Halloween Trick or Treat Bags: An Easy DIY Idea

Make your own Halloween Trick or Treat Bags for the kids to carry from house to house this year with a simple bag, felt, paint and other craft supplies.

When I was a little girl, I remember going door to door on Halloween to trick or treat for candy. My mom made us the cutest Halloween trick or treat bags using light weight denim fabric. She used fabric markers or paints to create little Halloween pictures on the side of the bags. It was one of those little things that just made the holiday feel more special to me as a child so I wanted to create that same special feeling for my boys now that they’re old enough to trick or treat.

Creating your own Halloween Trick or Treat Bags for kids can be a really easy and fun craft project. Plus using a reusable bag is environmentally friendly and less likely to break once it’s weighed down with pounds of Halloween candy. Although kids have to use two hands to open the bag and receive treats, it’s easy to carry or sling over their shoulder between houses. It’s also less likely to tip over than a plastic pumpkin or bucket.

How to Make Halloween Trick or Treat Bags

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You can whip up a couple of cute Halloween Trick or Treat Bags in an afternoon using inexpensive, plain Halloween tote bags, a little felt, glue, some string, paint and of course googly eyes!

What You Need:

• Orange and black reusuable Halloween bags (I found ours as a two pack at a local store, but Amazon carries some similar ones. If you’re really crafty, you could sew your own Halloween Trick or Treat Bags!)
• Black felt
• Lime green felt
• Purple felt
• Gray felt
• White felt
• Scissors
• Clear fabric glue
• Bright orange paint
• Lime green paint
• Paint brush
• Large pieces of cardboard
• Large googly eyes
• Black and lime green embroidery floss
• Embroidery needle

Instructions:

1. Put cardboard in the bag. Before you get started the first thing you want to do is insert a large flat piece of cardboard into each of the Halloween Trick or Treat Bags. This will keep the sides of the bag from sticking to one another when you’re applying glue or paint to the front of the bag.

2. Cut felt to create Frankenstein and bat shapes. For the Halloween Trick or Treat Bags I made, I actually found Frankenstein and bat felt puppet kits on clearance in the Halloween craft section of a local department store. If you can’t find something similar at a local store, you can easily create your own by cutting similar shapes out of felt. Here’s what you need –

For Frankenstein:

• 1 large lime green rectangle with two corners rounded off
• 2 round circles for the ears
• 1 long thin black rectangle for the hair, cut one of the long sides jagged
• 1 black scar shaped piece
• 1 black mouth shaped piece
• 2 small black “c” shaped pieces for the ears
• 2 gray “T” shaped pieces for the gaskets

For the bat:

• 1 large purple piece, like a square with rounded edges and two pointed “ears” on top.
• 2 black wing shaped pieces with scalloped edges on the bottom
• 1 black crescent shape for the mouth
• 2 white triangles for the teeth

3. Glue felt to the bag. Lay out the felt pieces in the center of the Halloween Trick or Treat Bags, so they appear layered as you want them. Start by gluing the bottom layer to the fabric bag first and then work your way forward, layer by layer until all the pieces are glued to one another in the shape of Frankenstein or the bat.

4. Apply googly eyes. Use a healthy dose of fabric glue on the back of the large googly eyes and then add them to the Halloween Trick or Treat Bags. While googly eyes are typically self-adhesive, you don’t want to risk the eyes falling off as you go door-to-door.

5. Paint a message on the bags. Paint “Trick or Treat” or whatever festive message you want on the Halloween Trick or Treat Bags. The fabric on the reusable bags tended to absorb the paint, so I found I had to do several coats in order to get the letters to appear as boldly as I wanted. If I were to make Halloween Trick or Treat Bags again, I might use fabric puffy paint instead.

6. Allow to dry. Wait a few hours for the paint and glue to thoroughly dry on the Halloween Trick or Treat Bags. You may want to remove the cardboard from the bags before everything dries completely so that the bag doesn’t stick to the cardboard.

7. Stitch around the edges. After the glue dries, use an embroidery needle and thread to sew black thread around the bottom and sides of Frankenstein’s head and lime green thread all the way around the bat’s head.

8. Enjoy – and be safe! Have a wonderful time celebrating Halloween with your little boys and ghouls. After all your work creating these special Halloween Trick or Treat Bags, make sure they share some of those yummy treats with you! Which is your favorite candy to pick first? Do you let the kids eat all the candy as quickly as they want or do you make them ration it over several days or weeks? Please comment below and share. We’d love to hear about some of your family’s favorite Halloween Trick or Treat traditions.

While you’re here, you may also enjoy other Halloween ideas on Kenarry, like this Glow-in-the-Dark Halloween Candy Bowl, a free printable to turn water bottles into pumpkins or this collection of fun food ideas for Halloween. If you liked this idea for Halloween Trick or Treat Bags, please share it with your friends or pin it for later:

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Carrie is the chief writer, crafter and cook here at Kenarry: Ideas for the Home. She’s an optimist by nature and enjoys sharing recipes, trying new craft ideas, planning for parties and events as well as organizing and decorating. When she’s not blogging, preparing meals or picking up around the house, you’re bound to find her hidden away in a castle under the stairs reading to her two young boys. Whether you’re cooking, crafting or creating for your family, follow Carrie on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Instagram to get inspiring ideas for your home.

Filed Under: Craft Ideas, Seasonal Ideas Tagged With: Crafts, Halloween, Holiday, Kid Ideas