Nutrition expert Patricia Greenberg's tips for keeping Halloween treats healthy

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- If you're throwing a Halloween bash, nutritionist Patricia Greenberg says you can make your party pop with bright colors and scary themes, but when it comes to food trade sugar for something with substance.

"When you're giving your children candy, have it after food. Food will regulate the blood sugar. Keep the pancreas and the kidneys working well," said Greenberg known as The Fitness Gourmet.

She created a fun holiday spread that has the illusion of sweet treats, like her R.I.P. cookie lookalikes.

"These look like the sugar cookies you get at the bakery but they're actually whipped light cream cheese on whole grain bread," said Greenberg.

Other fun frightening food, scary eye balls that are really hard boiled eggs filled with guacamole and an olive.

Witches broomsticks are whole grain pretzels with low-fat cheese sticks, along with cheese bats with tortilla chips wings.

The sweetest things on her table are banana ghosts with chocolate chip faces, and orange pumpkins with a green bean stem. The hearty foods help keep kids fueled for a fun night.

"We want to have no more than six teaspoons of sugar a day, the kids are eating that in one sitting. Three, four, five times a day, even on a non-holiday," said Greenberg.

She says that some parents allow their kids to 'go for it' because it's a special occasion.

She hears: "Oh it's just a treat, it's just once in a while, it's a holiday. What I'm finding, people are giving children a lot more than they realize," said Greenberg.

Start them with pasta cauldron pots with bloody scary sauce and scary skewers with cheese, carrot, olive for a savory snack.

A portion controlled snack box like this one helps eyeball just how much food they're eating. Beyond sugar, it's good to keep calories in check.

Halloween can be trouble for kids with food allergies. Currently, one in 13 children in America have one or more food allergies.

But a great idea is from the Teal Pumpkin Project. You can print a downloadable sign that you color teal and put it at your front door. This lets kids know that you've got a food free treat for them. Something like cool erasers, colorful magnets or other food free treats.

For the party:

R.I.P. cookies - Spread whipped low-fat cream cheese on whole grain bread of choice. Write R.I.P. on top with decorative frosting serve on a bed of chopped pistachios and cocoa nibs

Scary Eye Balls - Boil hard boiled eggs, trade out yolk for guacamole, top with one olive, and squiggle low sugar ketchup for blood shot eyes

Witches broomsticks - Halve whole wheat pretzel and marry it with a quarter stick of string cheese, shred the bottom of the cheese to resemble a broom

Cauldron pots - Boil pasta and top with marinara sauce, put in mini cauldrons or doubled Halloween cupcake liners.

*Greenberg found many of the Halloween containers at inexpensive stores like the 99 Cents stores, etc.

Scary skewers - Take cut up baby carrots, cut pieces of cheese, olives and thread them on wooden skewers attach cut outs of ghosts, witches, etc.

Bats - Cut cheddar cheese in triangles, take two blue corn tortillas and attach one to two sides of the cheese so the side without the ship sits flat on the plate

Pumpkins - Peel small oranges or tangerines. Take pre-cooked green beans and bend them to make a small loop to stick into one side of the peeled orange to resemble a stem

Ghosts - Peel banana, cut in half so flat part sticks on plate. Make a small face out of mini chocolate chips (Do this one right before the party so the banana does not turn color)