How to Decorate for Trunk or Treat

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: November 1, 2021 References

Trunk-or-treating is similar to regular trick-or-treating, except instead of having children go around gathering candy from people's houses, cars are parked close together so kids can walk between their trunks instead. With a few materials like interesting props, construction paper, or paint, you can turn your trunk into a fun and creative spot for kids to get their candy. Choose a theme for your trunk and start decorating!

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Choosing a Theme

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Create a fun background to make your trunk look like your favorite movie. Choose a classic Halloween movie like Hocus Pocus or The Nightmare Before Christmas, or opt for your favorite children’s movie like Cars, Frozen, or Toy Story. Dress up as one of the characters and decorate your trunk to go along with this theme, picking out important props from the movie that will show trunk-or-treaters what it is.^{[1]
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- You could also decorate your trunk to look like a TV show like Stranger Things or Game of Thrones.
- For example, if the movie is Star Wars, you might fill your trunk with a black cloth and glow in the dark stars, light sabers, and toy Star Wars characters.
- For a Frozen movie theme, hang paper snowflakes and string lights in the trunk and place small fake snow-covered trees in the trunk as well.
2
Pick out spooky props for a haunted trunk. These could be things like fake spider webs, plastic skeletons, or carved pumpkins. Hang the spider webs up along the edges of your trunk and place the other spooky props in the trunk of your car to create a haunted vibe. Place the candy in plastic jack-o-lanterns for trunk or treaters to select their candy from.^{[2]
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- Look for spooky decorations at your local party supply store or costume store during Halloween season.
- Place foam gravestones in your trunk or ghosts made out of white sheets hanging from the top of your trunk.
- Dress up as a witch or zombie to go along with the theme.
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3
Decorate your trunk in blue crepe paper for an under-the-sea theme. Fill your trunk with balloons made of varying shades of blue, hanging paper fish, and coral made of construction paper or paper mache. You can even hang blue streamers from the top of the open trunk door for a 3D effect. String lights can create a fun underwater effect too.^{[3]
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- Dress up as a sea creature or a mermaid to go along with the trunk theme.
- Decorate the area in front of the car by adding an under-the-sea throne, water toys, or a blow up palm tree.
- Visit your local party supply store to find Little Mermaid- or Finding Nemo-themed decorations to go along with your theme.
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Pick out treasure chests and pirate decorations for a pirate theme. Make your trunk look like a pirate ship by painting a cardboard box and placing it around the trunk so it looks like the front of the ship. Put a steering wheel at the front of your boat and fill it with skeletons wearing pirate hats and eye patches or place a pirate flag on the top of your car. ^{[4]
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- Dress up as a pirate and hand out candy from a treasure chest.
- Create a "Beware, Pirates!" sign or a treasure map to show to trunk or treaters.
5
Cover your trunk with sports team paraphernalia for a sporty theme. Deck your trunk out in your favorite sports team’s jerseys and other props, or turn your trunk into a game by setting up a soccer goal or basketball net. You can add props like foam fingers, noise makers, and pompoms to make it look more fun. Display a sports team flag or hang streamers in your favorite sports team's colors.^{[5]
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- For example, have trunk-or-treaters throw a football into your trunk to try to get it through the field goal.
- Dress up as a football, soccer, basketball, or other sports player to go along with your theme.
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Use items from the past to turn your trunk into your favorite decade. A 50s trunk might be decorated to look like a diner, a 70s trunk could have a hippie theme, or a 90s trunk could be full of boy band posters and your favorite 90s knickknacks. If you already have items in your house from a decade past, use these in your trunk to create a great theme.^{[6]
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- Create an 80s-themed trunk by hanging a disco ball at the top, playing 80s music, and using props like a Rubik's cube or slinky.
- You might even create a futuristic look by decking your trunk out in silver colors, robot figurines, and fun lights.
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Turn your trunk into your favorite board game for an interactive theme. Choose a game like Candy Land, Twister, or Monopoly, using cardboard, construction paper, paint, and other craft supplies to make your trunk resemble the game. Add an interactive aspect to your decorations so trunk-or-treaters can pretend like they’re playing part of the game too.^{[7]
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- For example, if the game is Candy Land, you could have colored square spaces leading up to your trunk and let the trunk-or-treater choose a card to see which piece of candy they get.
- Create a giant Scrabble board in your trunk and let trunk or treaters make a word when they come to get candy.
8
Put lots of stuffed animals in your trunk for a zookeeper theme. This is a great theme if you or someone in your family has lots of toy animals like zebras, penguins, giraffes, or lions. Arrange the animals in your trunk next to things like fake trees or plants. You might even put a baby gate up in your trunk to make it look like the animals are actually in the zoo.^{[8]
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- If you don’t have stuffed animals, purchase balloons in the shape of different animals to put in the trunk.
- Wear a safari hat and boots to dress up like a zookeeper.
9
Design your trunk to look like the setting of a book for a literary theme. Pick out your favorite book, like Harry Potter or The Cat in the Hat. Dress up like a character from the book and put different props in your trunk to go along with the theme, creating the book’s setting. Bring the book along with you to place in the trunk next to the props.^{[9]
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- For example, if you dress up like Harry Potter, you might have a broomstick, sorting hat, and cauldron full of candy in your trunk.
- If the book is Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, create fake foods that you hang from the trunk ceiling and hold an umbrella.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Choosing Decorations and Costumes

