5 BOO-tiful Last Minute Halloween Ideas + Leftover Candy Cookie Recipe
Are you a fan of cute décor or scary décor?
Over the years, I’ve found people gravitate towards one or the other when it comes to Halloween. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who does scary with a bit of cute thrown in or vice versa.
Being a giant scaredy cat, I am firmly in the camp of cute Halloween decorations. I have no interest in skeletons, zombies or bloody anything.
If you too prefer your holiday with more smiles than screams, here are a few last-minute Halloween ideas to make your holiday BOO-tiful.
UPDATE - Turn leftover Halloween candy into yummy cookies. Get the recipe below!
- Cookie Monster Pumpkin
- Candy Corn Rice Krispie Treats
- Fun Styling Tips for the Celebration stand + banner
- Make Your Chandelier BOO-tiful
- Spooky Finger Food
- Leftover Candy Cookies recipe
Cookie Monster Pumpkin
If you’re bringing cookies to a Halloween party, you could just put them on a plate...or you could spend an hour or so making the presentation of the cookies truly memorable.
Please meet the Cookie Monster Pumpkin. It's sure to be a hit with kids and adults alike and only requires a few supplies to make.
You'll need:
- Pumpkin
- Carving knife
- Blue spray paint
- 2 foam balls, approximately 2" in diameter
- Black Sharpie or puffy paint
- Toothpicks
- Cookies
Making the Cookie Monster pumpkin is easy!
1. Start by finding a sturdy pumpkin and spray painting it blue.
2. Cut off the top of the pumpkin and extract the seeds and strings.
If you are not using the pumpkin in the next several hours, you'll want to preserve its freshness and repel any unwanted critters. One of the easiest ways to do this is to spray the inside and outside with hairspray. Yes, hairspray!
3. Carve a wide mouth in the pumpkin . (I outlined the area in marker first as my carving skills are limited at best.)
4. Cookie Monster is known for his signature eyes. Create a pupil on each of the foam balls using black puffy paint or a Sharpie.
5. Add the eyes to the top of the pumpkin with toothpicks. Since I was taking my pumpkin to a party and didn't want any mishaps on the drive over, I secured the eyes in place using a hot glue gun.
6. For serving, place cookies on a plate in front of the Cookie Monster pumpkin. Place a few cookies in his mouth as if he were eating them.
Candy Corn Rice Krispie Treats
If you’re searching for a sweet treat but don’t have the time (or energy!) to bake, these Candy Corn Rice Krispie treats are for you.
Start by making a batch of Rice Krispie treats, and then:
- Divide the gooey mess into three bowls—one for each layer of the candy corn.
- For the top part of the candy corn, leave the first bowl as is.
For the middle layer of the candy corn, add a few drops of orange food coloring to the second bowl. Mix thoroughly.
For the bottom layer of the candy corn, add a few drops of yellow coloring to the third bowl. Mix thoroughly.
- To help you form the gooey mess into candy corns, get out a large jelly roll pan or a 13” x 9” pan.
(Forming the candy corns by hand works, but I found the food dye stained my hands and resulted in the color of each layer being kind of messy.)
- Lay down a stripe of the yellow gooey mess along the longest side of your pan. Repeat with a stripe of the orange gooey mess and then a stripe of the white gooey mess.
- Add another set of stripes.
- Cut into triangles with a knife. Round the white layer on top with your hands for maximum candy corn effect.
Fun Styling Tips for the Celebration Stand + banner
A customer recently emailed me to say that she's enjoyed using the Celebration Stand and banners, but wondered if I had a suggestion on where she might display it other than on her kitchen island.
I was so excited she asked! Here are the styling ideas I sent to her.
1. Look up! Many people have unused or seldom used space in their kitchen above the typical line of sight, such as above a kitchen range.
Placing the decor higher up draws the eye towards the ceiling and may even make the space seem larger.
2. Add a few inches - Since the Celebration Stand measures over 21" tall, it can be tricky to find other decor of similar scale.
