Halloween Trick or Treat Bags

If you're out Trick or Treating, it's an exciting time - and it's made even better if you've got all the right outfit. Trick or treat bags can really make or break the night.

Imagine the scene: you're out and about trick or treating ... people are giving you gifts and treats at every house - and DISASTER - you forgot to take a trick or treat bag. Your best hope is that some lovely householder gives you a plain plastic carrier bag or paper bag :(

Awwww - now that's a shame because with a tiny bit of thought and effort you could have the perfect Halloween trick or treat bag at the ready, to receive and carry all those gifts and goodies comfortably and safely until you get home again. It's easy to create your own Halloween trick or treat bag too, so don't spoil your night.

Features of the Perfect Trick or Treat Bag:

• It should look scarey, it needs to show it's a trick or treat bag and not some last-minute thought
• Your trick or treat bag should match your outfit! As strange as that may sound, you can't have identical bags to everybody else in your group - they've all got different outfits, so make the bags look different.
• Your special Halloween trick or treat bag needs to be big enough! You need to be able to carry all the gifts and treats you get without running out of space. It'd be a disaster if you had to traipse all the way home to empty your bag and start again!
• The perfect Halloween trick or treat bag should have lots of compartments if possible. So you can separate your gifts and treats, if there are any that break or spill they need to be kept, but separated from the rest. You might need one little area for cash treats, one for chocolate, one for fruit ....

One easy way to get the perfect trick or treat bag is to make them yourself, create your OWN unique Halloween trick or treat bag - and this is something you can do with your kids getting involved. Really build up the anticipation of the night and let them help you to make great trick or treat bags for them.

Halloween Tote Bag

For the simplest bag, think about a simple tote bag.Simply:

• Cut two identical pieces of material the same size and sew them together on 3 sides.
• Add a strap - you can make the strap from a length of the same material, or constrasting material.

Also think about how much weight the bag can hold - you don't want the strap breaking, or the stitching in the bottom of the bag giving way.

Cheat Tote Bag

One "cheat" would be to take an existing tote bag and simply make a slightly larger tote bag yourself, which you can then pin to your tote bag. With this option the bag can still look like a Halloween trick or treat bag, but the strap strength and durability of the tote itself are safeguarded by the fact you've cheated and have a real bag under the Halloween trimming.

Halloween Figures

You can buy halloween figures in some shops - perhaps bats or witches hats, broomsticks or cats. Or, you can simply draw your own template and cut these out from some orange or black felt and stick them onto your Halloween trick or treat bag.

Use Glitter

Use glitter and sprinkle it on your trick or treat bag to make it sparkle.

Another, easy, way to make a Halloween Trick or Treat bag is to jazz up a simple brown paper bag, with handles - the type you might get from a food takeaway outlet.

Martha Stewart shows how to make clever -- and safe -- trick-or-treat bags for Halloween using glow-in-the-dark decorations. See the video alongside ->

One, almost essential, item for any trick or treat bag - or simply to wear - is the use of glow in the dark items.

You can get glow in the dark bracelets, glow in the dark necklaces or even just glow in the dark sticks - they really brighten up the dark night.

Glow in the Dark Stars

You might like to add on some glow in the dark stars, or glow in the dark ghost figures. Keep your eyes out in the shops, or just buy some online when you pick up what you need to make your Halloween trick or treat bags.

Simply attach, or glue, these to your trick or treat bag for some great spooky lighting.

So that just leaves the rest of your trick or treat costume to organise!

For the costume, I'm sure your kids will have lots of great ideas about what they want to be.  Maybe a ghost, or a witch, or one of the undead.  Maybe the grim reaper, or a fairy or angel.

Make a great outfit this year and it might even still fit for the next few years!

Have a happy trick or treat night - and have great fun making your own handmade Halloween trick or treat bags, it's these memories your kids will remember forever.

Another great idea for Halloween fun for your kids, or for your Halloween party, is to take a look at Halloween LED balloons - these are thrifty fun!

You can send your children out with an illuminated, special, Halloween LED lit balloon when they are out trick or treating, as well as using them to hang in your porch, or decorate your Haooween feast table or decorate and illuminate your stairs on the night.

Loads of fun, you simply pull out a tab that lights up the LED, then blow up the balloon - they stay lit for 15 hours too!

Paul Sapiano: Halloween, Trick or Treat