My kids and I love to bake together. And when you add in a holiday like Halloween, it feels even more magical and fun. Since everyone has been loving my food posts lately, I decided to share some of my favorite Halloween treats for kids that are easy to make at home.
Spooktacular Fun for Everyone
If you’re not a big baker, I’ve got you covered. All of these Halloween baking ideas are very simple — so even if you don’t bake a lot, I promise you’ll be able to jump right in and make these with your kids! I’ve also included a few no-bake recipes and a mix of savory snacks as well.
Another way to keep things low-stress is to focus on the fun, creative aspect of baking and not how messy your kitchen gets or how perfect your final results are. This is a great time to let kids explore, use their imaginations, and exercise some independence.
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Halloween Baking Tips
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Speed things up with a boxed mix. If you don’t have a ton of time to bake — or you just want to make it really easy on yourself — use a boxed mix instead for Halloween cookies and cupcakes. For healthier options (less sugar, no dyes, natural ingredients, etc.), try Simple Mills, Kodiak, and King Arthur.
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Use less sugar. I typically look for recipes that use less sugar, or I reduce the amount of sugar on my own. There are times where I’ve used only half the sugar that a recipe calls for, and it’s still just as delicious!
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Start with a clean kitchen. Baking and prepping food can feel overwhelming if your sink has stuff in it, the dishwasher is full, and your counters are messy. Having a clear space will make snack assembly and cleanup a lot easier.
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Get in the right mindset. Baking won’t be as fun if you’re feeling rushed or stressed. Make sure to give yourself the time you need (add extra time if your kids are helping!) and put on some seasonal music or a favorite Halloween movie while making your Halloween treats.
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Keep your Halloween baking simple. You don’t need to be an expert baker to make any of the treats in this post. But if you want to keep things super easy, you can skip the decorating and just add food coloring to batter or sprinkles to baked goods.
Halloween Treats
Brew up some fun in your kitchen with Halloween cookies, brownies, and other yummy treats. Add eyeball sprinkles, ghost spatulas, and pumpkin cookie cutters, and baking is the most entertaining it's been all year.
Mummy Brownies
These Halloween treats are easy to make — and fun to eat! Even if you have a toddler at home, they can help mix the ingredients and decorate the brownies. All you need is brownie mix, icing, and candy eyeball sprinkles.
Witches Hats for Peanut Butter Blossoms
Guaranteed to get everyone into the Halloween spirit! These soft, chewy peanut butter cookies are topped with a witch’s hat made from a chocolate wafer, frosting, and chocolate kiss.
Mummy Pretzels
If you’re looking for easy Halloween treats for school, make some mummy pretzels! Dipped in white chocolate and “wrapped” like a mummy, these silly and sweet snacks are a simple no-bake recipe.
Ghost Strawberries
More chocolate-covered snacks? Yes, please! These ghost strawberries are another no-bake dessert that your kids can help with. Plus they leave room to get creative — just add orange food dye to make pumpkins, instead.
Candy Corn Cupcakes
I know candy corn can be divisive! However, everybody wins with these Halloween treats. Just make the frosting look like candy corn — perfect for people who don’t love this Halloween candy.
Halloween Pizza Bagels
Bagel pizzas work well for school lunches or after-school snacks — plus they’re easy to make. Instead of using shredded cheese, you’ll use a Halloween cookie cutter on sliced cheese to make a ghost, pumpkin, witch hat, and more for the tops of your bagels.
Peanut Butter Spider Cookies
You can’t go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate Halloween cookies! Similar to peanut butter blossoms, this recipe uses mini peanut butter cups, melted chocolate with butter, and candy eyes to create cute and spooky spiders for the tops of your cookies.
Mummy-Wrapped Hot Dogs
These mummy-wrapped hot dogs are fun to make and so simple, too! All you need are hot dogs, crescent rolls, and candy eyes. For an extra festive touch, you can also make a spiderweb dipping sauce out of ketchup and mustard.
Chocolate Spiderweb Pretzels
These Halloween treats are a perfect mix of salty, sweet, and crunchy. Plus there’s no baking involved! Just form your pretzel sticks into a circle, then spiral the melted chocolate around using a pastry/icing bag (or a resealable plastic bag with the corner snipped off).