A great solution is to place the stand on a table and add other items that have recently experienced a "growth spurt." Help create extra inches by stacking items on top of each other.
By adding decor of varying heights, you add greater visual interest and make a bigger impact with your display.
In the photo below, you'll see the ghost piñata is resting atop a bowl that has been turned upside down. By using a bowl as a step stool of sorts, the ghost is 10" taller than he would have been if he'd sat directly on the table.
Similarly, the pumpkin holding the yellow mums is sitting atop a black cake stand.
PS I find piñatas to be fun table decor, even if you never fill them with candy!
3. Transform what you have - My dear friend Marci left a BOO! basket on my doorstep, including this orange vase. She drew a face on it using a Sharpie and added some ribbon. So darn cute!
If you've never written on porcelain with a Sharpie, it's time that you did!
It's so easy to do and it's a fun way to add a personal touch to a dinner plate, tray or even a vase. The very good news is that the marker easily wipes off with some water and a drop of dishwashing soap.
Decorate Your Chandelier
One of my favorite ways to decorate for a holiday is to accessorize my chandelier. It's a fun and unexpected way to make your home more festive and transform small decorative items into a focal point.
1. Gather small Halloween-themed decor like bats, pumpkins and spiders that also have a small hook at the top. The exact number you'll need is a function of the size of your chandelier, but a safe place to start is with 12.
2. Prepare the items to be hung using ribbon. Cut ribbons in varying lengths and then tie a ribbon to each item. The lengths of the ribbon will depend on the height of your chandelier, but I'd suggest cutting the ribbon into 8" to 14" lengths.
3. Using the ribbons, hang each of the items on the chandelier. This may involve standing on the counter top, so please be careful! Be sure to distribute them across the width of your chandelier and alternate heights.
4. After hanging all items, take several feet back from the chandelier and evaluate your work. I've been decorating chandeliers for years and I always find that I have to move a few items around to create a balanced look.
5. Add optional garland for greater effect.
Tah dah!
Spooky Finger Food
Warning! This idea goes beyond cute and enters into the spooky territory.
As much as I love sweets, I always think it's a good idea to have some savory snacks as well. These easy to make crackers fit the bill and can be shaped into any design---including fingers!
Start with your favorite cheddar cheese cracker recipe. Be sure to use white cheddar so that the fingers don't end up looking like they went to the tanning salon. 😎
If you don't have a go-to cracker recipe, check out these Homemade Cheese Crackers from Sally's Baking Addiction. (Though I don't know Sally personally, she is my first stop when looking for a recipe online.)
Once you've made the cracker dough, roll it into a large rectangle. Cut into thin strips). Next add some horizontal lines to help make the fingers more realistic.
To make the fingernails, add some red food coloring to sliced almonds. Press each almond into one of the fingers and bake as directed.
What to Do with that Leftover Candy? Make Cookies!
After trick or treating was done, my kids would survey their loot. They'd divide the candy into 3 piles--love; like, but willing to trade for something they liked better; and a 'You Can Have it Mom'.
One year I realized that I could take the unwanted candy bars (plenty of Snickers and Milky Ways among others) and turn them into a super yummy cookie. Suddenly the Halloween lemons were delicious lemonade by mid-November.
You'll find the recipe below. I've found that chocolate based candy works best. I've played with hard candies and sours, but either the flavor was funky or I worried someone would chip a tooth on something hard and unexpected in the candy.
Leftover Candy Cookies
2 sticks butter
1.5 cups smooth peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups of chopped candy (chocolate based works best!)
1. Cream together butter for 5 minutes.
2. Blend in peanut butter and vanilla.
3. Mix in eggs and stir well.
4. Add in flour, baking soda and salt until full combined with other ingredients.
5. Fold in chopped up candy.
6. Scoop dough into 2" balls and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-16 minutes. Actual baking time depends on type of candy used and amounts of each type.
