Prairie Wife’s Favorite Family Friendly Halloween Treats

Halloween is almost upon us, and with a somewhat open weekend ahead of me, I have plans to be the "fun mom".

Between work here at the radio station and taking care of all that comes with managing our family of seven, I don't often have time to do the exciting crafty projects with my kids that they love.

Making Halloween treats is a family tradition that allows me to spend quality time with my kids while letting our creative juices flow and embracing all the creepy cuteness of the season.

I've gathered up a few of my favorite family-friendly recipes and created the ultimate list for you below.

To clarify, "family-friendly" means you can actually find the ingredients easily at any grocery store, the prep time and cook time does not exceed the attention span of a 6-year-old, making the treats will be fun for a variety of ages, and the treats actually taste as good as they look.

Rice Krispie Treat Pumpkins: These are great for the younger kids. I often let the older kids do the prep work and then the let the little ones create the pumpkins. Note: Spray hands with nonstick baking spray between making each pumpkin to keep things from getting sticky.

Pretzel Witch Wart Fingers: I've found that the older kids love to make these exactly as they are shown. The younger children are just as happy to dip the pretzels in the candy melts (we use a variety of Halloween colors to make it more fun) and then coat them in Halloween themed sprinkles. Note: You can also use white chocolate chips melted and dyed with food coloring if you can't find the candy melts.

Apple Peanut Butter Teeth: These are great treats to create because the kids need little to no assistance on this one, and the prep time is super quick! If you want to take it to the next level you can create fangs with candy corn. Note: If you have a peanut allergy you can substitute Nutella or almond butter.

Halloween Popcorn: This is perhaps the easiest Halloween Treat of all. I buy a few bags of microwave popcorn and then let each kid pick out whatever Halloween themed candy they want. From sour worms to Halloween themed M&M's it all goes in one big bowl and gets stirred together (bonus points if you chant bubble bubble toil and trouble while you're stirring). Give everyone their own bowl and sit down to watch a fun Halloween themed movie.

If you want to go all out, you can head on over to Pinterest and find zillions of Halloween themed treats.