These jello spider nest cups are a scary Heen treat that’s super easy and fun to make and to eat!
These non-alcoholic spooky jello shots are an awesome kid-friendly Halloween party food idea and make easy treats to take to school.
You’ll just need 3 ingredients and a few minutes to make – plus refrigerated time to firm the jello of course!
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Small kids love these monster spider Halloween jello shots, and they can sure help you make them! It’s a fun activity and they will be delighted in getting involved.
After the jello is chilled and firm, hand them a whisk and they will enjoy crushing up the gelatin to create the fluffy spider nest for Miss Spider!
Ingredients
These are the ingredients you’ll need to make these kid-friendly monster jello shots:
- 1 box of jello – Get your favorite flavor! Use grape for purple, mandarin for orange, and strawberry, cherry or raspberry for red.
- Water for dissolving the gelatin, hot and cold. Plus ice if you want to set the jello quicker.
- Spider or tarantula gummies! Plus gummy worms and any other monstrous creatures you fancy!
How to make
This next part is a photo tutorial of the recipe steps with extra tips. If you’re looking for the full recipe measurements and summarized instructions, scroll down to the Printable Recipe Card.
- Add 1 cup of boiling water and the jello powder to a heat-safe bowl. Whisk jello and water together until the jello mixture is completely dissolved.
- Add 1 cup of cold water and mix. Refrigerate for 3 hours or until firm.
- With forks or a metal whisk, break the gelatin up into small pieces.
- Divide the shredded jello into 8 small cups, fluff it up and decorate with gummy spiders, jiggly worms or other spooky candy!
Substitutions
Spiders and worms: You can use gummy spiders or plastic spiders. If using toy critters, make sure they are made of food safe material.
Note: Do not serve the plastic spiders for children under 3 as they can be a choking hazard.
You can totally use any other gross little candy creatures that would like to nest in jello, like worms, frogs, snakes and lizards!
Flavors and colors: Purple (grape jello) and orange (mandarin, orange) are classic Halloween colors. But red (strawberry, cherry or raspberry) and green (lime) spider nests will be really spooky too!
Reduced-sugar: You can substitute regular fruit flavored gelatin for the sugar-free type.
Prepare in advance
You can prepare this spooky jello dessert up to one week in advance (just prepare the jello and leave in the bowl without breaking it up) or up to 1 day advance (fully assembled).
When you add gummy candies to liquid jello and chill them together, the gummies tend to go go soft and mushy if they stay in the jello too long.
In this case, the gummy spiders will not turn mushy because they are not placed inside the jello while it’s still liquid.
Still, the broken up jello is fluffiest soon after it’s crushed. So leave this step for up to the day before you wish to serve it. The gelatin it will compact or stick to itself again if it’s left for too long.
Fluffing it up doesn’t help much after the jello bits get fused together again.
Notes and tips
Make the gelatin set faster: After dissolving the jello powder in boiling water, instead of adding a cup of cold water, add a cup of icy water instead.
Just fill the cup with ice (up to the rim but not above), and complete the gaps with cold water.
Pour the whole cup of water and ice into the hot jello and mix until the ice cubes are fully dissolved.
This is my special fast set method – you use the exact amount of liquid needed (1 cup) and don’t have to be fishing semi-melted ice cubes out of the jello 🙂
Where to get jello shot molds: You can find these in restaurant and party supply stores, just ask for dressing containers or condiment cups. There might be different sizes, here I’m using the traditional jello shot container that’s 2 oz capacity.
They are really affordable and it’s great that they come with lids, so you can also make these and take them piled up in ice boxes to school parties and other gatherings.
Reusable cups: If you prefer you can also use small glass containers and offer small spoons. I like to reuse cleaned glass yogurt or flan jars, for example.
Halloween spider jello cups
Creepy and adorable: Kids will love these jello spider nest cups, a Halloween treat that's easy and fun to make and to eat!
- 3 ounces grape gelatin (1 4-serving box)
- 2 cups water (1 boiling, 1 cold)
- 8 spider gummies ((or other candy critters) )
- 8 gummy worms (optional)
Add 1 cup of boiling water and the jello powder to a heat-safe bowl. Whisk jello and water together until jello mixture is completely dissolved.
Add 1 cup or cold water and mix. Refrigerate for 3 hours or until firm.
With forks or a metal whisk, break the gelatin up into small pieces.
Divide the shredded jello into 8 small cups, fluff it up and decorate with gummy spiders, jiggly worms or other spooky candy.
Choose different flavors: I suggest grape flavored gelatin for its dark purple Halloween-y color. Red, orange and bright green jello work too!
Make ahead: You can prepare the jello up to one week in advance and leave refrigerated in a covered container. Break up the jello and assemble the desserts up to one day before serving. Keep them covered with lids (if gummies haven’t been added) or just cover with lose cling film to avoid absorbing odors.
Reduced-sugar recipe: Use sugar-free jello (0.3 ounce package) instead of the regular 3 ounce package which contains sugar.
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