Non-candy treats for Halloween!

  What you hand out is going to depend on where you're going to be, what your budget is and how many kids you normally get. My parents, for example, live out in the country and will get about 5-10 kids if they're lucky. One trunk or treat I went to saw hundreds of kids. Makes a difference...so here are a variety of non-candy ideas.  Hopefully you will find something that intrigues you!!

Possibly one of the best ideas out there for a treat is this:

This is so incredibly awesome. Not only is it a super deal, they are yummy AND your money goes for a good cause!!  My kids flip for these and since we have one close by, we sometimes run by after school for a special treat :) Yes, they are small - but it's all they really need anyway!  Even better, they don't expire until February so buy up a bunch and use them as stocking stuffers too!!!  Evidently, some McDonalds have gotten in on it as well...

If you're still looking after that great idea, here are 48 more :)

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--Cute band aids (littles LOOOVE these!)

--chalk

--Bubbles

--Tattoos

--Flowers (weird, but all the little 3-4 year old little girls I know looove getting real flowers - they think they're princesses :)

--Mini bags of popcorn unpopped

--Necklaces, bracelets, rings

--Individually wrapped flosses/ toothbrushes (ask your dentist to donate if you're going to a church trunk or treat!! My kids love the little flosses that are in different shapes:) )

--Mini nail polishes

--Quarters 

--Balloons or punchballs :)  balloons may be dangerous for little ones but punch balls are super fun!!  Amazon has a great deal $13 for 50 and oriental trading actually has Halloween ones for 12 for $6

--Little notepads or sticky pads

--Character cups - Walmart and party city usually have them for .75-.85 cents. If you're not buying for a whole bunch of kids this would be fun :)

--Individual crafts - you could bag up some thread/yarn and some beads and they could take home a ready made craft (3-4 year olds love stringing beads on a pipe cleaner to make bracelets:) - if you are at a trunk or treat, you could even put out a bowl of beads and some type of bracelet material and let the older kids pick out their own beads!

--one year after Christmas I found mini bottles of bubble bath on sale for 10 cents each-how cute would those be to give out?!

Dollar Store gold...

I'm sure you could find almost all of these (in packs of 5-6) at your friendly neighborhood Dollar Store :)

little dinosaurs or other figures
stamps
sticker books
crayons/pencils/erasers
Board books
coloring books
Hair bows/barrettes
bouncy balls
mini-puzzles
crazy straws
glow sticks!! (of all shapes and sizes!!)
Mini playdohs

Oriental trading ideas:

We gave these out last year and the kids LOVED them.  They aren't the best quality, but of the 50 I bought only 1-2 didn't work well.  Not bad odds for the price!  I haven't tried the finger beams.

I thought these were pretty cool as well - whistle fangs :)

They also have Rubber Duckies galore!  Anything you can imagine...they have it :)  Kind of expensive, but if you don't get many trick or treaters this would be awesome :)

Ok, this may be considered candy...but I put it in a different category :)  Plus, most marshmallows are a gluten free treat ;)  These are very cheap - $7.25 for 72.  And I love the ghost poop idea :)

Lots of sticky toys - lizards, frogs, hands, crosses, glow in the dark eyeballs (sweet!).  They're pretty cheap as well - $8 for 72 except for the eyeballs which are $6 for 48.

Mini blow up beach balls-cute and 100 for $40 or 50 for $20. They even have Halloween ones - 12 for $6

And, last but not least, here are a few "snacky" items that aren't candy but might make a good substitute...

--gummies (I've seen some at whole food type stores with no coloring...pure fruit!)
--granola bars/fruit bars
--goldfish - suitable for almost all food allergies (except gluten) and for young kids (and they're orange :) just got me a bag of 24 individual bags (halloween themed) at walmart to give out to the littles.
--fruit squeeze packets

--mini bags of chips or pretzels
--mini cereal boxes

I WILL be doing this either at church or one of my kids' classes - or maybe my prek class!  It's too darn cute - AND healthy!

