Is Trick-or-Treating a Dying Tradition?

Do many kids go trick-or-treating door-to-door these days? You know, besides hitting up every house in the “rich neighborhoods.” There are a few of those areas around here. Every porch light glowing on Halloween, and they give out the good candy, handfuls of it! Then, there are the church trunk-or-treats and carnivals which are pretty much a guaranteed good time. But who goes scavenging for sweets in their own neighborhoods? (By the way, I totally understand the safety concerns.)

Growing up, I lived way out in the country. We didn’t have neighbors which meant no trick-or-treaters. When my husband and I moved into our own house in a neighborhood, one of the things I was looking forward to was Halloween and handing out treats to all the neighborhood kids. I was pretty disappointed when, though my porch was decorated and the lights were on, we received very few masked superheroes and pretty princesses knocking at our door.

Getting Creative with Halloween Treats

Every year I still turn on the porch light and dispense treats to the little ones who do show up. However, I do not buy the twenty dollar bags of chocolate anymore because I’m the one who ends up eating most of it! Last year I decided to get creative. 

I wanted to do something less expensive and wanted to avoid devouring all the sugar myself. I walked through the grocery store looking for something different. I avoided the Halloween aisles because I knew the prices of items in that area would be marked up just because of the theme and headed to the snacks, candy, and chips section. I considered several different things (which I’ll tell you about later), but I decided on one that turned out to be a hit!

Microwaveable popcorn! It’s cheap, individually packaged, and something a little different to drop into the kiddos’ orange pumpkin buckets. I don’t know any kids that don’t like buttery popcorn. When I was a teacher, we occasionally had movie days where I would pop popcorn for the students. Not one middle schooler turned it down! In fact, I had a microwave bite the dust during a popcorn nuking marathon one day. That class was very upset!

If you know me, you know I’m not just going to throw popcorn packets in a bowl and call it done. I like being creative, so I made some cute labels to attach to the popcorn packages. Last year, there was only one version, but I made a few more to share with you! There’s a classic Halloween label, and I made a Fall themed one for those that aren’t into ghosts and goblins. You’ll also find a sophisticated one to hand out to your work friends, and one you can use year-round!

How to Make the Popcorn Labels & Free Download!

Below you’ll find the free download. There are two options for printing. You can print four to a page on your printer (I use cardstock), or you can us the JPEG file and send them to your favorite one-hour photo print shop. Then, all that’s left is to attach with a hot glue gun or double sided tape! Easy!!

Click the button below for access to these FREE printable Halloween Popcorn Labels!

If you love FREE PRINTABLES like I do, check out my printable meal planner HERE!

What other non-candy Halloween treat ideas do you have? Comment below!