1
Plan for your costume to be part of your trunk’s theme. Whether you pick out your costume before or after you choose your theme, try to plan for your costume and trunk theme to go together for the best look. For example, if you’re dressing up as a princess, you might design your trunk to look like a castle.^{[10]
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- Another example might be a farmer costume with a trunk full of hay bales and stuffed animals like pigs, horses, and cows.
2
Reuse items you have at home or purchase new decorations. Once you’ve chosen a theme, look around your house to see if you have any objects that could be useful when you’re decorating. Turn ordinary objects like cereal boxes or paper towel rolls into props by spray painting and decorating them. Your local party supply store will have lots of decorations, props, and themes for you to choose from if you get stuck. Pick out streamers, balloons, banners, and other small props to create a theme that’s cohesive and fun.^{[11]
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- For example, if you recently threw a Cars-themed birthday party, you could use these decorations to decorate your trunk.
- Craft items that you might already have at home like construction paper, glitter, ribbon, or paint are useful when decorating too.
- Create a superhero theme by purchasing streamers in superhero colors as well as a few small cutouts of superheroes to go in the trunk.
3
Add lighting to make your trunk stand out. Find a string of battery-powered string lights, hanging them up in your trunk to illuminate your decorations while adding a festive flair. This is especially helpful since it’ll likely get dark during the trunk-or-treating event and harder to see.^{[12]
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- Look for battery-powered lights at your local big box store or online.
4
Bring speakers to play music that goes along with your theme. Either play the music through your car’s speakers or bring portable small speakers that connect to a device. Choose music that goes with your trunk’s theme, like 80s music to go with an 80s theme or the soundtrack to The Little Mermaid to go with a Little Mermaid theme.^{[13]
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- Ask the organizers of the trunk-or-treating event if playing music is okay—they might already have plans to play their own music through larger loudspeakers.
5
Bring candy to pass out to trunk-or-treaters. Place the bowl of candy in your trunk or set it up on a small table or crate beside your trunk. Plan to bring enough candy to give out to all the trunk-or-treaters that will be attending the event—extra candy is always a good idea, just in case!^{[14]
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- Ask the organizers of the event for an estimate of how many people are coming so you have an idea of how much candy to purchase.
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Use the space in front of your trunk as part of your decorating, if desired. You don’t have to only decorate the space inside your trunk—if you have an idea for how to use the space in front of your trunk as well, go for it! This is a great space for additional props, games, or just a larger background. Just be careful not to take up the space of other decorated trunks.^{[15]
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- For example, if your trunk is beach themed, you might lay down a beach towel in front of your trunk and place beach chairs and sand toys on the towel too.
- If your trunk is decorated to look like The Wizard of Oz movie, you might create a yellow brick road leading up to your trunk.