How to Set Up a Trunk or Treat Without Losing Your Mind

You’ll need a theme, and there are two low-effort ways to go about it. Halloween Express, Oriental Trading, Target, Amazon and Michaels sell kits that provide a basic theme to decorate your car, which you can trick out with a few additional props to really take things over the top. (I’ll expand on that and provide some inspo later on in this story.)

If you want to go with a more from-scratch route, I suggest shopping your closet (or wherever you store holiday decorations and party supplies) to search for a theme without having to buy everything you’ll need. (When I received a last-minute invite to a trunk or treat last year, I repurposed my daughter’s old Hello Kitty birthday party decorations from the week before to create a makeshift display for kids.)

If you have a solid mix of Halloween and Christmas decorations, The Nightmare Before Christmas is an easy win, with minimal things to buy. Have a bunch of faux pumpkins and jack o’ lanterns? Put them to use with a Great Pumpkin or pumpkin patch aesthetic (just add hay bales and cover the backseat of your car with a navy sheet, attaching a few felt stars and a moon to create a night sky—felt bats optional, but encouraged). Similarly, those foam tombstones and skeletons you normally put in your yard can be removed for the day and used to create a faux-graveyard, particularly when paired with a gothic garden border fence ($8).

The best-decorated cars create an illusion of depth—and distract from the fact that their “booth” is really, well, the back of a car. I’ve found that hanging a sheet, banner or plastic tablecloth just behind the backseat (if you have an SUV or minivan) or as a “linger” along the back of the opened trunk (if you have a coupe or sedan), makes a huge difference in creating a more polished display. For my dinosaur setup, I used a 108-inch disposable plastic tablecloth.

The opened trunk and bumper are prime real estate for attaching garlands, paper lanterns and/or posterboard cutouts, like the dinosaur head shown here. This part really hammers home your theme, but it’s also the most prone to getting yanked off by the slightest gust of wind. Quality painter’s tape, like Scotchblue ProTape ($7), is crucial for helping adhere without damaging your car. I go overboard with it to secure everything in place. Redditors also swear by 3M Automotive Refinishing Tape ($7).

You’ll need a massive candy bowl, of course, but even then, the trunk can look a little empty on its own. When I shopped my basement for the Nightmare Before Christmas theme, I wrapped an old towel in striped black-and-white ribbon and put a googly eye on it, making a massive faux-snake like the ones in the movies, and added a 3-foot-tall Christmas tree and Jack, Zero and Sally cutouts to complete the look. Putting the tree in front of the car, with Jack next to it, and the other characters nestled in the trunk made things more visually interesting for families to approach. It was almost like an “I Spy” moment, where kids started pointing out different things they noticed.

Similarly, for my dinosaur this year, I added an inflatable palm tree and giant fake dinosaur egg to add to the ambience—and help encourage trick-or-treaters to approach the T-Rex and reach into his mouth for a treat.

I’ve also been known to grab the jack o’ lanterns off my porch—or stuffies from my kids’ bed—to round out a look. Every little bit helps!

My favorite trunk-or-treat displays are more than just a spot where you grab some candy and race off to the next car. They’re experiential. My first year, I bought some bean bags and had kids try to toss it through the cutout eyes of a Jack O’ Lantern posterboard—and I was amazed at how much they enjoyed it. (Families came back for a second and third round, not even wanting candy; just another chance to play.)

This year, I’m trying a ring toss with an inflatable alligator, so kids can try tossing the ring onto its nose or tail, and a walkway leading up to our car that looks like lava. Better not touch the molten rocks or you have to go back to start!

It goes without saying, but having plenty of treats on hand, particularly allergy-free options, is crucial. There’s no bigger bummer than running out early and having to wait for the parking lot to clear while telling kid after kid you’re all out of snacks. I usually ask the host how many kids they’re expecting, then double the amount of treats I’ll buy—they’ll get eaten eventually. Or make great mix-ins for brownies or banana bread, come Nov. 1st.