Halloween is a time to celebrate the scary, spooky, and gross. But like most holidays, it’s also a time to celebrate food. Between extorting candy from neighbors and concocting the slimiest, goriest snacks, Halloween is less about sharing a wholesome meal with friends and family, and more about the indulging in the sweet excesses that we refrain from during the rest of the year. But you can still get some quality family bonding out of it if you take the time to bring your kids into the kitchen and get them involved in the fun and educative, though disgusting, process of creating treats for your next Halloween party. Your kids will love getting their hands messy with these fun recipes!

Here are some ideas for treats that are easy to make and can be concocted in your kitchen with common ingredients and tools.

Burned and Severed Meatloaf Hand

If you’re looking for a main course to gross out your friends and family, these zombie meat hands are for you. Developed by Not Martha, it’s possibly the most realistic and truly disturbing recipes presented here. This treat brings a level of realism to the gross Halloween treat game that few achieve. It’s not only disgusting in concept, but in presentation as well (though extremely delicious despite its appearance).

Mix together your favorite meatloaf recipe, or use the one on Not Martha’s blog. Place your mixture in either a hand-shaped mold or manually shape the meatloaf. It works best if you leave the fingers connected, so they don’t break off once it’s cooked.

With the addition of some sliced cheese and pieces of onion, you can create the effect of necrotic flesh, fingernails and bones. A little ketchup or stewed tomatoes can be used as blood/gore around the hand. Once your edible severed limb is complete, enjoy the show as your family attempts to build the courage to eat this truly gross looking burned, severed hand! If you’re feeling confident about your meat sculpting talent, experiment with making other severed body parts using the same technique.

Bloody Slide Suckers

Get your kids excited about science with these edible candy slides complete with blood samples. Easy to make, this hard candy will pique your kids’ interest in medicine, if it doesn’t gross them out first. Using a basic hard candy recipe and a little red food coloring, these faux glass slides are totally safe to eat, and can make a great prop for a mad scientist costume or Halloween display.

To make the slides, simply follow the steps in the link above. All you’ll need is a good saucepan, some parchment paper, hard candy ingredients, red food coloring and a hot knife. This project definitely requires some adult supervision as you cut the candy into slide-sized sections, but your kids will love measuring the ingredients and painting the “blood samples” onto the freshly made slides. And, of course, they’ll love eating them once they’re done, too. If you want to make something a little more exotic than boring old blood, try using a different color food coloring to make alien blood, or even set candy bugs into the sugar candy as it’s hardening. These treats can be as creative as you want them to be.

Chestburster in Ribs

If you’re going for a science-fiction themed Halloween party, why not make your own chestburster alien, complete with ribs and a hearty meaty roast?

You’ll need a large apple, an onion, a few slices of bacon and a bamboo skewer. Start by cutting the apple into sixths, carving out the seeds, and skewering the pieces lengthwise on the bamboo skewer, leaving enough space at the end to attach the alien’s head. Wrap your bacon around the alien’s body, and secure with toothpicks.

Take your onion and cut off the top and bottom, leaving about a one to one and a half inch thick slab of onion. Cut this middle portion in half and turn it on its side to make the alien’s head. Using a paring knife, cut out the alien’s mouth on the front of the head. Then, place the head on the top of the skewer. You may want to use additional toothpicks to secure the head to the body. Using your remaining onion, fashion arms and secondary mouth for the chestburster and attach them with toothpicks.

Bake or broil the alien in your oven, turning frequently, until the bacon is crispy and brown. You’ve completed your chestburster!

A roast and some ribs using your favorite recipe will serve as the base for your alien’s presentation at the table. Secure the chestburster into the roast using the bamboo skewer, and enjoy! Click here for images of this delicious monster.

These are just a few of the fun projects you can do with your kids this Halloween season for some good, old fashioned family time. Get creative and try to come up with your own recipes as well. Your kids probably even have some great ideas of their own!

Check out our other Halloween articles:

Halloween-Inspired Craft Projects

DIY Halloween Costumes For The Kids

Halloween – Make Your Own Haunted Cemetery

Turning Your Pumpkins Into an Educational Experience

Halloween Movies For Kids That Parents Will Enjoy

Getting Creative With Halloween Treats

Creative Halloween Kids Activities