I love this idea.  Popcorn is an awesome idea - and this is a twist to the glove full of popcorn I've seen before (which I love).  

Fruit, in general, is a great idea.  It may not be welcomed in some neighborhoods - but where we live and will be handing out candy, food is appreciated.  I love clementines for kids because they can peel them and they usually don't have seeds.  And I LOVE this idea :)  

 

To wash down all the goodies, I think this is perfect for a trunk or treat!  And, evidently others do to, because when I searched for Halloween juice boxes on pinterest there were TONS of pics!  i like this simple one,  as well as this ornate one from "jack on the box" and this mummy juice box which can be covered in duct tape, toilet paper or gauze :)

Or be healthier and just go with water!  That's probably what I'll do this year :)

found here

I made these at one of my trunk or treats :)  they were gone in a hurry!  kids get thirsty when they're trunk or treating :)

All I did was tape a piece of orange paper to the sticky side (where the wrapper left residue) and then cut out eyes/noses/mouths from black shelf liner that I always have on hand ;)  I love these little bottles! perfect for kids!

seriously, how cute is this?  I've also seen this simply labeled - "Pumpkin Poop" :)  print a few labels, buy a big bag, put them in ziplocs, slap the label on and boom...good to go!  Great for a class party. Don't know about handing them out-unless you know the kids. Parents frown on candy/food that has been opened.

Last but not least, here is one idea that we'll be doing at our church for trunk or treat...but it probably will only work in places like south Florida where we'll still be sweating in our costumes and definitely won't be wearing coats over them ;)
Icee pops!!
Fun to eat right then, good for any age and fine for almost all allergies (except colorings)

If you missed my earlier post on 28 ideas for trick or trunks - go here :)
Happy trick or treating!! And be safe!!

Trunk or treat time!!! Over 50 AWESOME ideas!!!!

We did this last year (2013) at our church for the first time and we had a BLAST!  I only had about ten cars show up, but I also had three games and an art activity the kids could do. Most kids just dropped by but I had some that stayed ALL evening :)  We had so much fun we're doing it again!! And the adults that came had fun as well! Even though we only had about ten kids in our church at the time, we had over 50 stop by from the neighborhood-what a great way to get our name out there!! And it provided a safe place for the kids to hang out (the neighborhood around our church isn't the best).
*2017 update - After my fifth year of organizing trunk or treats I have come up with a set of guidelines that I hand out to my "decorators".  If you'd like to see a copy you can go HERE.

*2019 update - Many families in our community have said our trunk or treat is the best.  Why?  Here are some pro tips that I learned the hard way after almost 10 years that I will pass on...

1.  every (I mean every) trunk is interactive (find ideas here!!).  There is something to do at every single trunk.  This keeps the lines shorter walking around, it keeps kids occupied longer, and it keeps them there at your church longer.  

2.  we advertise on the teal pumpkin site as having non-candy items for kids with diet issues.  Every trunk has a candy and non candy option!  

3.  make baggies ahead of time that contain brochures of upcoming activities at your church (thanksgiving and xmas included!), swag from your church and other goodies.

4.  Get your youth group to have a fall festival the same night - starting - with the Trunk or treat.  Have a contest just for the youth - the best trunk wins a bag of candy (or something else)!  They can team up if they want, but they have to do it on their own.  We added 4-5 trunks each year with this contest!  And it gets the youth involved!  (oh, and we also gave every youth trunk 2 slices of pizza ;)

(I know some people are against celebrating Halloween-esp in a church-but Ill just say this...it is important that we reach non-churched people in our neighborhood...what better way to do that then to use a secular holiday that can be dangerous for kids (I'm surprised at how many kids are out by themselves!) and turn it in to a safe experience that brings them to the church!!  Isn't that what being a Christian is all about-finding creative ways to share the gospel with those that don't go to church? :)

Shameless plug here:  I wrote a month long interactive Thanksgiving FAMILY devotional that I'm very excited about! Check it out here!

