10 DIY Trick-Or-Treat Bags to Make For Your Little Monsters

A successful trick-or-treating excursion means you might not have to buy any candy until next, say, August. Make sure your kids can carry all their loot — and look Halloweentastic while doing it – with these 10 DIYs. And don’t worry, there’s still plenty of time to get these done by the 31st!

You’ll need some basic sewing skills to make this one, but the resulting cuteness is ever-so-worth it. This is the sweetest ghost ever and you should carry this bag every day!

This is a tote that you could definitely carry all year. The instructions (complete with downloadable design) cover both vinyl cutting and stencil painting, so you can pick which method suits you best. If a kid is going to carry this, I recommend adding a coat of glow-in-the-dark paint to the design.

I really appreciate the low-key nature of these bags – they really seem to capture the fun, DIY, punk rock attitude of some of the best Halloween costumes and celebrations. All you need are cheap paper bags, Sharpies, black paint, and, for that extra bit of ’80s fun, puff paint. (The size bag shown is more suitable for bags to give to trick-or-treaters; simply scale up to grocery-size bags for actual trick-or-treating.)

Same rule applies to this charming monster: use small paper or glassine to pack full of treats to hand out or larger bags for collecting candy. Once you have your bags selected, all you have to do is craft cranky monsters like this one using washi tape.

Here’s a bag at the opposite end of the effort scale, one that involves cutting a design out of transfer vinyl using a Cricut and sewing on pompom trim. You could potentially print a Nightmare Before Christmas design onto iron-on transfer paper and skip the vinyl cutting. You could also skip the pompoms, but my rule is more pompoms.

Print this classy downloadable design PDF onto iron-on transfer paper at the size suggested to make favors, or enlarge the design and printout so it’s the perfect size for ironing on a pillowcase. Add a quick drawstring, and you’re all set.

This is very silly, and I respect that. And while the monster hair and mouth are fun, I highly recommend simply covering a paper bag with tons of googly eyes—glow-in-the-dark ones, if you can find them.

Celebrate the queen of Halloween (and everything), Donna Meagle, with these sassy sacks. You can print the design on paper to make treat envelopes as directed, or increase the dimensions and print it on iron-transfer paper to adorn a tote you can carry all year.

If your kids celebrate both Halloween and Día de Los Muertos, make them this sugar skull adorned tote. You won’t have to do all the work, though: tell them to color it themselves! (And be sure to make yourself one, because the coloring looks really fun.)

Finally, a glow-in-the-dark bag! This elegant number will satisfy kids who love glow paint (and the parents who want them to be safe) and adults looking for a super-cool tote celebrating the moon!