25 Halloween Treat Bags and Favors Made to Delight

Knock, knock! Who's at the door? At this time of year, house guests and trick-or-treaters transformed in costume alike will be arriving on your doorstep. On Halloween night and the days leading up to it, what better way to show your hospitality than with a takeaway sweet? A treat box or bag can be filled with candy, tokens, and even a tiny surprise. Download and print one of our templates or clip-art designs to craft them in masse. We looked to many iconic figures for our inspiration: jeering jack-o'-lanterns, black cats, winged bats, and skulls in stark black and white. Handcrafted bags and boxes with smiling faces are all the sweeter when filled with tasty surprises.

If you act as hostess to your own Halloween party, these goodies can double as place cards for the dinner table or party favors for guests to grab and go (homemade treats in tow) as they leave at the end of the evening. Paper cut into shocking shapes can turn ordinary items into spellbinding party favors. Despite their store-bought appearance, these goodies are dead easy to create at home with craft punches, which make quick work of cutting precise shapes.

If you plan to trick-or-treat after dark, embellish your kids' candy buckets with a few strips of reflective tape from the hardware store. The addition will help keep the kids visible as they go door-to-door—and won't detract from their costumes. Treat bags and boxes can be displayed in a memorable way—a pirate's treasure chest, a log crawling with creepy bugs, or (try our editors' favorite prank) a bowl within reach of your monster's hand. They can even be filled with toys, trinkets, and other kid-friendly candy alternatives. To be certain, your trick-or-treaters and guests will leave your home sweetly satisfied.

These boo-tiful baubles don't require any hocus-pocus to make. They're mini toy organs, spray-painted gold and secured to chains or pins with permanent craft adhesive. Glue a ring blank onto a gilded brain for a brilliant take on costume jewelry. Add a stick pin to make a brooch. Or wear your heart on your chest by topping the charm with a screw-eye hook and threading a chain through. Another pulse-quickening idea: Stick them on party place cards.

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Since Halloween was dialed down last year, trick-or-treaters or party guests deserve a really big hand this time around—specifically, a creepy, candy-filled one. Fill a bio-degradable, food-safe green glove with wrapped goodies—chocolate balls stuff a digit nicely—and tie it closed with black raffia. Stick on red dot stickers cut into nail shapes, add Sharpie-drawn scars and a dime-store ring, and give revelers a high five.

Pressed-paper boxes get dressed up for Halloween, evoking vintage treat containers handed out by candy shops and bakeries in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Acorn boxes are painted orange, with a light coat of brown on the ridges. For the owls, pinecone boxes are painted and then decorated with crepe-paper features. Filled with candies, the boxes make great favors and can hang from branches for an autumnal display.

A plump jack-o'-lantern cracks a smile as the candy inside is revealed. The four-inch round container was painted orange and covered in tapered strips of crepe paper (these mimic the ribs of a pumpkin). The stem, the leaves, and a funny face, all cut from crepe paper, complete the treat box. Tip: For the greenery details, glue fine green crepe paper to green card stock using a glue stick. Attach the stem (folded at bottom so it stands upright) to one box half near the edge using a hot-glue gun. Glue the leaves flat on both sides.

Mischievous smiles make these skulls more sweet than scary. Paint both halves of an egg-shaped pressed-paper box—the ones shown here are a collection of 3 3/8-inch, 4-inch, and 4 1/2-inch, respectively—with white acrylic paint using a foam brush; let dry. Using the templates, cut out facial features from black crepe paper. Using a glue stick, attach them to the front of the box, with the narrow end of the box as the chin.

A family of black pressed-paper cats prowls through a pumpkin patch. Their bodies are made from different sizes of heart-shaped boxes turned upside down. Paint both halves of a heart-shaped pressed-paper box with black acrylic paint using a foam brush; let dry. Using a glue stick, adhere black crepe paper to black card stock for added thickness. Using the templates, cut out a head, two ears, two back feet, two front legs, and a tail. Cut out facial features from colored crepe paper, as specified on templates, and arrange them on the head, adhering with a glue stick. Attach ears to the head, then head and legs to the front of the box, using a hot-glue gun. Attach feet to the front half of box at the bottom, so the cat can stand. Lastly, hot-glue the tail to the back of box.

