Treats, Boos, and Gift Bags

I am all about handing out little goodies on holidays and occasions. We make treat bags for the kids in our neighborhood, our sweet maid and her staff, colleagues, our parking attendants at work – for just about everyone. It’s a great way to make someone’s day with very little effort.

Every Halloween growing up, we would always do treat bags full of candy, little toys, and other goodies for the neighbors, so, naturally, when we moved into our home, we started doing the same! Instead of a bowl of candy, we’d get treat bags and fill them with candy and little knickknacks from Target. I buy treat bags (cellophane with spider webs or any other cute Halloween prints) and include little things such as glow-in-the-dark vampire teeth, mini notebooks, and creepy crawly spiders.

We’ll pick a night a few days before, open a bottle of red, and stuff our treat bags. I have big spools of gold and black curling ribbon that I’ll use to tie them closed.

You can also pull together little gift bags as gifts for those you want to show appreciation for, such as friends, hostesses, teachers, etc. I pulled together thank you bags for a few sweet friends who helped with my birthday party last year and included paper straws (how cute are these and these?), seasonal cocktail napkins (these and these are cute), a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte (if you can’t find these bottles, substitute a gift card to Starbucks or your local coffee house), and fun Halloween-themed candies.

We had a “You’ve Been Booed” game going at our office and around our neighborhood, so I pulled these gift bags together for those as well. In the bags, I included specialty coffee drinks that didn’t need to be refrigerated, mini pumpkins from Target, creepy bats and snakes, Halloween-themed mints, and Halloween candy. You can also wrap up a few of these easy spider sugar cookies, too.

This year, I’ve got our bags and goodies picked out. The last thing on my list is individually-wrapped candy. I love that places now have organic candy and lower sugar options. I want so badly to make trail mix or something like that, but individually-wrapped is the safest way to go when you’re stocking up for a bunch of little ones whose parents may not know you well. If you happen to see a couple moving quickly in the Target candy aisle tonight…it’s likely us. Good luck prepping, everyone, and happy (early) Halloween!

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