Spooky Citrus: How To Make Halloween Mandarin Jack O’Lanterns
If you are looking for a cute Halloween decorating idea, that’s also a healthy treat, you’ll love these Halloween mandarin Jack O’Lanterns. The natural colour and shape of mandarin oranges makes them ideal to transform into Halloween pumpkins. Discover 2 ways to create easy spooky Halloween citrus snacks.
*Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. We may be paid a commission if you use these links to make a purchase. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Creating Halloween mandarin pumpkins
Mandarin oranges are the ideal citrus for Halloween decorating. Their orange colour is the essential Halloween colour of pumpkins and Jack O’Lanterns. And the rounded shape – with the segmented sections when peeled – makes them look a lot like a pumpkin too.
What variety of mandarin oranges are best?
If you are going to create Halloween mandarin Jack O’Lanterns by drawing spooky faces, you can really use any type of mandarin orange at all. Just choose a mandarin variety that’s in season where you live.
For peeled Halloween mandarin pumpkins, the best option is an easy peel mandarin variety. We’ve used Imperial mandarins, but you could also choose Satsuma or Emperor mandarins.
Halloween mandarin Jack O’/Lanterns
For a super simple Halloween decoration, you’ll just need mandarin oranges and a black Sharpie marker or other permanent marker pen. (Don’t worry about it not being edible or food grade. You’ll only be decorating the outer peel, which will be taken off and discarded.)
Now let your imagination run wild and draw your spooky Jack O’Lantern faces on the mandarins. This is a great Halloween activity for kids too.
Use your spooky mandarin Jack O’Lanterns to decorate your home, or for a Halloween party. Decorated Halloween mandarins are also a fun non-candy treat to have for trick or treaters.
Halloween mandarin pumpkins
The second easy way to use mandain oranges is to create healthjy Halloween pumpkin snacks.
Simply peel the mandarin oranges, removing as much of the white pith and membranes as you can. Then add a green stem to the centre. We’ve used small pieces of mini cucumbers, but you could use celery or any other green vegetable to create a stem shape. Or use herbs like mint to add leaves.
Serve as a fun Halloween snack for kids or use to decorate your Halloween party platters.
Tip: Save the mandarin peels to make homemade citrus cleaning spray.
More citrus decorating ideas and recipes
Decorate your home with citrus all year round with citrus themed wallpapers. Or consider using citrus colours in your home decor. Our citrus coloured mood boards for lemon yellow, lime green, citrus orange and citrus pink have loads of inspiration for using these shades to create amazing colour palettes.
Explore our citrus recipe ideas using mandarin oranges and all types of citrus.
For more citrus inspiration for your kitchen, garden and home, we’d love you to subscribe.
Free goodies!
Subscribe and receive our citrus themed weekly planner and to do list
