Healthy-ish Halloween Snack Board

03 Oct Healthy-ish Halloween Snack Board

I put together this spooky snack board last weekend when we had a few friends over for drinks!

I usually get into the Halloween spirit by searching for the perfect costume and planning an annual Halloween extravaganza at work. Since sadly there are no parties to look forward to this year, I decided to make my small get-togethers with close friends feel festive.

For this themed board, I chose mostly healthy items like carrots and cantaloupe with a few treats in the mix. I love the look of dessert boards overflowing with candy and cookies, but I’m trying to limit the sweets after baking up a storm all quarantine. I think I struck the right balance of healthy and not-so-healthy foods, so we could eat the whole thing without feeling guilty.

My entire list of ingredients is at the bottom of this post if you’d like to recreate it. I’m also sharing my top tips for creating your own scary snack tray with foods you love.

1. Shop Your Pantry to Create Variety

The best charcuterie-style boards look so interesting because they have lots of different items. When I look at the long list of things I used, it seems really overwhelming. I would probably not recommend grabbing an entire list off the internet and heading to the store to replicate it exactly. Use what you already have in your house as a starting point. I always keep fruit, cheese, crackers and hummus on hand to serve when we have friends over for a drink, so I started there. You can use any food you love in your pantry from popcorn to apples to Oreos.

2. Add a Few Seasonal Elements

To give your board Halloween vibes, choose at least 3-4 themed items to be the stars of the show! I picked up some seasonal trail mix and M&Ms as an easy way to incorporate the classic Halloween color palette. If you want to get a little more creative, I made the clementine pumpkins, created Milano cookie tombstones and transformed ants on a log into “spiders on a log” with a little black icing. There are so many great ideas out there on Pinterest! In total, you should now have at least 10-12 items to make your board feel exciting.

3. Find the Right Size Board

Picking the right board or tray to use is so key. I used one that was about 10 x 11.5 inches, and it was perfect for a small gathering (we’re in Covid times after all). If you’re serving a bigger group or putting larger items on the board, you will probably need more space. You can always turn a cutting board or cookie sheet into your base if you’re in a pinch.

4. Style It Like a Pro

Place your round items first and arrange everything else around them. In my opinion, it looks cooler and more intentional when you put two bowls next to each other instead of spreading them out evenly. When adding your appetizers, take care of break up items of a similar color to create more interest and draw your eye to different parts of the board. If you’re making a really big spread, you can even split up the larger piles into two smaller ones to look like you have more variety.

Ingredients:

• RIP Tombstones: Milano cookies + black icing
• Pumpkins: Clementines + celery for the stem
• Spiders on a log: Celery + peanut butter + chocolate chips + black icing
• Candy eyeballs + honey to attach them
• Archer’s Farm Candy Corn Trail Mix
• M&Ms Creepy Cocoa Crisp Dark Chocolate (Reese’s Pieces would work great too)
• Pepperjack cheese
• Good Thins gluten-free crackers
• Blueberries
• Raspberries
• Hummus
• Pita chips
• Cantaloupe
• Carrots