So, anyway, here are some of the best trunks I've seen on pinterest/social media.  They are really fun - just need to find a way to make these interactive!

If you want to see where I found the pics (some explain how they make them...although most are self-explanatory) then click on the underlined words under the picture.

I love this idea - make the kids "spy" something before they get their treat!

Oh Man...my son would've flipped over this when he was younger!!  too cool :)

ARRRRRRR!!!  Doesn't look too hard to do...and effective!
little work and great looking...my kind of trunk:)

Another fun idea - we have a few "handy men" in the church...I can totally see this being done!

I'm looking for non-scary ideas and this one pushes it...
but it all depends on how you make the spider look...
give it a smile and no longer scary! :)

One of the best Christmas specials of all time at Halloween!
I love it! It looks like this trunk combined stories but you could just do Charlie Brown...
and even bring in the famous Charlie Brown Christmas tree :)  I love the Christmas idea!

WINNIE-THE-POOH!!!

If you're looking for a fun Thanksgiving idea, this was an awesome youth activity for Thanksgiving!

Got a lot of little animals at home?  A Petting zoo trunk - love it!!
And kids loooove animals!

My Son's favorite movie at the moment :)  We love Charlotte's Web!!
 I think we may do this with one of our cars :)  

My son also wants to do this one - he is very in to FROGS right now! :)
Reach in his mouth and get some candy :)

Candy Land!!!  Maybe make the kids play to get their candy!
 I love the interactive trunks!!

Toy Story theme...You could pick any movie and do a theme -
or even a Disney theme in general!

Cowboy theme!  I looove this.  not too hard but very cute!
trying to think how to make it interactive...maybe pin the tail on the horse?
lasso a bull? :)  This link takes you to oriental trading where you can
even buy all the stuff :)

Oriental trading also has a fall theme trunk pack you can buy as well as safari, luau and Christian. 

Another simple but cute idea - safari stuffed animal jungle :)

A great interactive idea!  I wouldn't use darts though - not with littles...
maybe magnetic darts or those sticky animals they sell at stores.
 Their color determines their prize!

Camp out theme - love the little stuffed animals...
I think this one calls for making your own s'mores!  could it work?

Cooking theme...makes for an easy costume :)

Blessing Jars - great Thanksgiving activity for littles

Magic School Bus theme...sorry, no link for this one.

Update:  here are some that we did at our trunk or treat this year :). Check out the rubber ducky and Mexico themed ones in particular!  Verrrry cool!! :). My pictures stink-sorry. The sun was almost down and was so busy later on I didn't get to go back and get better pics. The Mexico one was just gorgeous-I didn't do it justice. 

Charlottes web :). You had to throw the rings on Charlotte if you wanted extra candy! :)

I spy!  I did this one. I took pictures of about 15 things in the trunk and printed them out for the littles-and then hung a list up for the readers. Two things I'd change-one-I would tell them what to find (esp the older ones :) and two-it needs to be explained to each child that they are playing a game of I spy...a few of the littles thought they were picking out prizes!

Mexico!!

My goodness this was cute :). He even put something in the water
to keep the duckies moving and the water circulating!
The kids had to come by and pick up a duck
and read the number underneath.
That's how many pieces of candy they got :).
 Evidently one said 16 but I don't think anyone got it;)

I wanted to update this since there are so many more ideas out there now!!  Here are a few I found that I liked on another blog.  You can check out her blog as well if you'd like :) 


I like this, but it's too big...it's almost taking up two spots.  Make a smaller one in front of your trunk and maybe let them try and knock it down :)


Why didn't I think of this before!?  Your favorite sports team!  that's fun :)  
GO HEELS!!



