14 Creative Ways to Use Halloween Candy
Not all Halloween candy must be eaten straight out of the wrapper. Use your extra stash to make decadent sweet treats and creative crafts.
Kids consider their stash of hard-earned Halloween candy sacred, so the concept of leftover candy is a fantasy in a lot of households. Before making any of these spooky desserts, stock up on extra candy in advance, or hit the post-trick-or-treat sale aisles. Store-bought cake, frosting and brownies can be used as timesavers, or you can make your own. Do frost the cake and brownies yourself, because the frosting needs to be wet for the candy to adhere properly.
Candy Topiary
Cover inexpensive foam topiary forms with fondant and candy to create a sweet Halloween decoration or centerpiece that kids will love helping to craft. After the festivities are over, they’ll have just as much fun pulling the candy off and devouring it.
Get the instructions: Candy Topiary
Halloween Popcorn Treats
Giada De Laurentiis’ sticky popcorn treats are chock-full of chopped chocolate bars, chocolate chip cookies, salted almonds and Halloween-colored candies. Serve them at your Halloween party or pack them up in cellophane as favors.
Get the recipe: Halloween Popcorn Treats
Candy Necklace
Candy-corn-colored gumballs, ribbon and a few tools are all you need to make this (sweet!) necklace that doubles as a fun kids’ craft and as a party favor they can take home. Just use a skewer or awl to poke a hole through each gumball, working on one side at a time. Thread ribbon through a large needle and slide through gumballs, tying a knot after each as you go. Add a ribbon bow for the perfect finishing touch.
Check out 20 more ideas for crafty Halloween party favors
Spiky Candy Corn Cupcakes
Use yellow food coloring to match your vanilla frosting to the color of candy corn bottoms, then arrange your extra stash of candy corn pieces sticking up in a circular pattern until all of the spaces are filled.
Get the recipe: Spiky Candy Corn Cupcakes
Candy Corn Candles
Prep your front porch or entryway for the arrival of trick-or-treaters or Halloween guests with the sweet aroma of candy-corn-filled hurricanes. To create them, place pillar candles inside clear glass hurricanes of different sizes, then fill each hurricane, roughly halfway, with candy corn. For safety, be sure to blow out the candle before it burns below the level of the candy.
More: Halloween front porch decorating ideas
Candy Bar and Bacon Rolls
Fill store-bought croissant dough with chopped candy bars (anything chocolate will do!) and crisp-cooked bacon, and bake for a molten, decadent treat.
Get the recipe: Candy Bar and Bacon Rolls
Eyeball Wreath
Inexpensive materials are all you need to craft this cute googly-eyed wreath. First, paint a foam wreath form white, then attach layers of white gumballs (or Ping-Pong balls) using hot glue. Finally, add small and large googly eyes to the wreath’s top layer. Spook up your front door with one of our 10 easy-to-craft wreaths.
Candy Bucket Cookies
Got anything left in the candy bucket once the trick-or-treaters have come and gone? Chop up any chocolatey leftovers, fold them into Jeff Mauro’s easy cookie dough and bake up a batch of post-Halloween treats.
Get the recipe: Candy Bucket Cookies
Mummy Candy Cans
These little mummies are not only cute; they’re functional, too. Filled with candy, the upcycled tin cans make a kid-pleasing Halloween party favor or surprise for your favorite trick-or-treater.
Get the recipe: Mummy Candy Cans
Chocolate Candy Pie
This versatile pie can morph to fit many moods. Freeze it for an icy delight, or just refrigerate instead if you’re looking for something a little softer (or you run out of time). Chopped chocolate-covered candy is folded into the pudding filling and strewn over the top.
Get the recipe: Chocolate Candy Pie
Pretzel Skeletons
Made out of marshmallows and white chocolate-dipped pretzels, these gooey and crunchy characters are as much fun for kids to craft as they are for them to gobble up.
Get the recipe: Pretzel Skeletons
Candy Bar Pancakes with Scary Blueberry Syrup
Treat the kids (or yourself!) to an over-the-top Halloween breakfast. Instead of chocolate chips, fold crushed or chopped candy bars into pancake batter and flip away. Sunny’s blueberry syrup is the perfect spooky topper — when the berries are cooked down, their deep-blue hue looks almost black.
Get the recipe: Candy Bar Pancakes with Scary Blueberry Syrup
Halloween Candy Bars
Kids love candy bars — after all, who doesn’t? For a super-simple party favor, use one of our printable designs to give a classic candy bar a Halloween makeover. Just print either the orange stripe template or the black stripe template onto standard copier paper, cut out the design and use double-sided tape to attach the Halloween wrapper to a chocolate bar.
By Sara Levine and H. Camille Smith
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