Over the last couple of years I've enjoyed exploring my DIY crafting side to make things for the loved one's two young ladies. Most of my projects have turned out pretty great. I've had a few complete fails as well...or a Pinterest Fail as some may call it. I know some projects can end up taking a lot more time than expected, or cost more money to hand make versus just buying a store bought item. In the end, I enjoy making things as a thoughtful gesture and think it means more to the recipient. My favorite setting to do this is to put on a podcast, light a holiday scented candle, and settle in to be alone with my thoughts - as if I don't spend enough time like that already!

I made a Trick-or-Treating bag for the girls last year and the year before as well as stuffed the bags full of goodies so that the gift was more of a gift bag upon receipt. My 2014 Halloween bags were the first things that I ever made the girls and it seemed to be a hit! This encouraged me to continue making fun things for them like a Christmas Advent and Valentine's Day Advent as well. I'll post on those DIY projects closer to their respective holidays. Come oonnnn Christmas! Counting down the days...

I am a Pinterest fanatic for a lot of reasons and my usage goes through spurts. In all honesty I have never been big into Halloween, but having more children in my life has made me branch further out into fun holiday ideas and Halloween was the first holiday I shared with them. When I stumbled upon this post by Your Home Based Mom on how to make these bags I was excited! I skipped the pompoms and flower pin she used, but that's the beauty of it. You can mix it up to make the bags to your preference!

I purchased my plain canvas bags from Michael's using a coupon (recommended method, they're inexpensive there) as well as the fabric paint, tape, rubber crow stamp and letters to spell out B-O-O, black and orange felt swatches, pre-made felt bats, and hot glue gun. You can also find the canvas bags on Amazon if you're making multiples.

Canvas Tote Bag - Natural Color - 13-1/2 x 14 x 3-1/4 inches Buy on Amazon

Using the tape and a ruler - I spaced out the tape into straight rows across the bottom of the bags. I placed a piece of cardboard inside of the bags to prevent the paint from bleeding through the fabric to the back of the bag. ***THIS IS IMPORTANT!***

While the paint was drying, I cut out the strips of felt fabric, plugged in the hot glue gun, and began to twirl the felt fabric around and around to create a felt flower. I carefully applied a thin layer of hot glue along the rows of felt on the bottom of the flower to help keep it together but be careful not to apply too much as it will cause the flower to stick up off of the bag.

Now you can lay the attachments on top of the bag to figure out which layout looks best to you. I fiddled with the layout of the flowers and bat for a few minutes to assess what I liked best. Once you have your idea in mind, you can begin to hot glue the felt flowers onto the bags. I intentionally made opposite colored flowers for the girl's bags so that they could tell them apart.

I removed the tape when I was confident the paint was dry enough, then added the stamped letters to spell out BOO and added the crow stamp. This was difficult because I had to eyeball-estimate spacing out the letters. After stamping the first bag I also decided I didn't like the exclamation point after BOO so eliminated that on the 2nd bag.

My crow stamp worked better on this bag!

Part of the excitement in giving these bags was the goodies I put together to fill up the bags. I don't know who was more excited about this part, them or me!

I found a bunch of free printable's from multiple sites to attach to mini gifts and snacks to put into the bag. I didn't want to give only candy as they would be getting a ton the following week when Trick-or-Treating.

Some ideas I used are as follows:

Halloween pencils for school
Halloween stickers
Halloween erasures for school
"Smell my Feet" - nail polish, mini lotion, and Bath and Body Works hand sanitizer
Bat masks from Michael's
"Pumpkin Poo" - cheese balls
"S'more Spooky Fun" - graham crackers, Hershey bars, and ghost Peep marshmallows
Cookie mix in a jar and I added instructions on top
Additional candy - just a little!

Once I put everything together and filled the bags, I couldn't contain my excitement. The trouble since this has been figuring out how to trump myself each year to make something cooler or better, as well as now knowing just how picky kids can be. I'm pretty sure at the end of the day I was an equal opportunity candy eater and dessert eater too.

Here's the finished line up below. You can find all of this above and more ideas on my Halloween Pinterest page. I may post my 2015 Trick-or-Treating bags at a later date. I liked these (2014) bags better anyway. =)

XOXO

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How to Make a Halloween Trick-or-Treating Bag