Halloween 'BOO BAGS'!

My children are almost seven years apart in age. Being a stay-at-home Mom meant only one thing — I spent 14 years as THE Home Room Mom. 

I learned over the years what the kids liked, what the parents didn't, what the teachers preferred and most of all — how to throw together a swinging party for 20 - 25 students in a little under two hours, and occasionally all alone. As crazy as it may sound, it was something I learned to love.

Every good Home Room Mom knows that kids LOVE treat bags. The little ghouls and goblins I used to serve were nuts over these playful Halloween treat bags, that I happily nicknamed 'BOO BAGS!' You can fill these bewitching, yet easy-to-make goodie bags with candy, popcorn or a tasty mixture of Halloween Snack Mix, the recipe is below. 

You can also find the images I used for these bags under the PRINTABLES section of my navigation bar. Make sure the setting is on 'letter' before printing. It will print out correctly for a regular-sized lunch bag. Happy Haunting my friends!

Here's what you need for each bag:

• Medium-sized Orange Treat or Lunch Bag, I found mine at Party City, but also saw them at Hobby Lobby and Michael's
• Acrylic Paint, I used dark reddish-orange and black
• Paintbrushes
• Halloween Stencils, you can find many things on the Internet
• Craft Glue
• Small Hole Punch

Additionally for the Witchy-Pumpkin Bags you will need:

• A 6" in diameter Witch's Felt Hat, I found this one at Hobby Lobby for $.50 on sale OR Green Raffia
• Halloween Ribbon for Hatband
• Acrylic Paint, white and yellow

Additionally for each Halloween Character Bags you will need:

• Yellow and Black Scrap Booking Paper
• Very Fine Black Felt-tip Pen
• Black Raffia

What To Do for the Witchy-Pumpkin Bag:

• Trace pumpkin face onto bag. You can find the outline in the printables section on my nav bar.
• Paint cheeks and lines at top and bottom of face with the dark reddish-orange paint.
• Using black paint, paint eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth (leaving tooth blank) and outline cheeks and top and bottom of face. Refer to picture for help with this.
• Paint tooth and highlights in eyes with white paint.
• Highlight cheeks, top and bottom of face with the yellow paint.
• For hatband, measure ribbon around the crown of the hat and add a 1/2", cut and use craft glue to tack ribbon onto the hat; overlapping the ends in the back.
• Fill bags with goodies. If using a hat, twist the top of the bag and place hat on top. If using raffia, punch two holes in the top of the bag and thread raffia through and tie.

What To Do for the Halloween Character Bags:

• Paint dark-reddish/orange and black stripes on bag creating a plaid pattern. Using a thin liner brush, I make my black lines thinner than the orange. You could also use a black marker.
• Trace preferred Halloween characters onto the black paper and cut them out. If you'd rather not hunt for Halloween images you can find the ones I used in the printable section of my nav bar.
• Choose words like 'BOO, EEK, HOOT, ICK....etc.', trace them on the yellow and black paper and cut them out. 
• Trace a moon on the yellow paper and cut out.
• I used my thin black marker to make stitching marks around my moon and yellow letters. I just think it's cute.
• Using craft glue, glue down moon, Halloween character and letters to spell out words.
• Fill bags with desired goodies or snack mix; recipe below.
• Clip the top of each bag with a paperclip. Using your hole punch, punch two holes at the top of each bag, thread black raffia through holes and tie into a bow.

If you would rather make your own snack mix, here is a simple recipe everyone is sure to love!

EASY HALLOWEEN SNACK MIX

INGREDIENTS

• 1 package (10 ounce) Mini Peanut Butter sandwich crackers
• 16 ounces Pumpkin Shaped Candies OR Candy Corn
• 1 package (7 ounces) Chocolate Covered Peanuts

WHAT TO DO

• In a large bowl, combine all three ingredients.
• Store in an airtight container.
• MAKES: 8 cups Halloween Snack Mix, double as needed

It may look like a lot of steps, but if you get an assembly line going these BOO BAGS come together quickly. If you are into scrap booking you may have a fancy cutter or punches making this project easy-peasy! 

You may not need 25 bags for a room full of eager young students, but these fun Halloween bags were always a great hit with my childrens' friends and the neighborhood kids. E will be taking these bags back to college and passing them out to her friends. You just never get too old for a special treat. 

If you want to use my images, you can find free downloads  under the PRINTABLES section on my navigation bar. Enjoy and have a fun and safe Halloween!!