10 Ways to Make Your Church's Fall Trunk-or-Treat Epic

So, you are blessed with the task of organizing your church’s Fall Trunk-or-Treat this year! Congratulations on being volunTOLD (I mean volunteering for this fantastic event)! Now, let’s get busy.

You’ve managed to secure volunteers to decorate their trunks, posted the event on social media, shopped for spooky-cute décor, picked out festive games, and accumulated a bucketload of candy and small prizes. You’ve checked a lot of boxes off the to-do list.

Now what?

Let’s explore 10 ways to make this Trunk-or-Treat extra Epic:

1.       Help Spread the Gospel with Candy, Glow Stick & Small Toy Wrappers

Evangelism, or sharing the love of Christ with others, is the primary reason for church community events, such as Trunk or Treat. A fun and easy way to show children that Jesus loves them is to add candy and prize wrappers to the treats. Get volunteers to staple or tape the wrappers to the donated candy and prizes. Send some sheets of wrappers home with the trunk volunteers to add to their treats as well. You can use Canva to make custom candy wrappers with your church’s name, address, and service times. Alternatively, you can download our free PDF of the Halloween Treats Evangelism package.  

2.       Find Some Friendly Faces to Welcome Guests and Invite Them to Church

Did you know that a personal invitation from a friend or family member is the number one way people are introduced to a new church? While people also find new congregations through online research or simply relocating to a new area, word of mouth remains the most influential factor in congregational growth. Print out information sheets or brochures that highlight your small groups, children’s program, and youth program. Add things that make your church stand out. Ensure that you include contact information and service times. You can also put brochures at the tables and in the trunks. We used cute Halloween and skeleton bowls from the dollar store.

3.       Ask First Responders to Bring Their Fire Truck, Police Car, or Ambulance

Nothing lights up a young child’s face like a big red fire truck in the parking lot. Contact the office of the first responders in your community and invite them to the fun. Make sure to provide food, snacks, and drinks for your special guests. Provide candy and treats for them to pass out to the kids visiting their trucks. Provide them with a donation basket to raise funds for their department.

4.       Recruit Youth Volunteers with Service Hours and An After Party

As the youth director at a small church, I enjoy rewarding my teens for their volunteer work and contributions. They love working with children, and they do a great job. Middle Schools and High Schools have clubs and societies that require students to complete service hours. So, what better way for teens to earn service hours than by operating games, helping with food, setting up, and cleaning up?

With a few parent volunteers and the youth ministry team, throw an epic after-party! I know you are tired, but it is so rewarding to watch teens interacting and having fun with each other instead of being on their phones.  Pizza, candy, games, and silly conversations.  

5.       Provide Face Painting

I promise there is an artist in your church who you can get to volunteer to face paint. We used this face paint from Amazon, and it went a long way. Create a poster board featuring simple pumpkins, ghosts, spiders, and other designs for children to choose from.

6.       Plan for a Hayride or a Family-Friendly Haunted Hayride

If you can find a member of the church with a trailer and tractor, a hayride is the best fall-inspired activity. We incorporated a kid-friendly haunted ride through the woods and laughed so hard at the acting skills of the youth volunteers. The tractor ride was the highlight of our event.

7.       Have a Costume Contest

A great way to engage participation from festival attendees is with a costume contest. You can create categories, such as couples, family, and children, or keep it simple with a first, second, and third place overall prize. We bought these adorable skeleton trophies to give out as prizes.

8.       Put Allergy-Friendly Buckets at Games and Trunks

Provide a teal bucket for your trunk volunteers and place one at each game as a safe alternative for children with nut allergies. Print this PDF on allergy-friendly alternatives, so your volunteers know some things to purchase. Find buckets at Target, Walmart, and Amazon.

9.       Advertise the Event with Flyers and Activity Signs

Canva makes it super easy to create professional-looking flyers and signs. Make copies of flyers for church members to take home and distribute at sports practices, their places of business, and to friends. You can ask local businesses to hang a flyer in their window or on the bulletin boards. If you have the budget, create signs for each game and activity, and then display them by the road to generate excitement about the upcoming event. Ask congregants to share the social media event on their neighborhood pages and with friends.

10.  Play Spooky Family-Friendly Halloween Music

It’s not a party unless there is music. Fun Halloween playlists that are geared toward families and children can be found on all major music platforms. Think, “Giant Purple People Eater” and “Monster Mash.” Add some uplifting worship songs to the playlist as well.

Other Ideas:

·       Rent Inflatables

·       Baking Contest (Rules Sheet Download)

·       Provide food, such as hot dogs, chips, or popcorn

Game Ideas:

·       Musical Pumpkins (Cupcake Walk)

·       Ghost Pop Toss

·       Coke Toss

·       Pumpkin Beanbag Toss

·       Go Fish

·       Lucky Duck

I bet you'll love the Free You've Been Boo'd by Jesus Printables!

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