75+ Cheap Trunk or Treat Ideas That Are Easy, Cute, and Budget-Friendly

Trunk or treat does not have to cost a fortune to be fun, festive, and seriously cute.

Some of the best trunk or treat decorations can be made with things you already have at home, inexpensive Dollar Tree supplies, cardboard boxes, balloons, streamers, construction paper, old sheets, and a little creativity.

Whether you need something simple for school, church, daycare, a community Halloween event, or your neighborhood trunk or treat, this massive list of cheap trunk or treat ideas has plenty of inspiration.

You will find everything from cute and kid-friendly themes to spooky Halloween trunks, movie-inspired ideas, food themes, last-minute decorations, DIY ideas, and trunks you can put together for around $20 to $30.

If you are looking for more clever Halloween decorations, you may like these post ideas below:

For an easy reference, I have added a Table of Contents Bar below:

Cheap Trunk or Treat Decorating Tips

Before choosing your theme, keep these money-saving ideas in mind.

• Use cardboard boxes instead of buying large decorations.
• Shop your house before heading to the store.
• Reuse Halloween decorations you already own.
• Check Dollar Tree, Five Below, Walmart, thrift stores, and clearance sections.
• Use plastic tablecloths as inexpensive backdrops.
• Use balloons to fill empty spaces.
• Print decorations at home.
• Use inexpensive poster board and construction paper.
• Turn old blankets and sheets into backdrops.
• Borrow stuffed animals or toys from your kids’ rooms.
• Use empty shipping boxes to create props.
• Buy candy in bulk instead of individual small bags.
• Stick with two or three main colors to make inexpensive decorations look coordinated.

Cheap and Easy Trunk or Treat Ideas

1. Classic Pumpkin Patch Trunk

Decorate your trunk with orange balloons, artificial leaves, mini pumpkins, and a simple pumpkin patch sign.

You can even make pumpkins from orange paper plates if you want to keep the cost extremely low.

2. Spiderweb Trunk

Cover the inside of your trunk with inexpensive fake spiderwebs.

Add plastic spiders, black balloons, and battery-operated lights.

This is one of the easiest cheap Halloween trunk ideas because fake spiderweb goes a long way.

3. Monster Mouth Trunk

Turn the entire trunk into a giant monster mouth.

Cut large teeth from white poster board and create eyes from paper plates.

Place the candy inside the monster’s mouth.

4. Ghost Trunk

Hang white sheets or white plastic tablecloths inside your trunk.

Create ghost faces with black construction paper.

Add white balloons for even more ghosts.

5. Black Cat Trunk

Use black poster board to make cat ears, whiskers, eyes, and a tail.

Decorate with black and orange balloons.

6. Dollar Store Halloween Trunk

Challenge yourself to decorate the entire trunk using Dollar Tree supplies.

Look for:

• Plastic spiders
• Skeletons
• Fake cobwebs
• Halloween signs
• Orange lights
• Plastic pumpkins
• Tablecloths
• Garland
• Balloons

7. Candy Corn Trunk

Decorate everything in yellow, orange, and white.

Use balloons, streamers, tablecloths, and paper candy corn decorations.

8. Halloween Balloon Trunk

Fill your trunk with orange, black, purple, and green balloons.

Draw pumpkin and ghost faces on some of the balloons.

9. Trick or Treat Trunk

Keep things classic with a large handmade “Trick or Treat” sign.

Add pumpkins, spiderwebs, balloons, and candy buckets.

10. Orange and Black Trunk

Choose only orange and black decorations.

The matching colors will make even inexpensive decorations look put together.

Cheap Cute Trunk or Treat Ideas

11. Pink Halloween Trunk

Use pink balloons, pink pumpkins, ghosts, and disco-ball-inspired decorations.

Mix in black accents to keep the Halloween look.

12. Pastel Halloween Trunk

Decorate using pastel pink, purple, mint green, and orange.

Add smiling ghosts and cute pumpkins.

13. Friendly Ghost Party

Fill the trunk with adorable paper ghosts.

Give each ghost a funny or cute facial expression.

14. Smiley Face Halloween

Combine smiley faces with Halloween colors.

Create smiley pumpkins, smiley ghosts, and cheerful Halloween signs.

15. Cute Bat Trunk

Cut dozens of bats from black construction paper.

