How To Make A Trunk or Treat Candy Cottage

What is Trunk or Treat?

The popularity of Trunk or Treat and Fall Festivals has grown in recent years. I wrote about it and you can Go here to find out more about what is Trunk or Treat.

We created this Candy Cottage for our church Trunk or Treat event several years ago, before I ever started blogging. It was a huge hit with all the children. My mother may have had more fun than anyone. She sat in a chair next to the exit and laughed all night. Such fond memories.

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Trunk or Treat Design Idea

The idea for our Candy Cottage was born out of the fact that my husband’s parents had this wonderful giant box from having just purchased a new stove. We all know how much children love to play with boxes.

We decided to dress up the box in a way that all children would enjoy and make a Trunk or Treat design that was a little different.

We wanted to keep our design fun, colorful and, friendly. 

From the child’s perspective, it’s all about filling their bucket with candy so why not make a candy cottage!

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The candy cottage was intended to be as cost efficient as possible. 

Supplies for making a Candy Cottage Trunk or Treat

• A big box, ours is a stove box
• brown wrapping paper, like this
• sharp cutting tool, we used this kind
• lots of tape (we used both scotch tape and shipping tape)
• Elmer’s glue
• one package of ball pit balls, like these
• colored wrapping paper of your choice, here is the red stripe
• construction paper in your choice of colors
• and a couple of Dollar Store candy canes

You can certainly use your imagination and decorate any way you choose

Step By Step Directions

Step 1 The Door

Carefully cut away the flaps from the bottom of the box and set aside. You will be using those as part of the roof later.

Then cut the door out using those sharp box cutters. A rounded top to the door adds a bit of whimsy. We cut two doors on opposite ends from each other. An entrance and an exit. 

Step 2 Window for handing out candy

On the back side of the box you will cut a window just larger enough for you to be able to hand out the candy to the children as they pass through.

Our car is a hatchback, so my husband just sat in the trunk and handed candy through the window. If you would rather sit in a chair to hand out the candy, make your window low enough for that purpose.

 

 

It is time to cut out the roof pieces. First remove the top lid flaps.

 

Then score for so you can cut two triangular shape pieces to create the ends for the front of the house over the doors. 

 

You will use two flaps uncut to make the front and back of the roof. 

 

 

 

 

Cut some corner braces as shown  from the bottom lid flaps you removed earlier. Tape and or glue them into place as shown.

 

Decorating Your Trunk or Treat Candy Cottage

Step 1 Wrapping

 

Red and White Whimsical Stripes

Step 3 Decorating the outside of the candy house

The red & white striped corners are wrapping paper tubes. Cut them in half lengthwise. Wrap each piece with your choice of wrapping paper. I had the red and white in my stash. Glue them to the side of the house.

Use construction paper for to create a fake front facing window, flowers, grass, door hinges, door knobs, and hearts.

Door Decorations

The candy canes on the entrance door came from the Dollar Store. Sadly, Christmas decorations are in stores in October.  

The Enter and Exit signs are made with construction paper and hung with yarn from my stash.

We used Elmer’s glue for this project and were quite pleased with the results. Elmer’s helped to keep this project budget friendly.

Giving out candy at Trunk or Treat event

The Candy Cottage sits perfectly in place behind our little Prius hatchback. My husband sat in back of the car and handed candy through the window as the children came through.

There was a long line the entire time. Most children came through the candy cottage twice. We planned ahead by bringing lots of candy to give out.

More Halloween and Trunk or Treat Ideas For You

These 7 Super Easy Halloween Party Food Ideas include how to make those cute Mummy Hot Dogs with Crescent rolls, Banana Ghosts with chocolate chips and Pumpkin Cuties.

Your little’s will love these super duper easy to make Charlie Brown cookies while they are watching The Great Pumpkin. FYI, you will enjoy those cookies too.

If you are also a fan of sweet and salty then you will love these no bake Corn Chip Halloween Dessert Bars. You get to have some fun with candy googly eyes.

When we think of Halloween, the first thing we think of is candy. I made these Halloween Candy Kabobs for a family Halloween party and they were a big hit. No cooking involved.

Do you love serving food in a jar with a spoon? It’s always fun to eat that way for a festive atmosphere. Make these delicious and fun to eat Halloween Brownie Parfaits. We added some orange candy sprinkles for fun.

How To Make An Easy Trunk or Treat Charlie Brown Design.

More Trunk or Treat Ideas. These Tunk or Treat images are all from my church event.

Toilet Paper Toss was one of the games at this Trunk or Treat event at my church.

More Things To Make With Cardboard Boxes

Indoor play can become challenging in the winter months or on rainy days. I created this Cheap and Easy Cardboard Snowman Bean Bag Toss Game with boxes and paint. I only bring it out at the right time. That way the novelty never wears off.

You can create hours of indoor pretend play with our tips for making the ultimate indoor fort using a box. This one is pretty awesome.