It’s all about the eyes.
These cute candy eyes are everywhere, and this year, I decided my daughter and I needed to bake up a fun Halloween treat with them. So I bought some, not knowing quite yet what we’d make. Maybe cupcakes. Or candy bark. Or cookies. Or doughnuts! Cute, right?
But while I was spending days contemplating, my daughter was growing more and more restless. Those candy eyes stared at her from the kitchen counter – literally. Finally, I broke down. Okay, okay kid! We’ll do something with the darn eyes already!
10 minutes later, we were building snack mix monsters.
The rules are as follows:
It’s highly fun for kids and adults alike, honestly. And trust me – we’ve been playing with this Halloween snack mix every day for the past week, kid’s request. She loves the stuff.
Especially the M&Ms and the candy eyeballs. My little sweet-toothed gal seems to build monsters that have quite a few of both of those. Conveniently.
What I usually do is divvy out a small cup or bowlful of snack mix at a time to encourage her to use – and eat – all of the ingredients in the trail mix – the good stuff too, not just the sweets.
Another option, if you would like to be more health-conscious, is to leave out the candy entirely. There’s plenty of ghoulish goodness you can make with sunflower seeds (teeth!), pepitas (excellent noses!), almonds (for everything!), cashews, dried fruits, healthier cereals … really, you can put whatever you want into the mix, and you and the kids can still have lots of fun with it. (Though if you’re making it for a classroom, be sure and follow any allergy policies and swap out the nuts and/or seeds as needed. It’s a completely flexible situation!)
I see you!
I think this snack mix would be perfect for a kid’s Halloween party, or even just a fun playdate snack/activity. I plan to bring a revised version for preschool snack later this month – no nuts or candy for that bunch, but it should still be just as fun. 2018 update: I’ve brought versions of this to two classroom parties since publishing this post, and it’s been a huge hit every time!
Free printable
Here’s a free printable flag for your make-a-monster trail mix! Just download, print it out, cut it out, and use some double-stick tape to adhere it to the top of a bamboo skewer. Be sure to trim off the sharp pointy end (best be safe!) Then just stick it right in to your bowl of trail mix.
Download “Make a Monster – Eat Him Up” printable (PDF)