Tape them to the inside and outside of your trunk.

Add purple lights or balloons.

16. Pumpkin Faces Trunk

Create lots of different pumpkin faces using orange paper plates.

Make some funny, surprised, silly, and spooky.

17. Rainbow Halloween Trunk

Create a Halloween rainbow using balloons or streamers.

Add colorful pumpkins underneath.

18. Candy Wonderland

Cover your trunk with homemade paper candy decorations.

Create giant lollipops from paper plates and wrapping paper tubes.

19. Sweet Treat Trunk

Decorate with cupcakes, donuts, cookies, and candy made from cardboard.

20. Ice Cream Shop Trunk

Make giant cardboard ice cream cones.

Use pastel balloons as scoops of ice cream.

Cheap Trunk or Treat Ideas for Church

21. Noah’s Ark Trunk

Use stuffed animals from home to fill your trunk.

Create a cardboard ark in the background.

22. Jonah and the Whale

Turn your trunk into a giant whale mouth using blue poster board.

Add paper fish and ocean decorations.

23. David and Goliath

Create cardboard mountains and a large cardboard Goliath.

Use small toy stones or crumpled brown paper as part of the display.

24. Armor of God Trunk

Create cardboard armor pieces and label them with each piece of the Armor of God.

25. Fruits of the Spirit

Decorate with colorful fruit made from construction paper.

Label each fruit with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

26. Let Your Light Shine

Decorate with stars, battery-powered lights, and bright yellow decorations.

27. God’s Little Pumpkins

Create smiling pumpkins and a sign that says something like “God’s Little Pumpkins.”

28. Under the Sea Bible Theme

Use blue tablecloths, paper fish, and streamers.

Add a Bible verse that connects with your church event.

29. Rainbow Promise Trunk

Create a large rainbow with balloons or streamers.

Add clouds made from cotton or white balloons.

30. Garden of Eden

Use artificial leaves, faux plants, paper flowers, and toy animals.

Cheap Trunk or Treat Ideas Using Cardboard

31. Haunted House

Use a large cardboard box to create a haunted house facade.

Paint or cover it with black paper.

32. Giant Jack-o’-Lantern

Turn your trunk into one giant pumpkin.

Use orange poster board or an orange tablecloth and black paper for the face.

Did you get a chance to grab my Halloween Stickers for Trick or Treat bags? Find them here.

33. Giant Candy Box

Turn cardboard into an oversized candy box.

Create giant candy pieces from paper.

34. Castle Trunk

Use shipping boxes to create castle towers.

35. Haunted Graveyard

Create gravestones from cardboard.

Paint them gray and write funny names or Halloween sayings.

36. Monster City

Turn multiple boxes into colorful monsters with giant eyes and teeth.

37. Pizza Shop

Create a huge cardboard pizza.

Cut the pizza into oversized slices.

38. Drive-In Movie Theater

Create a cardboard movie screen.

Add inexpensive popcorn containers.

39. Robot Trunk

Cover cardboard boxes with aluminum foil.

Create a giant robot backdrop.

40. Pirate Ship

Cut large pieces of cardboard into the shape of a pirate ship.

Add a homemade pirate flag.

Cheap Movie-Inspired Trunk or Treat Ideas

41. Toy Story Inspired Trunk

Use blue sky paper, white clouds, and toys you already own.

Create the classic cloud wall look using construction paper.

42. Barbie Inspired Trunk

Use pink poster board and balloons.

Create a giant doll box frame around the trunk.

43. Minion Inspired Trunk

Decorate with yellow and blue balloons.

Make Minion eyes from paper plates.

44. Monsters Inc. Inspired Trunk

Create colorful monster doors from cardboard.

45. Scooby-Doo Inspired Trunk

Make a Mystery Machine backdrop from cardboard.

Use orange, blue, and green decorations.

46. Hocus Pocus Inspired Trunk

Use old books, inexpensive candles, witch hats, and purple lights.

47. Ghostbusters Inspired Trunk

Create ghost cutouts and a homemade Ghostbusters-style sign.

48. The Nightmare Before Christmas Inspired Trunk

Use black-and-white striped decorations.

Add handmade pumpkins and spooky hills.

49. Alice in Wonderland Inspired Trunk

Create oversized playing cards from poster board.

