"Trunk or Treat"

What is a Trunk or Treat? For us, it is a family oriented and fun church sponsored event with outreach potential to tons of kids. Families of the children in our youth group are encouraged to decorate the back of their cars/trunks with a fun theme. We are asking that people steer away from dark, spooky and scary stuff and register their car theme as soon as possible. That evening, part of the parking lot will be roped off so the "decorated cars" can be set up.

We are planning a short devotional, group games, and renting an inflatable bouncer/slide thingy to add to the fun. During the last half hour, the kids will get to walk around and visit all the trunk sites and collect treats being passed out. The kids will have a great time, and the adults probably will, too! The elementary schools in our area have agreed to let us pass out half sheet announcement/invitations to the students, so we're expecting a large turnout.

"Trunk or Treat" was a new idea to me this year, so I've begun to look around for ideas for my trunk.

The First Church of the Nazarene in Harrisonburg, Virginia had an awesome index of pictures showing some ways their families decorated their cars at their church. I love pictures. I'm a very visual kind of person. Some others ideas I've heard of include:

• Bible Story or Character, such as Noah's ark: Decorate your trunk like an ark (don't ask me how, LOL! I'm just sharing the idea) and make huge animal cut outs for the kids to stand behind and put their faces through.


• Pirate Ship: Dress like (nice) pirates and provide the treats out of a treasure chest. Hmmm.


• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Enter into the fantasy land of lollipop trees, ever-lasting gobstoppers, and a chocolate river. This one sounds yummy...


• Beach Party


• Disney Movie or Character


• Favorite Sport, Team, or School


• Children's Story Book theme
  

Now, in case you are wondering, I haven't decided on a theme for our trunk, yet. But I need to soon. Time is flying by. I'd love to hear any ideas you have!

I'm going to share a link to this on my post for Works For Me Wednesday . I know, I know, it is a supposed to be a Kitchen Organization Edition there. But I'm sure there are other families out there looking for Halloween alternatives, and this seems timely. Even if there isn't enough time to get one together at your church, you might want to see if any churches in your area are hosting one.