A Disney Halloween Treat: Monsters Inc. Popcorn Balls

 

Can you believe Halloween is a week away?! Seriously, where did October go?! Are you all ready for next Friday? Got all your costumes made/bought? Candy ready to hand out to the cute trick or treaters? Yeah, me neither. Way back in July when we decided to change our family vacation from the end of the month to October I had thought it would be so fun to dress my boys up as Mike and Sulley from Monsters Inc. They both love Monsters University and since we were going to be going to Disneyland for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party I thought it would be the perfect costume idea! I had it all planned out in my head how I was going to make their costumes and what Jeremy and I were going to be.

But, as usual, life happened. And I remembered, I can’t sew. Doh! I really need to learn soon! Anyone want to come teach me?! Jeremy also told me he wasn’t really sold on the idea of being Monsters. So back to the drawing board. One day in September we went to City Creek for lunch and decided to stop in to the Disney Store. Man were my little guys in heaven!! They wanted one of EVERYTHING! Of course we had to get them something, so we settled for a few cars. As we were walking out, Jeremy saw Star Wars costumes and, appparently, it was love at first sight (so to speak). However, I could not and would not justify spending $60 per costume for something they would only wear a few times. 

Of course, boys gotta stick together and the 3 of them begged and pleaded with me for 2 weeks before I finally gave in. Being the super-frugal gal that I am I started scouring the web for better prices. All the costumes that were less expensive also looked, well less expensive. The Disney ones were really nice quality. So we went back in on a Friday afternoon and luckily they had a sale. And after some negotiating with a super nice girl at the store we walked out only paying $70 for both costumes. Not bad huh?!

I still wanted Monsters University to be part of our Halloween this year though. I put my thinking cap on and it came to me one night as I was watching Monsters U with my boys and eating some popcorn… I could make Mike & Sulley Popcorn Balls! I asked the boys if they would like to help me make Mike & Sulley out of popcorn and they were all for it! So the next day we went to Winco and picked up some Jolly Rancher Jello Mix and we were ready to start creating!

I love baking with my boys. Not only does it keep them busy, so they stay out of trouble, but the joy I see in their eyes when they get to see the finished project just makes my heart burst with pride. When we were done Rohrl’s exact words were “Oh My Gosh Mama These are SO cute!” Yep, he’s my boy! This is actually a really easy treat to make and super fun to let the kids help with. I’ll share with you in the directions what the boys did and what mom did.

Ingredients:

2 boxes Jolly Rancher Jello Mix- Blue Raspberry and Sour Green Apple

16 cups popped popcorn (1 cup unpopped kernals)

1 cup sugar

8 Tbsp butter

6 Tbsp corn syrup

4 Tbsp sweetened condensed milk

Wild Berry Skittles (only the purple ones)

Jet Puffed Marshmallow Creme

Black Frosting

2 Candy Eyes

Directions:

Preheat oven to 200F.

Put 8 cups of popcorn into 2 separate bowls. (I let the boys do this.)

In two sauce pans combine 1/2 c sugar, 4 Tbsp butter, 3 Tbsp corn syrup, 2 Tbsp sweetened condensed milk and one packet of Jello mix (I let the boys do everything but the corn syrup and milk. They are 2 and 1, and if I let them pour those things I knew more would end up on them than in the pan.)

Over medium heat, stir together until everything runs smooth (about 3-4 minutes). You don’t have to stir the whole time and I definitely suggest mom do this unless your little ones are older.

Pour each gooey mix over popcorn and stir to combine (You should have one green batch and one blue batch). I poured the mix in and the boys stirred.

Line 2 cookie sheets with wax paper and pour popcorn out trying to make one even layer. I did this part since the mix was still warm.

Bake for 13-15 minutes making sure not to let the colors turn brown.

Take out of oven and let cool for 5 minutes.

Form about 2 cups (it doesn’t have to be exact, I measured about 4 small handfuls) of popcorn into a ball. Add the skittles and candy eyes to the blue popcorn to make Sulley. Add a spoonful of Marshmallow Creme and a dot of black frosting to the green popcorn to make Mike Wazowski. 

**Note: The Marshmallow creme will run so if you want to take pictures of your creations you better do it fast!

This made 6 popcorn balls with some extra popcorn leftover. 

That same night Monsters Inc was on Disney so we got to watch Monsters AND eat monsters! The boys were in heaven! I think this will be a tradition we will have to do every year. Do you have any fun Halloween traditions?

Want to meet Mike & Sulley in real life? Head over to Get Away Today and book your vacation package today! Be sure to use code TFRUGAL to save $10!

Looking for more Monsters Inc. goodies? Check out these ideas:

Monsters Inc. Cupcakes

Mike Wazowski Pinata

Monsters University Party Ideas