Oh man I SOOO love this one!!  
Next time I do a trick or trunk I am all over this :)  
For one fall festival I organized, I made a "pumkpin patch"
 by laminating cut out pumpkins
 (or store bought ones at educational stores) 
and writing a number on the back.  
Then, I taped them to popsicle sticks 
and stuck them in a large piece of styrofoam 
that was spray painted green.  
The kids picked a pumpkin and whatever number was on the back 
(I put 1-3) that's how many pieces of candy they got!  
They loved it!  This blog explains how they did it.  Very cool :)



Now...for some BIBLE themed ideas!!!

                   Daniel and the lions...I think?  

I see an angel with what appears to be a lion...I'm just assuming :)  

Cute idea though - esp if you work with a few other people!

Empty tomb trunk.  Pretty neat...and not too hard

Creation story...love this one - and you can even tell the little trick or trunkers the story as they pass by!!

Baby Jesus story - very cool!!

Woman at the Well - very creative!  neat!

Paul and Silas in prison :)  lol, this one made me laugh -
too cute!  If the bars are easy to remove this could be a cute photo op for the kids!

Jonah!!  I hope someone does this one!!  too funny!
Here's an idea for a hatchback vehicle...

And here's the same idea for a regular car...
don't get bitten when you stick your hand in for some candy! :)

I thought this was a sweet little idea - especially once it gets dark and Jesus is lit up :)
No link for this one...sorry.

And I saved one of my favorites for the end - Noah's Ark!
This is so awesome - and his costume really adds something to it.
I'd put more animals in it...and maybe give away animal crackers :)
 Hope somebody does this one at my church!!

ADDING A FEW MORE HERE FROM OUR RECENT 2017-2019 INTERACTIVE TRUNKS!  How do you make trunks interactive?  Here are some ideas!! 

bottle flipping!  Whatever you land your bottle near, you get! (this year we got rained out and had to go inside - but it still worked out well!)

carnival wheel!

cornhole

mini escape room!  I drew 12 pumpkins inside this little house with black light pens and they had to go in with their black light and tell me how many they found in order to come out and get their prize :) Check out all my religious escape room ideas here!

get your local firemen to bring their truck!

we got rained "in" a couple of years and had to do some inside - but this "fishing pond" works well inside or out!  the prize is written on the back (one candy, two candies, one prize, etc)

shoot the hockey puck!

you have to hopscotch up to the trunk :) 

this was an amazing Lego trunk and you had to throw a ping pong ball into a cup.  Different colors meant different prizes. very cool

Mario and luigi trunk - knock over the mushrooms!  This was one of our youth trunks!

make a fun photo op at your trunk!  Our local "cowboy" dentist sponsored this one :) 

this was VERY cool as well.  This is the Toy Story trunk with the toys that "came to life" in the sandbox.  They had to search for prizes/clues in the sand!

another creative idea.  They play a few rounds of Twister - whatever she calls out at the end (left foot!) - you get that candy!

One more AMAZING trunk that this Dad put together called the "Walls of Jericho".  There is a video to see - just click on the picture!- check it out!  Very well done!

A few more tips for trunk or treaters...please take into account that you will have children of all ages.  I attended one trick or trunk that took extra care to have candy for "littles" (like 1-3 year olds).  They had separate candy set aside just for them - like smarties, dum-dums, candy corns, marshmallows, etc (no gum, nothing with peanuts and not hard candies they could choke on).  I thought that was AWESOME and as a parent I always want to go back there.  Also, as a parent of a child with a serious allergy, please have a peanut free option available.  You don't need to ask every child (unless you want to) but there are a lot of children out there that have this allergy (and like I said, doctors recommend not giving children peanuts until they are 3 so don't give them to littles).  

Also, as a parent and Christian educator I look for non-candy give-aways.  You might be thinking - no candy?!  it's Halloween!?  But you would be surprised how thankful parents (and even some children) are when you give "things" instead of candy.  I'm going to write a post later on with some ideas of non-candy Halloween treats :)  

Hope you enjoyed the post and if you have any other ideas you've done or seen please share!!

God bless,

Laurie j.

Did you know I make religious games and escape rooms?!  Check out my materials at my teacherspayteachers store!