Simple Spider Halloween Cupcakes
Otherwise known as how to happily feed 25 kids for under thirty bucks.
I am the Food and Beverage Coordinator (or some such similar title that I have forgotten) for Nick’s Cub Scouts. I don’t know how that happened. Oh wait, yes I do. An email went out about a month ago that some spots were opening up and they were looking for volunteers. I’d be in charge of the food and drinks for their various meetings, events and parties. I replied right away, of course. If you know me, you know if there is a food opportunity I’m on it like white on rice. I figured it would be another outlet to try out fun new recipes and things for the kids. Time? Who needs time? But don’t let me kid you. I’m not complaining about it. I live for this stuff.
So last week I got my first assignment … Halloween-themed snacks for their party tonight. There would be 20-25 kids and about 10 adults. Got it. Cupcakes were a given. I paged through tons of cute, scary, and gross cupcakes on various websites and magazines. Each one more appropriate than the next. But likewise, each one has an aching amount of detail that, let’s be honest, I don’t have the extra time for. Even I’ll admit that.
But I wasn’t going to let that deter me. I was convinced that you could still have fun and Halloween-themed food items without spending hours in the kitchen. You totally can. Tonight proved it.
I started by making plain white cupcakes with my buttercream frosting. Then I bought a bag of plastic spider rings and after the cupcakes were frosted, Nick sprinkled them all with green sugar crystals and pushed a spider ring into the center of each one. Bag of spiders? $2 for 50. Homemade frosting? Free with ingredients I had on hand. And I confess. I used a boxed mix for the cupcakes. On sale for a buck. 24 cupcakes for $3. The result? Happy kids and less than 45 minutes of my time. Perfect.
But that wasn’t enough. I needed one more thing, and I spied just the item on Family Fun’s website. Monster Fingers. A little time consuming, but I enlisted Nick’s help and we got a plateful of them done in about half an hour. Super simple to make. Take a cheese stick and cut it in half. Cut a little bit off the end to make a spot for the “fingernail.” The nail is a piece of green bell pepper affixed with a smidge of cream cheese. Cut little notches to resemble the joints on the finger and you’re done. Easy and healthy and a little bit of the “oooh creepy” factor we need for Halloween. Bag of 24 cheesesticks: $6. Bell pepper: $1. Cream cheese from the fridge.
Then I bought two plastic pumpkins for 94 cents each and filled them with tortilla chips and pretzels. You know, in case the adults aren’t interested in the Monster Fingers. Four cases of Honest Kids juice boxes and a Halloween party was born. My work here is done. At least for tonight.
October 20th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
Love the fingers!!! What a great idea (and healthy). I’m making mummy cupcakes for work on the 30th….I don’t know why I agree to these things, but I always do :) Nick will remember this stuff for years to come!
October 21st, 2009 at 12:10 am
The spider cupcakes & the fingers are very neat, excellent Halloween treats!
October 21st, 2009 at 6:17 am
These are both super adorable ideas! Can I join the party??
October 21st, 2009 at 9:41 am
What a neat idea. Those fingers look like they came right off of old Frankinstein himself.
It’s very nice of you to take time and be the food/beverage coordinator. Too many times, people want them or their kids to be a part of something but, won’t take time to actually help.
I am speaking from 1st hand knowledge having been in a dance group for many many years, where a few people always did all the work.
Same with our horse showing, lots participate, but few help. And it takes a lot to have and run these shows.
Great ideas, bet everyone enjoyed them.
Ramona
October 21st, 2009 at 10:33 am
cate…these are so cute
October 21st, 2009 at 10:53 am
Oh I love the monster fingers! I have never seen them made with cheese sticks…great idea….
October 21st, 2009 at 11:28 am
These cupcakes turned out so well- just adorable. And the cheese stick fingers is just genius. Nice job girl!
October 21st, 2009 at 1:39 pm
These are so cute! I’m going to try these.
October 21st, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Love the Monster Fingers!
SIL
October 21st, 2009 at 10:54 pm
They look so cute and delicious! Thanks for sharing :)
October 21st, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Great ideas! I might have to use the monster finger idea for the Halloween party Evan and I are invited to next week. Thanks!
October 22nd, 2009 at 8:47 am
ick-boo—those fingers are creepy! i’d much rather gaze upon your cupcakes, even if they’re adorned with spiders. :) halloween at your house must be a blast!
October 24th, 2009 at 11:55 am
LOVE the alternate title!! lol
So cute…great job!
Blessings-
Amanda
October 28th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
I would love to do this kind of thing too.
Kids love rings on cupcakes! We still have a few of those floating around the house from birthdays at preschool. Nick couldn’t eat the cupcakes other kids brought because of his peanut allergy but if they had rings, they would wash the ring off and give it to him.
Last time I made cupcakes for a crowd, I used boxed mix too. I just haven’t found a scratch recipe that’s as moist and consistent as the boxed yet.
October 28th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
love it! I made these pumpkin candy corn cupcakes: http://glammed.blogspot.com/2009/10/adventures-in-cooking.html
November 2nd, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Just a word of warning when using plastic decorations on top of small edible objects. If it’s not very obvious, the plastic decoration could be mistaken as an edible sugar decoration. This could be a choking hazard as it was with my brother who ended up in the hospital having to be put under to extract the plastic spider from his throat. He had to be on a respirator for a couple of days until the fluid cleared from his lungs. Probably safer not to mix edible items with non-edible decorations. Use gummy or candy spiders instead.