Add paper teacups and colorful decorations.

50. Willy Wonka Inspired Candy Trunk

Create large candy decorations using pool noodles, paper plates, and wrapping paper.

Cheap Trunk or Treat Ideas for Kids

51. Dinosaur Trunk

Use toy dinosaurs from home.

Add artificial plants and handmade dinosaur footprints.

52. Construction Zone

Use yellow caution tape, toy construction trucks, and homemade road signs.

53. Farm Trunk

Use hay-colored paper, stuffed farm animals, and cardboard fences.

54. Barnyard Animals

Create animal faces using paper plates.

55. Jungle Safari

Use artificial greenery, stuffed animals, and homemade binocular decorations.

56. Outer Space

Cover the trunk with black poster board.

Add foil stars, planets, and an inexpensive strand of lights.

57. Astronaut Trunk

Create a large cardboard rocket.

Add silver balloons and paper stars.

58. Superhero Trunk

Use comic-book words like:

• POW!
• BOOM!
• BAM!
• ZAP!

Print or draw them on colorful poster board.

59. Lego Trunk

Turn cardboard boxes into oversized Lego bricks.

Paint or cover them with colorful paper.

60. Race Car Trunk

Use black tablecloths and white tape to create a racetrack.

Add toy cars.

Cheap Food-Themed Trunk or Treat Ideas

61. Taco Trunk

Create oversized cardboard tacos.

Use green tissue paper as lettuce.

62. Pizza Party

Make a huge pizza backdrop.

Kids can pick candy from pizza boxes.

63. Donut Shop

Create donuts using paper plates.

Paint or color the frosting.

64. Cupcake Trunk

Use balloons as cupcake tops.

Create cupcake wrappers from poster board.

65. Popcorn Trunk

Use red-and-white striped tablecloths.

Fill white balloons with red paper accents to look like popcorn.

66. Candy Shop

Decorate with bright colors and oversized paper candy.

67. S’mores Trunk

Create giant marshmallows from white boxes or balloons.

Use cardboard for graham crackers and chocolate.

68. Burger Trunk

Create a giant hamburger from cardboard.

69. Breakfast Trunk

Decorate with giant paper waffles, pancakes, eggs, and bacon.

70. Lemonade Stand

Use yellow decorations, homemade lemons, and a small folding table.

Cheap Spooky Trunk or Treat Ideas

71. Graveyard Trunk

Create cardboard tombstones and add inexpensive skeleton pieces.

72. Skeleton Party

Use one inexpensive skeleton as the main decoration.

Add paper skeletons around it.

73. Witch’s Kitchen

Use old pots, bowls, wooden spoons, and jars from home.

Add green or purple battery-operated lights.

74. Witch’s Cauldron

Place a large black bowl or plastic cauldron in the center.

Surround it with green balloons to look like bubbling potion.

75. Vampire Trunk

Use red and black tablecloths.

Add cardboard vampire teeth and bats.

76. Mummy Trunk

Wrap parts of your trunk decorations in white crepe paper or inexpensive toilet paper.

Add giant paper eyes.

77. Eyeball Trunk

Turn white balloons into giant eyeballs using markers.

78. Haunted Forest

Use bare branches from your yard, fake spiderwebs, bats, and battery-operated lights.

79. Creepy Crawlers

Fill the trunk with plastic spiders, snakes, bugs, and webs.

80. Mad Scientist Lab

Save empty plastic bottles and jars.

Fill them with colored water and add homemade labels like:

• Monster Slime
• Witch Potion
• Dragon Blood
• Zombie Juice

Cheap Last-Minute Trunk or Treat Ideas

81. Balloon Pumpkin Patch

Inflate orange balloons and draw jack-o’-lantern faces on them.

82. Paper Plate Ghosts

Use white paper plates and white streamers to create hanging ghosts.

83. Black Bat Wall

Cut dozens of bats from black construction paper.

Tape them to a black or orange backdrop.

84. Pumpkin Balloon Wall

Draw pumpkin faces on orange balloons.

Fill the trunk with them.

85. Halloween Streamer Trunk

Use orange, purple, green, and black streamers.

Hang them vertically across the trunk.

86. Plastic Tablecloth Backdrop

Layer several inexpensive plastic tablecloths and cut them into strips.

