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You don’t have to celebrate junky candy and excess sugar to get into the spirit of Halloween. Whether it’s costumes, enjoying festive and healthy snacks, going door to door in your neighborhood, or getting some spooky thrills, there’s a lot more to Halloween than just processed sugar.

For entertaining treats, try one of these happy but healthy ideas:

REAL FRUIT SNACKS

Some people give out fruit snacks and fruit leather instead of traditional candy on Halloween night, but you can do one better by having fun with real fruit.

For the orange jack o’ lantern: Using a sharp knife, cut off the top of a large orange. Scoop out the inside as carefully as possible (a grapefruit knife would be helpful). Then cut out the jack o’lantern face and the top in a diagonal pattern. Fill with any combination of fruit you like.

For the ghostly bananas: Peel bananas and cut them straight across about three-quarters of the way down. Using a dab of nut butter, stick three chocolate chips onto each banana to make a ghostly face.

For the pumpkin clementines: Peel clementines and insert a short celery stick into the top of each of them.

WHOLE FOOD HALLOWEEN IDEAS

For the batty bento: To decorate a lunchbox, use a sharp knife to cut bats and cats out of nori, steamed carrots, and mini peppers.

For the soup: This great idea by Dreena Burton transforms any neutral soup or dessert into a Halloween-themed dish. Create a web design using plant-based sour “cream” for savory dishes and vanilla bean whip for sweet ones.

How to do it: Fill a small sandwich bag with the sour “cream” or the vanilla whip. Cut off a small corner with scissors. Carefully pipe the white decoration onto your soup or pudding in concentric circles starting in the center. Insert a clean butter knife into the center circle. Drag it outwards to create a webbed effect. Do this a few times until your design is finished, wiping off the butter knife each time.

For the peppers oozing with pasta brains: Cut off the top of each pepper neatly and seed and core each one. Using a sharp knife, cut out the jack o’ lantern face. Fill with pasta of your choice.

Suggested recipes: sweet potato bisque, broccoli soup, and pumpkin pudding.

MAKE IT AS HEALTHY AS POSSIBLE

We always suggest enjoying whole-food, plant-based desserts on special occasions, and Halloween definitely counts as an important family holiday! Enjoy and serve healthier versions of caramel apples, pumpkin pie squares, and chocolate cupcakes.

Have a fun and healthy Halloween!