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It’s officially October and that means it is time to start planning for Halloween. What costumes will your kids be wearing this year? JR is dressing as the Greek god Hermes and Zuzu is going as a Barden Bella from the movie “Pitch Perfect.” I love both of their ideas.

Halloween is a time when kids and parents can use their imaginations and get really creative with costumes, decorations for inside and outside the home and, of course, snacks. I am a room parent for JR’s class this year and one of my first tasks is planning the class Halloween party. Some of the room parents go all out with the class decorations, games and Halloween-themed party food. It’s a lot of pressure!

One of my kids’ favorite treats for their lunch boxes and after-school snack is pudding, especially chocolate pudding. As treats go, Snack Pack pudding cups are one that I can feel good about serving my kids because each serving is fortified with as much calcium as an 8-oz glass of milk. That’s especially helpful for Zuzu who does not care for milk.

With their different flavors and simple packaging, Snack Pack pudding cups offer a lot of room for creating fun and tasty Halloween-themed snacks. Using ingredients and props that I found at my local Meijer, I created several different spooky Halloween pudding snacks that amused and horrified my kids. Best of all, each of these ideas is easy enough to do with your kids, or the kids at a class party, for a fun Halloween project.

For these creepy spiderweb pudding cups, you will need a four-pack of Vanilla Snack Packs and chocolate syrup. Place a drop of chocolate syrup in the middle of the pudding and then draw two concentric circles around it also using the syrup. Take a toothpick and place it in the dot of syrup in the center and pull it out to the edge of the cup. Repeat all the way around the cup to create a spiderweb. You can also draw a spiderweb on the outside of the cup using a black Sharpie. Decorate with plastic spiders!

When I saw these plastic syringes — that are actually pens! — at Meijer, I knew I could have some fun with them. Using food coloring that matches the colors in the play syringes, I created these Toxic Waste pudding cups. Simply place several drop of gel food coloring on the top of a Vanilla Snack Pack and use a toothpick to draw it down to create a layered effect. Top with a plastic syringe. I love the way that this came out.

For a less scary Halloween-themed pudding cup, perhaps for younger kids, try making a Jack-O-Lantern using a Butterscotch Snack Pack and a Tootsie Roll stem. Have the kids draw the face on the outside of the cup using a black Sharpie. 

To make these graveyard pudding snacks, you will need a chocolate Snack Pack, some chocolate sandwich cookies and a round or oval cracker. Crush the chocolate cookies to create dirt and sprinkle that on top of the chocolate pudding cups. (If you can find chocolate rocks, they are a fun addition as well.) Use the round cracker as a grave. I made mine extra fun with these skeleton hands and eyeballs. It looks like something is trying to crawl out!

Look for Snack Pack pudding cups in all the different flavors on the shelf at your local Meijer. Snack Packs are shelf-stable, which make them ideal for slipping into a lunch box. From October 4-31, you can save $1 when you buy four Snack Packs at Meijer using an mPerks coupon. (You must be a mPerks member to redeem the coupon.) Details can be found at the mPerks site by searching for “Snack Pack.”

For more fun Snack Pack mix-in inspiration, stop by the Ready For You Demo at the Melrose Park Meijer in Melrose Park, IL — or the Meijer near you — on October 11 from 12:00pm-6:00pm. You can also visit Snack Pack on Pinterest and Facebook for even more ideas.

What Halloween snacks will you be serving your kids this October?