Add balloons and a handmade sign.

87. Giant Googly Eye Trunk

Cut giant eyes from white poster board.

Add black circles in the middle.

88. Ghost Balloon Trunk

Use white balloons with black ghost faces.

89. Halloween Sign Trunk

Make one large Halloween sign the focal point.

Surround it with decorations you already own.

90. Candy Bucket Display

Arrange different Halloween candy buckets throughout the trunk.

Stuff them with tissue paper to make them look full.

Cheap Interactive Trunk or Treat Ideas

Interactive trunks can be especially fun because the game itself becomes part of your decoration.

91. Pumpkin Ring Toss

Place inexpensive pumpkins on the ground and let kids toss glow necklaces around them.

92. Witch Hat Ring Toss

Create witch hats from black poster board.

Use plastic rings or glow bracelets.

93. Feed the Monster

Create a giant monster mouth from cardboard.

Kids toss bean bags or balls into its mouth.

94. Knock Down the Ghosts

Decorate empty cans or plastic cups like ghosts.

Stack them and let kids knock them down.

95. Halloween Bean Bag Toss

Cut holes into a large cardboard box.

Decorate each hole as a pumpkin, ghost, or monster.

96. Pick a Pumpkin

Fill a container with mini pumpkins.

Place numbers underneath several pumpkins for small prizes.

97. Mystery Candy Boxes

Create cardboard boxes with holes where kids reach inside to grab candy.

98. Spin the Halloween Wheel

Make a simple cardboard spinner.

Add options such as:

• Pick two candies.
• Tell a joke.
• Do a monster dance.
• Howl like a werewolf.
• Pick your favorite candy.

99. Halloween Bowling

Decorate inexpensive plastic bottles like ghosts.

Use a small pumpkin or ball to knock them down.

100. Guess the Candy Jar

Fill a clear jar with candy.

Let kids guess how many pieces are inside.

Trunk or Treat Ideas Using Things You Already Own

Before buying anything, look around your home for decorations you may already have.

You could build a trunk around:

101. Stuffed Animals

Create a zoo, safari, jungle, farm, or teddy bear picnic.

102. Kids’ Toys

Use dinosaurs, dolls, action figures, toy cars, or Legos.

103. Sports Equipment

Create a football, basketball, soccer, or baseball trunk.

104. Kitchen Supplies

Create a bakery, candy shop, mad scientist kitchen, or witch’s kitchen.

105. Christmas Lights

Use white or colored string lights to make your trunk glow.

106. Old Sheets

Turn them into ghosts, curtains, or backdrops.

107. Cardboard Shipping Boxes

Create castles, monsters, robots, houses, food, or movie props.

108. Pool Noodles

Turn pool noodles into:

• Giant candy
• Monster arms
• Tentacles
• Lollipops
• Halloween arches

109. Laundry Baskets

Use them as candy holders, cages, cauldrons, or part of a game.

110. Plastic Storage Bins

Cover storage bins with paper or tablecloths and use them to add different heights to your display.

Trunk or Treat Ideas Under $20

If you are really trying to stay on budget, keep your trunk simple.

For around $20, you could create:

111. Ghost Balloon Trunk

White balloons + black marker + white tablecloth.

112. Spiderweb Trunk

Fake spiderweb + plastic spiders + black tablecloth.

113. Pumpkin Trunk

Orange balloons + black paper + orange tablecloth.

114. Bat Cave

Black poster board + homemade bats + inexpensive lights.

115. Candy Corn Trunk

Yellow, orange, and white streamers + balloons.

116. Monster Mouth

Poster board + balloons + inexpensive candy buckets.

117. Purple Witch Trunk

Purple tablecloth + witch hat + paper stars + cauldron.

118. Skeleton Trunk

One inexpensive skeleton + black backdrop + fake cobwebs.

119. Black Cat Trunk

Black poster board + yellow paper eyes + orange balloons.

120. Graveyard Trunk

Cardboard tombstones + black tablecloth + homemade ghosts.

Trunk or Treat Ideas Under $30

With a slightly larger budget, you can add more props and lighting.

Try:

121. Haunted House

122. Pirate Ship

123. Candy Land

124. Dinosaur Park

125. Barbie-Inspired Trunk

126. Monster Party

127. Witch’s Potion Lab

128. Glow-in-the-Dark Trunk

129. Space Adventure

130. Pumpkin Patch

Free Trunk or Treat Ideas

Some themes can be made almost completely free if you already have craft supplies.

