Homemade Halloween Trick-or-Treat Bags
Reflective Tape Panels Help Children Stay Safe, Be Visible at Night
Oct 11, 2009
Stay safe this Halloween, and have your child tote trick-or-treat bags with reflective panels. This easy project can be done in one afternoon and will ensure your little witches and ghosts have an evening of safe trick-or-treating. Start with an ordinary brown paper bag from the grocery store. If you're searching for inspiration for designs, search through books on vintage Halloween collectibles and memorabilia, make your own, or use our templates.
This project makes a great weekend activity for your children. Better yet, invite a few of your children's friends and their parents to participate in the activity; all can craft trick-or-treat bags to coordinate with a costume. (Only parents should use craft knives for cutting out the designs.) Your children wil enjoy using the decorative bags, and you can be assured that they'll be safe in their pursuit of treats in the neighborhood.
Making Reflective Trick-or-Treat Bags
Materials:
- Templates (see designs below), or pieces of paper to create your own
- Brown paper grocery bags
- Painter's tape
- Scissors
- Cutting mat
- Utility or craft knife
- Cardboard
- Colored reflective tape
- Glue
Directions:
- Arrange all of the materials on a table or other work surface. Decide what type of design you wish to place on a bag. You can draw your own design on a piece of paper (the size of the paper will be determined by the size of the bag you're using), photocopy a design from a book containing Halloween images or reproduce our templates (see designs below).
- Using painter's tape, attach the design to the flat side of a brown paper shopping bag (the tape is low-tack, and it won't tear the bag when you pull off the design).
- Insert a cutting mat inside the bag. Using a utility or craft knife, carefully cut out the design, making sure to cut through the bag cleanly. (Save all of the cutouts--such as eyes--as you'll reattach them later to the reflective panel.) Once you cut out the design, remove the cutting mat from the bag.
- To make the reflective panel that will be attached to the inside of the bag, cut a piece of cardboard slightly larger than the size of the design. Apply colored reflective tape to completely cover one side of the cardboard. (One roll of tape will cover enough panels for approximately five bags.)
- Open the bag, and stand it upright on the work surface. Apply glue in a neat border around the edges of the taped side of the cardboard. Insert the reflective cardboard panel inside the bag, making sure that the taped side completely covers the cutout design. Close the bag, and lay it flat on the work surface. Press to adhere the cardboard to the inside of the bag.
- Remove the design template from the outside of the bag. Reattach any cutout shapes, such as an eye, to the front of the bag with glue to complete the design.
Design Templates
We offer the following file in a portable document format, or PDF, to make the details clear and printable. To view and print the file, you need a program called Adobe Acrobat Reader, which most browsers already include. If you have trouble downloading the file, or if you'd like to upgrade to the latest version of Adobe Acrobat, you can obtain the software for free from Adobe's website.
Fluttering Bat, Fraidy Cat, Hissing Cat, Jack-o'-Lantern and Wicked Witch Templates
Sources
- Cutting mat, available at local craft and sewing-supply stores
- Colored reflective tape, available at local sporting-goods stores
Recommended Reading
- Stuart Schneider Halloween in America: A Collector's Guide with Prices (Schiffer Publishing, 1995; $29.95)
- Dan and Pauline Campanelli Halloween Collectibles: A Price Guide (LW Publishing and Book Sales, 1997; $34.95)
Available at local bookstores
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