly fall air, now may be the perfect time to invest in a little backyard firepit to cozy up next to on weekend evenings. You, your family and friends can gather to roast marshmallows (less than 100 calories for four regular sized marshmallows!) and tell your best scary ghost stories. It could become a family or neighborhood tradition.

4. Bob for apples.

This used to be the funniest party game before designers Chuck Foley and Neil Rabens invented Twister. Contestants would kneel in front of a large container of water filled with floating apples. The object of the game? Grab an apple . . . with your teeth! Try to do it without laughing (not possible) or getting wet (sooo not possible). Given the pandemic, it’s probably not appropriate for a general Halloween party, but it can be a hilarious family activity for those in your household. Don’t forget to eat the apples!

5. Talk to the hands.

A great (and delicious) activity to do with kids is to make spooky Halloween Popcorn Hands. All you need are four cups of air-popped or light popcorn, three disposable gloves (food contact gloves which contain no powder and are Latex free) and 15 candy corn pieces. Drop the candy corn into each finger of the gloves (yep, those are finger nails). Then stuff the popcorn into each finger and also fill up the glove. Tie the end of the gloves. These decorative treats count as two Extras on the Nutrisystem plan.

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6. Make some healthier chocolate apples.

Everyone in the family will love these sweet treats. You’ll love the fact that you can easily make them Nutrisystem-friendly! Prepare chocolate caramel apples for the fam with our lightened-up recipe right here! >

7. Plan a scary movie night.

If you have an all-adult household, you can have a movie night and hold a “Halloween” marathon—the movie series, “Halloween” that is. Other top horror flicks according to Rotten Tomatoes, the movie rating site, include “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” “The Ring,” “Candyman,” “Scream” and “House on Haunted Hill.” If you like a little humor with your scary, consider “Shaun of the Dead,” “Black Sheep” or “Tremors.” Some class acting? “Rosemary’s Baby” and “The Shining” are standouts. Anything Stephen King. Kiddies on board? Think about “Frankenweenie,” “The Little Vampire,” “The Addams Family,” “The House with a Clock in Its Walls” or “Coraline.” The whole family will enjoy “Beetlejuice.”

8. Go on a hay ride.

Many farms and nature centers have Halloween hayrides. Some are “haunted” by human and animatronic ghosts and zombies for those who love a good fright. Others are mellow and simply take you for a ride through the fields balanced on a hay bale. Some farms also have corn mazes that can keep you twisting and turning for close to an hour, plus farm animals to pet, pumpkins to pick and apple cider to drink. You can even take a trip to a local sunflower field for plenty of photo ops!

Looking for more healthy and fun ideas to celebrate Halloween? Click the link below!:

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