It seems that Halloween can really "suck the life right out of ya" especially when you have young children clinging to you for a little entertainment while you are rushing around like a mad man making costumes & treats for all the festivities. So when I make treats I usually try to "kill 2 vampires with one stake". I created these Dancing Skeletons for my children to not only enjoy eating but to also entertain themselves with. Plus they are QUICK & EASY, a busy mom's two favorite words!

Step 1: SUPPLIES

For this project you will need very few supplies:

White & black melting chocolates or chips (I prefer melting chocolate because it's a little more solid when dried)

Quart sized freezer bags to melt your chocolate in.

Pretzel sticks

wax or parchment paper

Optional: Long wooden popsicle sticks

Then you will need to find a skeleton design you like and print it out to the desired size. I used: This one

and printed 2 to a page to get the size I wanted.

NOTE: You can opt to just free-hand them too if you don't have the time or supplies to print.

Step 2: DRAW & FILL

Simply place your printed template under a piece of wax paper.

Using a microwave, melt down your chocolate in the bag until it is smooth. (Follow melting times given on the bag)

Cut a small tip off of the corner of the bag.

Drawing with the chocolate, outline & fill in the shape of your skeleton.

Add a large O shape at the ends of the legs & arms. As well as the shoulders and hips. (The O needs to be large enough for a pretzel stick to fit through.)

Step 3: DETAILING

Before the chocolate cools completely,break some pretzel sticks into fourths and push them into place along the "long bones" of the arms, legs, and ribs.

Using a small amount of the black melts, pipe on some eyes and a mouth.

NOTE: If the chocolate has hardened simply reheat the bag in the microwave and add a small amount to act as a glue for the pretzel bits.

Step 4: EDIBLE BRADS

The classic paper dolls, that these are designed after, use metal brads to act as the "joint". I wanted these to be completely edible so I fashioned some pretzel brads. To make these:

Pipe some chip-sized dots of chocolate along the wax paper.

Using some of the pretzel fourths, stand them up straight in the chocolate dots.

Once cooled. Remove them from the wax paper and begin assembling the skeleton.

Step 5: ASSEMBLY

To assemble the skeleton start by setting out 4 pretzel brads.

With the fronts facing down, slip the O joint of the arms and legs over the brads.

With the front facing down, slip the O joints of the body on top of the arms and legs.

*Then dip the end of a full sized pretzel stick (or popsicle stick) in chocolate and place it along the back of the body.

*NOTE: When placing the stick on the back be sure that it goes along the neck of the skeleton for reinforcement purposes. If your pretzel stick is too short just add more chocolate at the neck for reinforcement then add the stick more towards the top.

Finally, to complete the skeleton, cap off the brads by pipping a chip-sized amount onto the end of the pretzel.

Step 6: ENTERTAINMENT

Once the chocolate has completely cooled and is hard to the touch. You can let the kids go crazy with their Dancing Skeletons. If they happen to break, no problem, they can simply eat them or do a skeleton hospital with a bag of the melted chocolate making "repairs" themselves. Either way, it's a lot of fun for them & it buys you a few extra minutes to relax in your coffin.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!