131. Cardboard Haunted House

132. Construction Paper Bat Cave

133. Stuffed Animal Zoo

134. Toy Car Racetrack

135. Dinosaur Adventure

136. Sports Trunk

137. Book Character Trunk

138. Kids’ Toy Store

139. Cardboard Robot

140. Homemade Monster Trunk

More Cheap Trunk or Treat Themes

Still looking for ideas?

Here are even more inexpensive trunk themes you can try:

141. Pumpkin Spice Trunk

142. Fall Harvest

143. Scarecrow Trunk

144. Corn Maze

145. Apple Orchard

146. Sunflower Fall Trunk

147. Friendly Frankenstein

148. Purple Monster

149. Green Slime Trunk

150. Emoji Halloween

151. Disco Halloween

152. Retro Halloween

153. 90s Halloween

154. 2000s Halloween

155. Glow Stick Party

156. Neon Halloween

157. Black and White Halloween

158. Orange and Pink Halloween

159. Purple and Black Halloween

160. Pink Ghost Trunk

161. Pumpkin Princess

162. Princess Castle

163. Fairy Garden

164. Mermaid Trunk

165. Under the Sea

166. Shark Trunk

167. Beach Halloween

168. Camping Trunk

169. Campfire S’mores

170. Fishing Trunk

171. Football Trunk

172. Basketball Trunk

173. Soccer Trunk

174. Baseball Trunk

175. Cheerleading Trunk

176. School Spirit Trunk

177. Crayon Box

178. School Bus

179. Classroom Halloween

180. Library Trunk

181. Storybook Trunk

182. Fairy Tale Trunk

183. Teddy Bear Picnic

184. Circus Trunk

185. Carnival Trunk

186. Movie Theater

187. Popcorn Party

188. Arcade Trunk

189. Video Game Inspired Trunk

190. Emoji Trunk

191. Pizza Shop

192. Bakery Trunk

193. Coffee Shop

194. Ice Cream Parlor

195. Donut Shop

196. Taco Stand

197. Candy Shop

198. Lemonade Stand

199. Grocery Store

200. Farmers Marke

How to Make a Cheap Trunk or Treat Look Expensive

You do not need a huge decorating budget to create a beautiful trunk.

The trick is to make the inexpensive decorations feel intentional.

Choose one theme and stick with it instead of buying random Halloween decorations.

Next, choose two or three main colors.

For example:

Cute ghost trunk: White + black + pink

Classic Halloween trunk: Orange + black + purple

Monster trunk: Green + purple + black

Candy trunk: Pink + yellow + blue

Pumpkin patch: Orange + brown + green

Then create one large focal point.

Your focal point could be:

• A giant cardboard monster
• A large handmade sign
• A balloon arch
• A cardboard haunted house
• A giant pumpkin
• A large ghost
• An oversized candy display

Once you have one large focal point, you do not need dozens of expensive decorations.

Cheap Trunk or Treat Supplies to Look For

When shopping for your trunk, keep an eye out for inexpensive supplies like:

• Plastic tablecloths
• Balloons
• Streamers
• Poster board
• Construction paper
• Cardboard
• Tissue paper
• Fake spiderweb
• Plastic spiders
• Plastic skeletons
• Mini pumpkins
• Candy buckets
• Glow sticks
• Battery-powered string lights
• Paper plates
• Pool noodles
• Aluminum foil
• Wrapping paper
• Crepe paper
• Artificial leaves
• Dollar store signs
• Foam boards

Final Thoughts on Cheap Trunk or Treat Ideas

A great trunk or treat setup does not have to be expensive.

With cardboard, balloons, construction paper, Dollar Tree decorations, and items you already have around the house, you can create a Halloween trunk that kids will love without spending a huge amount of money.

The most important thing is choosing a fun theme, creating one big focal point, and making your candy station easy for kids to see and reach.

Whether you create a giant monster mouth, a sweet candy shop, a spooky graveyard, a pumpkin patch, or a simple balloon trunk, there are plenty of ways to make your trunk stand out while staying on budget.

Save your favorite ideas now so you are ready when trunk or treat season arrives!