Graveyard Dirt Cups
A little bit spooky and a lot delicious! These Halloween desserts combine layers of crushed Oreos, a pudding-cream cheese filling, and a gummy worm creeping out from the “dirt.” Perfect for your Halloween movie nights, a Halloween party, or an after-school treat.
Halloween Kitchen Tools & Accessories
Bewitch your kitchen with these magical tools! If I had to choose just one item from this list, I would go with the cookie cutters because they’re so versatile. But all of these ideas make your Halloween baking (and eating) more fun.
Mini Halloween Spatulas: Add a subtle spooky vibe to your kitchen — perfect for getting in the mood to bake Halloween treats!
Halloween Cookie Cutters: This set includes five designs for your Halloween cookies. You can also use them for other foods, like sandwiches, or for creative fun, like play-doh.
Spiderweb Mini Waffle Maker: Get your whole family in the Halloween spirit with this super cute waffle maker.
Orange Foil Cupcake Liners: A simple way to make your cupcakes and muffins more festive for Halloween.
Shop Amazon Halloween Baking Supplies 👆
Spook-tacular Additions
When in doubt, just add some seasonal sprinkles, candy eyeballs, and food coloring. These are easy ways for you to turn any baked good into a Halloween treat! Plus they make the baking experience a lot more fun and memorable for everyone.
Halloween Sprinkles: These sprinkles are fun to add to cupcakes, cookies, and other Halloween treats for kids. Choose from “Monster Mash” or “Toil and Trouble.”
Small Candy Eyeballs: Make your Halloween cookies, cupcakes, and other goodies a little more spooky.
Food Coloring: I love this brand because their products use high-quality, natural ingredients and are free from artificial dyes and colors.
Wickedly Fun Ideas for Mealtime
Want to extend the Halloween fun beyond baking? During mealtimes, add orange & black napkins, a few spooky desert plates and pumpkin cheese knives, and you have one frightful feast!
Buffalo Check Napkins: These cloth napkins hold up well, and the color scheme is perfect for Halloween!
Halloween Placemats: A great activity for kids and fun addition to the table. Plus they come from one of my favorite small businesses.
Halloween Cheese Knives: Make mealtime more memorable with these cute, little spreaders. Perfect for cheese, butter, and jam.
Q&A: Halloween Baking
How do I get my kids interested in baking?
Baking with kids can be an adventure! My biggest tips are to give them age-appropriate tasks and to mentally prepare yourself for messes. Also, focus on fun over perfection. Here are more tips for baking with kids.
Are these Halloween recipes simple for anyone?
Yes! You do not need to be an advanced baker — or someone who bakes a lot — to make these Halloween snacks and treats. Remember, you can always make things easier on yourself with a boxed mix or seasonal sprinkles.
How do I make healthier versions of these Halloween goodies?
One quick way is to reduce the amount of sugar in a recipe — or see if you can swap in a fruit-based sweetener, like mashed bananas or unsweetened applesauce. Some other ideas are to use wheat flour instead of white (or a combination of both), shred veggies into your batter, or look for ways to add Greek yogurt, nut butters, and other sources of protein.
What do you look for in a boxed mix?
Boxed mixes can be loaded with sugar, unhealthy fats, and processed ingredients. I typically look for boxed mixes that use fewer ingredients (plus ones I recognize!) and natural flavorings. But I also believe in balance and what works best for your family! Some of my favorite mixes are by Simple Mills, Kodiak, and King Arthur.
Would these ideas work for a Halloween party?
Yes! All of these recipes would be great for a Halloween party or get-together. A few can even be made ahead of time and stored in your freezer for later.
Tips for making less of a mess in the kitchen?
Making a mess is part of the fun! But some easy ways to make cleanup easy are to line pans with parchment paper or silicone baking mats, use silicone cupcake liners in muffin tins, and decorate baked goods on a tray, cutting board, or parchment paper to keep counters clean.
Other ideas to make Halloween baking more fun?
Baking encourages imagination and playfulness. You can lean into that even more by trusting your kids’ creative choices — like how they decorate their treats. You can also challenge them to come up with fun names for their creations, do taste tests for their experiments, or tell stories about what they’re making.