Trick-or-treaters are sure to swarm your house for these bug-adorned candy pouches. Download and print bug clip-art onto card stock. Cut out, then glue a standard clothespin to the back of each. Portion out store-bought candy into small cellophane or paper bags, and pinch each closed with a bug clip.

Send your guests home at the end of the night with these newt-eye favors, which taste strangely like jelly beans. The green goodies are packed in painted wooden boxes topped with clip-art labels. Mix green acrylic paint with water to thin it, and use a sponge brush to paint round wooden boxes; let dry. Download the labels and print onto plain paper or tea-dyed paper. If desired, take this extra step to make these labels look authentically old: Brew strong black tea; let cool. Pour it into a plastic bin. Soak uncoated 8 1/2-by-11-inch paper in the tea for one to two hours. Remove it, and let dry completely on paper towels. Print directly onto the dyed paper for an aged effect.

The trick to this bat is using an upside-down, egg-shaped pressed-paper box for the body; the treat is inside. Paint both halves of an egg-shaped pressed-paper box with black acrylic paint using a foam brush. Let dry. Using a glue stick, adhere black crepe paper to black card stock for added thickness. Using the templates, cut out two wings, a head, and feet. Cut out two wing outlines from gray crepe paper, and glue them in place. Using a hole punch, make two white crepe-paper circles for eyes. Cut two small white triangles for fangs. Glue them onto the head using glue stick, and dot the center of each eye with a red pen. Using small dabs from a hot-glue gun, secure wings and head to the box half with a lip, positioning them flush against the lip. Hot-glue feet to the bottom of that half, so the bat will stand.

On Halloween night, give your little trick-or-treaters a proper send-off with broomstick favors filled with candy. They'll cackle with delight. Two lunch-size paper bags are needed for each broomstick. Unfold one bag, and push out its base while folding in the left and right sides. Using scissors, cut the bag into thin strips, stopping short of the base. Cut thin strips into the top inch of the second bag. Open both bags, and place the second bag inside the shredded one; fill with candy. Insert a small branch one inch into the bag; cinch the tops of both bags, and secure with black twine.

These goofy jack-o'-lanterns make sweet party favors. Print the clip-art on card stock and cut out. Trim top edge with pinking shears and use invisible tape to secure it around a little bag of candy corn. Curl cloth-covered floral wire around a pencil to create a "stem," and use to close bag.

Dole out treats in our frightfully charming candy boxes. There's no trick to crafting them: Just print the templates, fold, and glue. Use the favors to dress up place settings, or group them on a table for a festive display. Using a straight edge and a craft knife, cut out the template. Cut slits along solid white lines; crease along dotted lines—using the template as a guide. Make holes at white dots using a 1/8-inch hole punch. Form the template into a box. Using a glue stick, adhere bottom and side flaps in place, leaving the top open. Fill the box with candy of your choice. Lastly, cut an 8-inch length of 1/4-inch-wide ribbon, and knot the ends to form a loop. Thread the looped end up through the top flap without the tab, and then up through the top flap with the tab. To close the box, tuck the tab into the slit at the top of the box.

Plain black and white favor bags get into the Halloween spirit with this quick trick: Download our spooky skull features, then print them out on black and white paper. Cut out the shapes and adhere them in place to treat bags with a glue stick. Fill with a mix of goodies.

Offer doorbell-ringing tricksters and exiting guests some treats from a spine-tingling tableau. A tablecloth trimmed and embellished with a black-light-reactive marker appears to be a web spun by an enormous arachnid. Painted cake stands and cauldrons dish out black-and-white goodies. These animal skeletons can be found in clip-art books. You'll also need self-adhesive paper that glows under a black light. Using a photo-editing program, invert the desired skeleton image so that the background is black and the bones are white. Adjust image size as needed to fit onto a paper bag. (It is possible to fit more than one image on a page.) Print onto a sheet of self-adhesive paper. Use a round-corner punch to finish the edges. Affix label to the bag.

Put a happy face on a cellophane-wrapped treat with a simple punched-paper band. Slip a square into a lunchbox for a special Halloween treat, or make enough to give and share. To make a punched-paper band, cut a two-inch-wide strip of artist's paper long enough to wrap around the cereal bar. Cut a jack-o'-lantern face in the center of the band with an all-over-the-page craft punch. Wrap bar in cellophane; wrap band around it and secure with double-sided tape.

