It’s almost Halloween again! You’ve already been to the pumpkin patch, you’re stocked up on candy for the few little ghosts and goblins that still ring doorbells, and you are all set to spend Halloween night in your pajamas watching scary movies and eating popcorn.
But then the text comes in. The neighborhood decided to have candy-free trick-or-treating this year. There’s a costume contest at work. Your friend is having an impromptu Halloween bash—which you suspect they’ve been secretly planning for a month or so.
You aren’t ready after all.
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While sticking with your original pajamas and popcorn plan is a perfectly acceptable choice, it isn’t your only option, even at the very last minute. For those who choose to take on the challenge of last-minute Halloween preparations, here are a few ideas to get you started:
Last Minute Candy-free Treats
There are many reasons you might find yourself in need of candy-free treats on Halloween night. Whether it’s due to an unexpected neighborhood ban, an allergic friend or relative, or just because you accidentally ate all the candy and don’t have time to go to the store, here are a few festive alternatives to traditional candy.
Ghostly Balloons
Draw eyes on white latex balloons or stick googly eyes on them. Tie the ghostly balloons to the front porch with a sign that reads “Ghosts: Free to a Good Home. Please take one.”
Coloring Sheets
Coloring pages make another great last-minute option for kiddos with food restrictions, and all you need to create them is a computer and a printer You can find a huge variety of Halloween printouts, including coloring pages, mazes, and puzzles, at the Crayola website.
Skeletal or Ghostly String Cheese
String cheese makes a good alternative for many kids, as it doesn’t contain any nuts or sugar and it already comes in convenient individual packages. Draw a skull and bones on the outside of the string cheese packet to transform it into a skeleton or draw a pair of eyes and a mouth to give the illusion of a ghost.
Halloween Pencils
Secure strips of brown or yellow construction paper to one end of a pencil with tape or a rubber band to make it resemble a broom. Although pencils with Halloween decorations would make this project even better, simple wooden pencils will suffice.
Last Minute Costumes
When we say last-minute costumes, we mean last-minute. These costumes can all be completed with just a few props, typically in less than an hour.
Variations on the 404 shirt
One of our previous articles suggested writing the words Error 404: Costume not found on a plain white t-shirt for an exceptionally easy yet amusing costume. Variations on this theme could include a shirt with the words “intentionally left blank” across the front, or simply writing an alternative text option, such as “person wearing a white shirt and jeans at a Halloween party.
Fork in the road
Wear a black shirt. Make a dashed line down the middle with painter’s tape, duct tape, or post-it notes. Tape a fork to the middle of it. You are now dressed as a fork in the road.
Zombie
A convincing zombie outfit can be made by combining any torn and dirty clothes with gray-green makeup and a vacant expression to give you that freshly-killed look. You can elevate this costume by adding red food coloring or fake blood.
Phishing email
Dress in your best fishing gear. Hang a piece of paper from a fishing pole with “Dear Valued Customer” written on one side and “Act immediately” on the other. Add an extra layer of humor to the costume by using a name tag to label yourself as a Nigerian Prince.
Ghost
The bedsheet ghost has been a tried-and-true last-minute Halloween costume for as long as white bedsheets have been around. If you don’t have an old bedsheet to cut up and object to destroying a perfectly good one for a costume, you can don a white bathrobe and ghostly makeup for a similar effect.
Last Minute Snacks and Appetizers
There are a lot of fun and flavorful options to bring to a Halloween potluck, but it can be slightly more of a challenge when you don’t have a lot of time to prepare. These simple snacks will help make it easier to come up with something delightfully quick and easy.
Jack-O-Lantern Quesadillas
Before melting the cheese in your Jack-O-Lantern quesadilla, cut triangle eyes and a nose out of the top tortilla, as well as a traditional Jack-O-Lantern smile. The bright orange cheese will show through when it’s melted, making it look like the quesadilla is lit from within.
Tangerine Pumpkins
Place a piece of celery or cucumber as a stem in the center of a whole, peeled tangerine to transform it into the appearance of a pumpkin.
Banana Ghosts
Cut fresh bananas in half. Place two chocolate chips facing out on the top half of the banana as eyes to transform the fresh fruit into a spooky snack.
Oreo Eyeballs
Take the top cookie off of each oreo, exposing the creamy center. Place a gummy lifesaver in the center with a chocolate chip in the middle of it as a pupil. Draw red lines on the white frosting with red piping or gel frosting to make the eyes look bloodshot.
*As a bonus, you can either snack on the discarded top cookies as you go, or you can crumble them up and use them as a topping for a Halloween Dirt Cake.
Fall is a busy time of year, and it’s easy for Halloween celebrations to sneak up on us. Armed with these quick and easy ideas for Halloween snacks and costumes, you can navigate just about any celebratory situation.
Penny Leigh Sebring is a Cohere member, experienced freelance writer, neophyte speculative fiction author, and gatherer of information and imaginary friends.
Photo by Sabina Music Rich on Unsplash