a peek inside the fishbowl

31 Oct, 2012

Halloween dinners

Posted by andrea tomkins in: Easy ways to make kids happy|parenting|Recipes and Food

A question for parents with trick-or-treating age kids… do you prepare a Halloween-themed dinner or just try to get your kids to eat something healthy before the big sugar rush? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

For the past few years I’ve been making this:

Mummy and blood soup

(The recipe is over here in case you’re interested.)

I made bake n’ serve mummies for them ONCE, for a Halloween long ago, and now the kids have the gall to insist I make it every year. (Just kidding. Sort of.) I feel slightly guilty serving this up because it is pretty much nutritionally defunct. I just hope that the raw veggies I serve with it soak up the excess sodium. Sigh.

I think we’d be much better off if I whipped up a kale pesto recipe and called it Alien Booger Juice or something similarly gross like that.

What do you do?


10 Responses to "Halloween dinners"

1 | Lynn

October 31st, 2012 at 10:11 am

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We do make an early dinner – nothing themed, just something easy like spaghetti or sandwiches. The kids eat what they can (not much – too much excitement) and then we give up, let them dip into the bowl by the front door, and go get ready. Hope you are having a happy Halloween in your renewed home!

2 | alison

October 31st, 2012 at 10:24 am

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That dinner is very cute!

I work downtown and live in Carp, so themed dinners are out on weeknights, especially a night as busy as Halloween. I usually make grilled cheese sandwiches with baby carrots and sliced cukes as it’s the quickest thing to make after commuting, and then we’re off trick-or-treating.

3 | Lorrie Douthwright

October 31st, 2012 at 10:58 am

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A pot roast is in the slow cooker because I know they both will like it and the rest of the meal is more healthy favourites because I simply have to try, (and I took the day off).

But next year I think I’m doing this!
http://www.instructables.com/id/A-Mummy-comes-to-the-Party/

4 | Javamom

October 31st, 2012 at 11:57 am

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Tonight I’m lucky: my parents want to come and join the kids on their travels down the street, and are bringing dinner. :)

Other years I had crockpot stuff ready for those who wanted to eat (chili, or hearty stews or soups) along with plate of veg and salad. Kids weren’t particularly interested…

And wine. Never forget the wine.

5 | Carla

October 31st, 2012 at 2:12 pm

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We go for a protein-load dinner – this year it’s pulled pork, slaw and corn tortillas (yum!) to help balance out the inevitable sugaring that will happen, although we do limit them to 3 items on Halloween night. It’s hard to get them to eat with the excitement and the early arrivals that knock on the door when they are still eating dinner.

6 | binki

October 31st, 2012 at 3:13 pm

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In the past, we’ve served a pasta dish with mozzerella on bowtie pasta (batwings and cobwebs) but this year in keeping with spooky/icky Halloween meals we’re having a favourite but calling it something else. Black beans on basmatti rice is…tonight….black widow spider eggs on maggots. ;-) Mmmmm…..

7 | Tarah

October 31st, 2012 at 5:26 pm

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Cute idea! We opted for healthy. Tonight was our son’s first time trick or treating (he’s 20 months old). We had veggie sandwiches on homemade wholewheat bread and veggies and dip. Max had leftover spaghetti and meatsauce, rice milk, a homemade pumpkin muffin and his one treat for the night – small bag of plain Lays potato chips which he LOVED! :)

8 | coffeewithjulie

October 31st, 2012 at 7:16 pm

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Oh man … talk about making me look bad! I barely get home in time from the office to actually make ANY dinner (let alone a themed dinner!) before the kids are itching to get out trick or treating! Tonight, I made Kraft Dinner.

9 | wanda

November 1st, 2012 at 9:10 am

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I’m glad I am not the only weird one who does theme dinners on various occasions. Food is such an important part of so many of our family memories and traditions. In past years we usually have blood and guts with witches fingers on the side for dinner. (Spaghetti and a chunky vegetable marinara sauce. For the witches fingers I adapted a soft pretzel recipe and made gnarl-y bread sticks with pumpkin seed fingernails) Now that the kids are older they had dinner quickly or at friends houses before terrorizing the neighbourhood in packs. The witches fingers still made an appearance in the lunch boxes though………

10 | Marianne

November 1st, 2012 at 9:47 am

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I go with something that will be ready early, and that the girls (2 and 5 years old) are likely to eat so that they have some real food in their bellies before candy. Yesterday it was a ham in the slow cooker, scalloped potatoes and salad. If my father in law wasn’t staying with us this week, I probably would have done grilled cheese sandwiches.

I love the idea of the Halloween meal though and the little mummies look easy to make, so I’ll have to remember that for future years.

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