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Trick-or-treating is always a blast, but if you have a trunk-or-treat event on the calendar around Halloween time, it is sure to be equally as fun! Just pop your car trunk, grab a stash of candy and choose a theme your little one — and their friends — are sure to love. If you're feeling a bit stuck on ideas, don't worry, It's easy to get inspired by your kiddos' favorite TV shows, movies, video games, books and more.
Whether you're rolling up to your child's school parking lot, the neighborhood cul de sac or your local church, no matter what kind of car you have (yes, we’ve got ideas for trucks, too!), here's everything you need to create a charming, family-friendly trunk display.
1. Friendly Farmer
Old MacDonald had a farm, and so does Tiffany from @scissortailcreekfarm. The Tulsa, Oklahoma farmer dressed up her van with bales of hay (you can head to your local home improvement store to grab those), pumpkins and Rocky the mini goat (you can always dress up your dog, too!). To complete her classic farmer look, she wore a flannel and cowboy boots.
2. In My Spooky Era
If there are any Swifties in your household, look no further than this Eras Tour: Trunk or Treats Version design. By day, it glimmered thanks to a string of metallic tassel streamers, and by night, the Eras were lit up with fairy lights and a portable mini disco ball light. Plus, these trunk-or-treat hosts wore a Kelce 87 shirt and Who’s Taylor Swift Anyway? Ew tee. Squeals from your little ones are sure to ensue.
3. I Scream Candy Shop
I scream…you scream…we all scream for ice cream! This car transformed into the I Scream and Candy Shop, and trunk-or-treaters enjoyed a homemade ring toss game and winners received these adorable ice cream shooters — served by life-size skeletons, of course. For more insights on how Alison of @justaddconfetti pulled this off (including super easy downloadable files so you can copy these designs), head over to her website.
4. LEGO
Katy of @wildandwanderfulblog took wire grid stacking shelves and covered them in colorful tablecloths and cardstock circles to make these giant LEGO bricks. Plus, it doesn’t get punnier than the clever “Brick or Treat” signage.
5. Alice in Wonderland
Venturing down the rabbit hole, @leahrachelbeck DIY-d her clock bag, paper mache mushrooms and even the checkerboard cardboard. For the playing cards, she took foam core sheets and scrapbook paper, and fake roses and gold picture frames tied it all together.
6. Nerf Guns
Blue and orange Nerf guns and coordinating balloons made for the cutest DIY car theme. For even more fun, Krista of @ktozdesign set up a game with targets like these for visitors to score some extra treats.
7. Despicable Me
Gru’s Minions wore yellow shirts from Hobby Lobby and simple construction hats adorned with goggles made from canning lids and black pipe cleaners — which turned out to be the ultimate DIY display. Yellow balloons and some extra Minions filled the Despicable Me-themed trunk. And as an ode to the Minions’ favorite fruit, they used fake bananas in a tossing game, too!
8. Ted Lasso
Capture the good-hearted magic of Ted Lasso by choosing this family-friendly show as your theme. And bonus points for sporting the AFC Richmond baseball cap and full tracksuit like What to Expect editor Leah Rocketto and her family did. True believers also know that the best “treat” for this particular trunk is a bag of Goldfish.
9. Toy Story
To infinity and beyond! Aside from the Bo Peep and Rex costumes, most of this Toy Story-themed backdrop was DIY-d by @ktozdesign.
10. Pokémon
This mama framed her trunk by painting poster boards cut into a supersized version of Pikachu's face. To coordinate your own, make sure to snag a costume for your little Pikachu! Easy peasy.
11. Encanto
Is this a trunk or the Madrigals’ front porch? For @msedighr’s first trunk-or-treat, she used a backdrop showing Mirabel’s house, plus pinwheels, paper flowers and butterfly curtain lights. She even handed out two Colombian treats: Chocolatina Jet and Frunas Original.
12. Bat Man
Need some trunk-or-treat ideas for trucks? With balloons, cardboard and yellow Post-its, @mattdrury81’s family turned their truck bed into Gotham City.
13. Fixer Upper
Chip and Joanna Gaines, is that you? Rachel of @reedsindeed handcrafted virtually everything for this Fixer Upper-inspired trunk-or-treat idea. She sourced cardboard scraps and hand-painted them to look like one of the Gaines’ shiplap-covered homes.
14. A League of Their Own
Another home run from @reedsindeed? A genius trunk-or-treat idea for trucks, this A League of Their Own setup features a homemade wooden scoreboard and field (which you can recreate by rolling out some artificial grass and wide masking tape).
15. Super Mario Bros.
Your favorite Nintendo game was brought to life by @jamiecoelho (aka Princess Peach) and her family, who all dressed up as different characters: Rosalina, Mario and Luigi. For decor, she set up these video game brick boxes and a Super Mario Bros. Movie backdrop.
16. Frozen
Mom @jamiecoelho took all of her daughter’s Frozen toys and set them up as part of the display and then hand-painted Elsa’s ice castle for the backdrop. Then, the whole family dressed up as Elsa, Anna, Olaf and Kristoff.
17. The Cat in the Hat
There’s a cat in the trunk! Soon-to-be mom @jessnicole12 wore a Mother of All Things tee and a Thing 1 and Thing 2 headband, her daughter dressed up as the Cat and her husband donned a coordinating Father of All Things tee and striped hat. She also filled her trunk with a blue and red decorations set, book-inspired backdrop and cardboard cutouts of the classic characters. As an alternative to candy, she passed out on-theme Dr. Seuss pencils and mini notepads.
18. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
No detail was spared for one of the most creative trunk-or-treat ideas for trucks. All the signage and decorations were handcrafted by Sarah of @sunnysouthlove, and candy options consisted of Chupa Chups lollipops and candy dots.
19. Care Bears
Aside from the Care Bear costumes (kudos to HalloweenCostumes.com), everything else was DIY-d by Angela. Plastic tablecloths from Party City gave the effect of rainbow curtains, and the clouds (which lit up at night!) were covered in white pillow stuffing and draped in fairy lights.
20. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Magic mirror on the wall, is this the fairest trunk-or-treat idea of all? The team from @pishposh.balloons set up life-size cardboard cutouts of Snow White’s seven BFFs, used fake apples and steel waste bins for a tossing game.
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