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<\/a><\/p>\nThe theme for this meal was pumpkins and it looks much more complicated than it really is to make.\u00a0 First we have the drink \u2013 orange milk.\u00a0 We happened to have an orange plastic cup, so I just put a piece of clear packing tape on it, then drew a Jack-o-lantern face on the tape with a Sharpie.\u00a0 It looks great, but doesn\u2019t ruin the cup!\u00a0 For the milk, I just added a little orange food coloring.\u00a0 Next up are grapes.\u00a0 They\u2019re not \u201cHalloween-y\u201d by themselves, so I stuck in a pumpkin food pick to make them a little more fun to eat.\u00a0 The grapes are in another of my little tricks \u2013 turn your muffin cup liners inside out so that when the food is gone, you can see the pattern!\u00a0 These were in a pumpkin liner.<\/p>\n
Hidden in the corner is vanilla yogurt.\u00a0 My kids think it\u2019s okay, but it\u2019s not really their favorite.\u00a0 So, I add sprinkles!\u00a0 It seems so silly, but sprinkles really do make everything more fun and they\u2019re not adding enough sugar to matter.\u00a0 These are orange and black, with a few little orange pumpkins.\u00a0 The sandwich I served is just a normal peanut butter and jelly, cut with a pumpkin cookie cutter.\u00a0 The cheese in the next cup is cut with the same cutter.<\/p>\n
Now, the piece de resistance – the Snack-O-Lantern!\u00a0 I saw this idea somewhere (maybe Family Fun magazine?) and knew my kids would love it!\u00a0 It\u2019s really simple to make.\u00a0 Slice off the top of an orange, then run a paring knife around the inside of the orange, separating the segments from the rind.\u00a0 Pull them out and use the knife to cut a face out of the rind.\u00a0 I filled the orange with fruit cocktail, but you could use anything.\u00a0 You could even just cut up the orange segments and put them back in.\u00a0 For the stem, I used a little green cocktail fork.\u00a0 Looks cute, and it\u2019s functional too.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
A few days later, the boys asked for another muffin tin meal; this happened about 5 minutes before lunchtime\u2026\u00a0 So, this is a meal that I just pulled together quickly, but they loved!\u00a0 I made the same pumpkin shaped sandwich as before, but this time I drew a quick face on it with food-safe markers.\u00a0 We had the same grapes with the pumpkin pick and yogurt with sprinkles as before.\u00a0 This time, I used different cheese, so I made smaller pumpkins.<\/p>\n
These are actually made with a tomato cookie cutter, because I don\u2019t have a small pumpkin cutter (note to self for next year\u2026).\u00a0 We ended the meal with a sweet treat \u2013 candy corn!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I think this quick themed meal turned out pretty well!<\/p>\n
My older kids are just 4 and 6, so they haven\u2019t really been into the scarier parts of the Halloween season yet.\u00a0 This next meal is a great way to play up the spookier side of Halloween and still have a lot of fun!<\/p>\n This might be one of my most favorite meals ever!\u00a0 Throughout the year, I clip pictures from magazines or bookmark websites with fun ideas for lunches.\u00a0 This was a collection of those ideas.\u00a0 Because this lunch featured a baked item, you\u2019ll have to prepare a little in advance.\u00a0 Normally, my kids get cold lunches when we\u2019re doing a themed meal, because I can pull them together quickly.\u00a0 This lunch consists of \u201cFrankenkiwi\u201d, a banana ghost, string cheese mummy gauze, candy corn M&Ms, apple fangs and a Hot Dog Mummy.<\/p>\n Most of the items are pretty self-explanatory.\u00a0 The apple is just sliced, with little segments cut out for teeth.\u00a0 I peeled the string cheese, rather than letting the kids do it like normal.\u00a0 They each got half a banana with chocolate chips stuck in for eyes.\u00a0 Their favorite part was the Hot Dog Mummy!\u00a0 It\u2019s basically just an updated version of \u201cPigs in a Blanket.\u201d\u00a0 I used a tube of refrigerated breadstick dough and wrapped it around a hot dog, leaving it open near the top for eyes.\u00a0 At this point, you can bake your mummies while you get the rest of the meal prepared.\u00a0 When the mummies are done, add mustard dots for eyes.\u00a0 I served it with a little cup of blood (ketchup) for dipping.\u00a0 I guess we haven\u2019t done Pigs in a Blanket for a while, because they both raved about it and said it was \u201cBetter than awesome!\u201d and \u201cWe have to have these again!\u201d<\/p>\n I think the real star of this meal is \u201cFrankenkiwi.\u201d\u00a0 I saw this online somewhere and filed it away for a Halloween themed meal.\u00a0 Super easy to make!\u00a0 Just peel a kiwi, leaving some on one end for hair.\u00a0 If the peel comes off unevenly, that\u2019s even better!\u00a0 I stuck in chocolate chips for eyes (just stick the poky part into the kiwi and you shouldn\u2019t need anything else to hold them in).\u00a0 His mouth is just some jimmie sprinkles that I pressed in to look like stitches.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t sure what I was going to do for the bolts in the side of his head, but as I was getting out the sprinkles for his mouth, I noticed that I had leaf-shaped sprinkles for fall!\u00a0 Once stuck into the kiwi, I think they look perfect.\u00a0 You could also use jimmie sprinkles for these if you don\u2019t have leaves.<\/p>\n So, there you have it \u2013 a few ideas for Halloween meals for your kids, some super quick, some require a little more planning, but all are definitely doable.\u00a0 Remember, it doesn\u2019t take much to make your meals memorable!\\<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Halloween isn\u2019t my favorite holiday, but one thing I do love about it is that it gives me a built-in theme to make fun meals for my kids.\u00a0 Any time the theme presents itself, I\u2019ll take it! The theme for Continue reading Halloween Themed Meals for Your Little Ghouls and Goblins<\/span>![\"\"](\"http:\/\/foodietales.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/pumpkins1.jpg\")
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