Halloween Party Cupcakes and Cookies for Kids
Easy Halloween Treats to Make with Children
Oct 23, 2008
These sweet treats are fun and easy for children to make, but remember that kids always need to be supervised in the kitchen.
Spider Cupcakes
Ahead of time, adults can prepare some cupcakes from scratch or a boxed mix, and prepare some black icing by adding black gel food coloring to a can of white vanilla frosting. One average can of frosting covers approximately 24 cupcakes.
Older children will be able to frost the cupcakes themselves with a spatula or butter knife prior to adding decorations. For younger children, an adult should frost the cupcakes first.
Once the cupcakes are covered with frosting, some kid-approved candy decorations can be laid out for a fun do-it-yourself decorating party. Most of the items below can be found at any grocery store or bulk food store.
Decoration Suggestions:
- Black licorice for legs
- Black gum drops or jujubes for heads or eyes
- Chocolate chips for eyes or spots
- Chocolate cookie crumbs for "hair"
- Whole chocolate sandwich cookies for heads
- Black cake sprinkles for hair or spikes
Monster Eyeballs
Similar to the spider cupcakes above, adults can prepare some cupcakes ahead of time. Plain white vanilla frosting can be used to ice the cupcakes, and kids will have a blast decorating them to look like giant monster eyeballs.
Decoration Suggestions:
- Red licorice strings to make bloodshot eyes
- Assorted gumdrops or jujubes for pupils
- Roll-style fruit snacks for eyelids
Tombstone Cookies
With an adult's help, kids can make regular sugar cookies look downright frightening by decorating them to look like tombstones. Several good recipes for cutout cookies can be found at RecipeZaar, and to save time, pouched cookie mixes are available at the grocery store.
Once the cookie dough has been prepared according to directions and rolled out flat, it can be cut into tombstone shapes using a purchased cookie cutter, or a long, thin rectangle of stiff cardboard (a Kleenex box works well) that has been bent into a tombstone shape and taped together. If using a homemade cardboard cutter, the bottom edge of the cardboard should be covered with scotch tape to prevent dough from sticking. Kids will have a blast cutting out shapes from the dough and placing them onto a baking sheet.
When the cookies have been baked, and cooled for at least 30 minutes, the decorations can be added. Gel icing is available in tubes and can be used for writing names on your tombstones. Food-safe markers, sold under several brand names including Food Writer, can be purchased from craft stores and from some bulk food stores to make writing legibly even easier.
Each one of these fun Halloween treats is simple enough for kids to make, and can be scaled to fit any size party, from 2 to 200 guests. Kids will love getting creative in the kitchen, and their spooky creations will be the hit of any Halloween party.
