How to Decorate for Trunk-or-Treat

Many neighborhoods host Fall festivals during the month of October and a very popular area at the event is the Trunk-or-Treat.  A Trunk-or-Treat is a fun way for children to come together and go trick-or-treating within a community whether are their local community center, school or church without the worries of doing door to door to strange homes for candy.

So you have decided to take part in the Trunk-or-Treat yet you have no idea where to start.

 

First pick a theme for your trunk.  We went with a pirate theme since we had left over decorations from a party the previous year.  Some ideas for themes are:

• Pumpkins – friendly faces and orange backdrop, both carved pumpkins and plastic work
• Spiders – easy to use stretch cotton spider-web kits work perfect
• Ghosts – white drapes with fun ghost props
• Mummy – gauze and old t-shirts ripped and wrapped around the trunk
• Superhero – your child’s favorite superhero poster, a superhero mask or cape would serve as a backdrop

Since the top of the trunk is not very pretty I suggest using some sort of backdrop.  We used black plastic rolls or trash bags to line the inside of our trunk.  It was very easy to do and we just taped it down under the car without causing any damage to the vehicle or paint.

To transform the trunk into a scene we purchased a black foam poster-board {thicker than a regular poster-board so it would stand} and glued a cardboard cutout of a pirate ship that we found at the local card store.  To cover the sides between the poster-board and the sides of the trunk at the top we used black spider webs and a black net from the Halloween shop to drape over.

Since our trunk is fairly large, dumping several bags of candy into the bottom of the trunk was not ideal for us.  If the festival you attend will have thousands of children then filling your trunk full of candy might be needed, our event was not that large and therefore five large bags of candy plus some small toys would get lost inside our big trunk.  We decided to take our pirate theme a little further by putting a wooden pirate chest inside the trunk filled with pirate treasure.  Honestly, we just used a wooden box, wrapped a black net around it and dumped candy and small toys {usually found inside pinatas} with some gold chocolate coins and spider & skull rings inside.

Once we had the backdrop and pirate chest in place we started filling all the extra gaps and space with decorations.  We used all the skeleton props and foam tombstones we could find in our Halloween decorations.  We even hung some from the top of the trunk.  We used the Halloween decorations made to hang on a doorknob within your home for the small hanging objects on top.

Try to make sure everything fits snug and is secure for the chance of wind.  Also kids are in a hurry when they are trick-or-treating and be prepared for a crowd.  You do not want your decorations falling down.  We brought extra bags of candy and kept inside the car so when we ran low we could refill our pirate chest.  If the trunk is decorated to your liking but you fear there is not enough room left over for pounds and pounds of candy, just bring backup and refill.

Lastly we added a fun pirate sign we found at the Halloween store to a bale of hay.  Most kids that are at a community event to trick-or-treat are small.  Having something available for them to easily reach inside your trunk to grab candy is important.  The bale of hay served as a step-up for little ones and a place for me to sit when I was tired or waiting on more kids.

Don’t forget to dress-up yourself!  It’s the one time of the year that the adults get to act like kids and be anyone they want.  Having your costume match the theme of your trunk makes it even more exciting.

{we got a little more ambitious and stained the wooden box a darker color to look more like a pirate chest}

Have you participated in a trunk-or-treat before?  Which theme did I forget to add?