Colorful paper, plastic critters, and decorative stickers give chocolate bars and other candy favors a handcrafted touch. Wrap candy in paper, securing with double-sided tape, then decorate as desired. We used craft punches to make wraparound bands and cutout details.

Temporary tattoos bring that presto-chango ease to Halloween, using eerie imagery as insta-inspiration to decorate for a party and transform into a costume all at once—spiders, skulls, and wise old owls. Print clip-art onto decal paper; let dry for five minutes. Peel the backing from the clear sheet, and align it with the printed decal paper. Using the long, straight side of a bone folder, burnish the clear sheet onto the decal paper. Then cut out each tattoo as close to its outside lines as possible. To apply, peel off the clear sheet and place the decal paper, design side down, against the treat bag.

Though these tempting treats are guarded by a coven of witches, there's no reason to fear: The apples aren't enchanted, just extra delicious, thanks to a dip in melted caramel. Download and print Wicked Candy Apple clip art (or color-photocopy) onto white heavyweight matte paper. Use spray-mount adhesive to affix printout to a plain black paper backing. Cut out the witches. Use a screw punch to make four holes at hands, where indicated on clip art. Slide a witch onto each caramel-apple stick. Narrow twigs look appropriately sinister and fit the witches' punched-out grip; punch larger holes if you are using larger sticks.

Charming paper tags are such a cinch to make with craft punches, you can quickly and easily whip up enough for a whole classroom, or for a party. Here, a punch simultaneously cuts and embosses paper, creating a ribbed jack-o'-lantern. Tie the tags onto cellophane bags filled with confections—in this case, whoopie pies with orange-sprinkle sides.

Create creepy candy favors with treat bags that appear to be dripping with slimy sludge. Punches and rubber stamps inscribed with seasonal phrases make it easy to assemble dozens at once as you prepare for Halloween revelers. First, cut heavyweight paper or card stock slightly wider than a cellophane bag. Clip one edge with a craft edger punch. Fold label in half; stamp with a message. Fill the bag with candy. Fold the bag's edge down once to close, and secure the label on both sides with double-sided tape.

Round wooden boxes are just the right shape and size for packaging drop cookies, such as our "trick-erdoodles." To make them, first paint three-inch wooden craft boxes with diluted orange acrylic paint (one part paint to two parts water), wiping excess with a paper towel if needed to create an even, translucent wash. Download and print our silhouette templates (or photocopy). Use the templates to trace and cut out witch and bat shapes from black artist's paper; affix to box tops with a glue stick. Line the boxes with waxed paper, and fill with cookies just before giving or displaying.

On a night of disguises, why shouldn't Halloween candy don a costume, too? Paper, tape, and pens do the trick; the getups double as finger puppets once the candy inside has vanished. Download and print our ghoulish goodies templates; cut out. Use the templates to trace skull and bones, bat body and wings, or ghost body and arms onto white or black paper; cut out. Wrap the body pieces around mini candy bars, securing with double-sided tape. Tape the bones, wings, or arms to backs of their respective bodies. (When making bats, fold wings vertically at the midpoint of either side.) Draw facial features onto bodies, using a black felt-tip pen for skulls and ghosts and a white gel pen and red felt-tip pen for bats.

Dole out extra-spooky sweets this holiday: lollipops bearing striking black-and-white labels. Wrap lollipops (ours have black-and-white swirls, to evoke spiderwebs) in cellophane bags and tie closed with ribbon. Use a jumbo circle punch to cut backgrounds, then use extra-large Halloween craft punches to cut shapes. With a glue stick, attach shapes to circles; affix to wrappers with double-sided tape.

Show dinner guests to their seats with cemetery-themed place cards that double as treat holders. Start with plain paper bags (ours are three inches wide). Fold the gusset downward and cut off the top of the bag, about 2 1/4 inches from the bottom; be careful not to cut through the bottom of the bag. punch a decorative edge (we used a fence edge punch). Cut "gravestones" freehand (or use a punched circle as a guide to trace rounded edges), and stamp with names. Unfold bags, fill with candy (such as black M&Ms), and insert gravestones.

Découpage, a classic paper-crafting technique, takes a seasonal spin with our embellishments for treat bags. Print our clip-art directly onto bags (preferably using a laser printer). Use a craft punch to make leaves; adhere with glue stick. When punching shapes from tissue paper, add a sheet of plain paper to the top of the stack to keep the tissue from ripping.