Halloween candy buckets come in all shapes and sizes – from pumpkins to the head of Frankenstein’s monster to an old-fashioned pillowcase – but if you’re feeling a little more creative, you can create your own out of a simple storage basket. Here are a few of our favorite ideas:
1. Buy essential Halloween materials
Transforming your storage basket into the perfect Halloween bucket calls for festive fabrics and decorations! Visit your local crafts store to find the perfect materials for your theme. And if you don’t have a specific theme in mind, you can just use standard Halloween colors, like purple, orange, and black. Here’s our go-to shopping list:
– Halloween solid-colored fabric (for the outside)
– Halloween patterned fabric (for the inside liner)
– Foam stickers or decorations
– Hot glue gun
– Hot glue sticks
– Piece of rope
Need examples of more fun materials? Check out these festive fabrics!
2. Cover the outside
If your kiddos want to hide their stash, use a fun-colored fabric to cover the outside of the basket! Just cut enough to wrap around the outside of your Halloween candy bucket.
3. Add a liner
If the storage basket you’re using doesn’t already have a liner, add one! Find fabric with a funky Halloween pattern, with spiders, candy or black cats. Once you’ve purchased the fabric, cut it and place it inside.
Use a hot glue gun to stick your material to your basket. We suggest making three circles of hot glue (a small one in the center with the medium and large ones around them). And it doesn’t hurt to add little dots of hot glue around the edge, so your fabric doesn’t budge. Afterward, press down all around to ensure that it’s dry.
4. Time to decorate!
Now, let the fun begin! Let your kiddos Halloween imagination run wild and decorate the basket with foam stickers, googly eyes or anything spooky! Check out these quirky foam stickers that would be a great addition to your basket.
5. Parents, add a handle
No Halloween bucket is complete without a handle. Use a piece of rope to tie a knot around the individual handles. Make sure the rope is long enough so your children can hold it around their arm.
Quick Halloween Candy Tips for Parents
When your kids finish trick-or-treating, they’ll be excited to show off their brand-new Halloween bucket and sort through all of that candy! Buuuut sometimes kids’ eyes are bigger than their stomach, so you may need a game plan for rationing their candy.
– Exchange program: Motivating the kids to do chores around the house can be tricky, but why not use that Halloween candy as their reward? They can do chores in exchange for sweets. Sounds like a win-win to us.
– Repurpose the candy: Since Halloween kicks off the fall holiday season, use all that candy to your advantage. Have the kiddos decorate a gingerbread house using the chocolate bars and candy corn they collected. Or they can use it for other holiday-themed art-related projects.
