HALLOWEEN CRAFTS: Trick or Treat Bags

It's that time of year to get ready for sugar highs and gobs of candy. Of course, you could buy a commercially made candy bucket, but to me though they can be cute (I'll admit, I love my daughter's Vampire Hello Kitty one), they don't always hold enough candy and aren't very personal. Here are some inexpensive and neat ways to make your own.

Little Light Studio shows us how to make a tote bag into a trick or treat bag. This reminds me of a scrap book page in the way it is made. It also invokes a vintage Halloween feel. To start with, you need a blank basic tote bag. You can buy one at any large craft store, like Michaels. They aren't very expensive. They also come in very small sizes, which would make nice treat bags. This project uses a variety of supplies, but of course you don't have to use these exact ones or color scheme to make your own. The techniques are neat with using the fusible web. I know not everyone is good at sewing...but practice improves your skill...or lack of sewing skill. This uses stickers, but I'm not sure those would stay on after the bag gets lot of use. Instead of stickers, you can use paint, iron ons patches or sew on patches. The sewing doesn't need to be super neat, it just needs to tack the decorations into place. The use of brads is a nice sparkley touch. If you can't find mini brads in the scrap booking section of a craft store, try be-dazzler studs (they come in many shapes and sizes) or glitter puff paint. If you aren't good at freeform drawing or painting, try using stencils or rubber stamps. For line drawing, use paint pens. They are a lot easier to use than a paint brush and paint. Also, they come in different colors with tip sizes, including metallics. Buttons come in all sorts of colors, sizes and shapes, including fall shapes like pumpkins, bats and leaves. The nice thing about using a tote bag is that the straps and bag are sturdy and easily reusable. Tote bag fabric is also easy to work with when decorating. If you aren't a good decorator, but know some basic sewing, you can always use two nice cotton Halloween print fabrics to make this Reversible Tote Bag

Jennifer Perkins of The Naughty Secretary Club shows us how to make a treat bag out of a t-shirt. I would recommend flipping the t-shirt inside out and sewing the bottom closed. Make two rows of stitching, just for extra support. This is faster and guaranteed not to break open under the weight of the candy Also, after the bag gets full, the straps start to dig into the hands of the person carrying it. I would stay away from spaghetti strap tank tops, as their thin straps won't feel as comfortable as other sleeveless tops. Otherwise, you can paint, glue on, sew on what ever decorations you want.

Martha Stewart shows us how to make trick or treat bags out of brown bags. This is fairly basic idea. You will be using paint, construction paper, glue and/or tape. I've used this idea before and just drew a bat on the front of the bag. I think I used crayon, because it was the closest drawing supplies. This is a project that you can use stickers. You can get Halloween themed ones at Dollar Tree or a craft store. You can also use foam stickers. You can used glitter glue, paint pens, stencils and rubber stamps to decorate this type of bag. This is definitely something a child could do and take pride in the fact they did it themselves.

This gives you some basic ideas that you can turn into complicated looking designs. Happy crafting!