This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser, MARS. All opinions are mine alone. #BOOItForward #CollectiveBias
One of my favorite Halloween traditions over the years has been leaving treats secretly for neighbors and friends. It has developed into a fun ritual that many neighborhoods participate in called “BOO’ing” and my family absolutely loves it! We live in a fairly new subdivision so we have people moving in almost every week as homes are completed. I thought it would be extra fun this year to BOO our new neighbors, giving them a complete party in a bag! I’m hoping it will be an excuse for them to invite other neighbors over, celebrate Halloween, and help us all get to know each other a little better. I started getting ideas for my BOO kits this year by heading over to my local Walmart.
There are a few essential components for a great BOO kit. First, you want to make sure you have a festive container for your goodies. It could be a Halloween gift bag, a plastic pumpkin, a decorative box… really anything that will hold everything in your kit.
Next, you want to fill it up with amazing treats and fun Halloween items! For my kits this year, I have a few different themes, depending on who will be receiving the BOO package.
Last, you will need to print out a “You’ve Been BOO’d” sign and instructions to include so that the recipient of your kit will know how to BOO it Forward to the next person!
Walmart has an entire BOO Kit shop set up online and in their stores that makes it super easy to put together, and they even have a sign to print out to include with your kit at BooItForward.com
This year I wanted to make something special to hold all of the party treats, and I came up with the idea to make a pinata-style gift bag! I can’t tell you how much I love the results!! They turned out even better than I imagined.
It’s really fun to customize them and make each bag different, but the process to make them is the same! Here’s what you’ll need to get started:
- – Plain gift bags (mine are American Greetings® from Walmart)
- – Colored tissue paper (American Greetings®)
- – Scissors
- – Gluestick
Start by taking the tissue paper out and folding it where the natural creases already are. In this piece, there were a few different lengths but in other pieces I used, all of the folds were uniform. (It doesn’t really matter because you will be layering them anyway.)
One important tip is to cut along the folds at the bottom before you start cutting the fringe! You don’t want a bunch of loops along the bottom when you are done because it’s a pain to have to cut them a few at a time.
Measure the width of the gift bag and continue to cut the fringed pieces until you reach the desired width. When you are cutting, always leave at least a ½”- 1” border at the top so your fringe will stay together in one strip!
Once you have the cuts made through all the layers of tissue paper, start separating the strips and glue them on the bag, starting at the bottom of the bag. I like to have several strips together when I glue a section to make it more full and fluffy!
Here is what my bag looked like when I was all done gluing:
So cute!!!! The texture is so awesome in person.
Now it was time to add a few embellishments to make it look like a black cat. I found some glitter cardstock for the ears and nose, and black pipe cleaners for the mouth at Walmart, then glued them on with my gluestick. I also found the cutest chalkboard tags and chalk markers over in the scrapbooking section at Walmart, and made tags for all my themed BOO kits!
I repeated the same process for all 4 of the Halloween pinata bags… Jack-O-Lantern, Ghost, and Frankenstein finished up my spooky set.
With my bags complete, it was time to build my party BOO kits! First up, this Halloween party kit in my Jack-O-Lantern bag.
I included some cute Jack-O-Lantern stickers, glow bracelets, other fun party favors, and of course, CANDY!! This MARS Halloween variety mix I found has all my favorite chocolate treats in one bag! M&Ms®, TWIX®, and SNICKERS®…. do you really need anything else??
For my next BOO kit, I did a “Monster Mash Bash” theme with the Frankenstein bag.
In this kit, I included some party sticker sets, awesome monster eye glasses, vampire teeth, a monster mask, glowing spiders, and Skittles® Original Fun Size and Starburst® Fun Size candy.
Those were the two ideas I had for party kits for my neighbors, but there are other people in my life that I would like to surprise for Halloween. One is my son’s teacher at school. She is amazing and deserves a treat after spending all day with a class of 22 boys and 6 girls! I made her this ghostly BOO kit with some of her favorite treats, Life Savers® Gummies, and party favors she can use as rewards for the class.
I’m sure we all know a Fab”BOO”lous teacher who could use a thank you!
For my last idea, I thought it would be fun to get something for your kids to show them how much they are loved. I found this darling card from American Greetings® for a little girl with a black cat, and it inspired my cat themed pinata bag.
I included some sparkly Halloween necklaces, spider rings, and festive lip gloss and nail polishes for the kids. Any little girl would love this surprise!
I can’t wait to give out all of my special BOO kits this Halloween! I wanted to share the ideas with my girlfriends in the neighborhood, so I invited some of them over to make their own BOO kits. I decked out my shelves with Halloween decor and some fun new additions from Walmart. They have the cutest stuff for Halloween this year!
One of my favorite finds for the treat table was this light up pumpkin. I used it as a centerpiece for the table and added some candy coming out of its mouth, and spilling over onto a darling serving tray (also from Walmart!)
This spooky lighted garland was another great find! It adds the perfect finishing touch to my table and I love the glow of the purple lights. I also found some great accessories… glitter spiders and this package of glitter confetti with skulls, bats, and spiders.
My friends arrived to my “Ghouls Night Out” and I had them pick out some tissue paper and work on their own BOO bags!
I also served them these yummy Halloween Root Beer floats, using some of the mini monster cans of A&W® Root Beer, perfect for individual servings at a party! You can find these limited edition 7.5 oz monster cans in-store at your local Walmart in the soda aisle. There is also an offer for $1 off each 6-pack of cans on Ibotta right now!
It would be also be a fun addition to your BOO kit to add a 6-pack of mini monster cans. There’s a really cool Mini Monsters AR App available to download for Android or Apple devices, and you scan the monster on your can and watch it come to life! The monsters actually interact with each other!
For dessert, I served these amazing brownie and TWIX® filled ice cream cones!
To make these delicious treats, filled with chocolaty brownie goodness and crumbled TWIX® bars, you only need a few components.
“Betwixed” Brownie Cones
Ingredients:
- A brownie mix
- Fun size TWIX® bars
- Sugar cones
- Vanilla ice cream (or your favorite flavor)
- Hot fudge, whipped cream & sprinkles (optional)
Instructions:
Make the brownies as directed. Don’t overcook! You want them to be a little gooey when they come out of the oven. Let cool for a few minutes and then scoop out the warm brownies into a sugar cone. Press down into the cone so it is filled halfway. Then sprinkle with crushed TWIX® bars. Add one more small scoop of brownie on top to fill up cone. Chill in in the fridge for 5-10 minutes. Top with ice cream, whipped cream, and any other desired toppings! Enjoy!
I made the witch hat cone wrappers with patterned card stock, and the witch hat “brim” is punched out with 2 sizes of circle punch. (2” and 1.5”)
Here is the messy version (with hot fudge!) I prefer just plain ice cream and whipped cream, topped with these darling Halloween sprinkles.
The best part is when you get to the brownie in the cone… the warm brownies have melted the TWIX® pieces and created a delicious caramel and chocolate heaven! Yum!!!
I had so much fun planning this “Ghouls Night Out” party for some of the ladies in my neighborhood. The best part of my party prep was being able to find everything I needed in one place! Walmart has great Halloween decorations, supplies for your creative BOO kits, party supplies and cards from American Greetings®, and everything you need for desserts and drinks! In case you need to know where to find all of the Halloween stuff I used, here are a few shots from my shopping trip:
Are you planning a Halloween party? What plans do you have to BOO it Forward this year? Walmart is giving away a $500 gift card in their “BOO it Forward” Sweepstakes to get you started! Get more information and enter here: #BOOItForwardSweepstakes
I’d love to hear your plans for Halloween and what you like to give in your BOO kits!
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