20 Trunk or Treat Ideas for Any Car (SUV, Sedan, Minivan)

A trunk or treat turns a row of parked cars into a Halloween street, and the open hatch of an SUV, minivan or sedan is your stage. These 20 ideas cover whole-car costumes, themed trunk scenes, a candy game, a non-food treats trunk and glowing details that still read after dark.

Each idea gives a size, count or setup time. Most take one evening and use sheets, felt, foam, hay bales and battery lights. For crafts you can build for your trunk, see our easy DIY Halloween decorations.

Before you start

Use only battery tea lights, LED strands and glow sticks. Open flames and real candles do not belong near fabric, hay or paper in a packed parking lot. Keep the engine off while the hatch is open, and keep hay, cloth and cobweb away from a hot exhaust.

Leave a few feet of clear walking space in front of the car so kids can line up without stepping into traffic. Clamp or zip-tie tall props to cargo hooks, because wind and a closing hatch both knock things over. Keep googly eyes and other small parts away from children under 3.

1. Turn the whole car into a sheet ghost

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A parked car under a white sheet becomes a ghost with almost no building. In the photo, the sheet covers the whole car, with a round eye hole cut over each headlight, and a tall cone-shaped ghost stands beside it. Measure the car from bumper to bumper before you shop, because a single bedsheet will not reach, and plan on two or three flat sheets joined with clips.

Clip the edges together so wind cannot lift them, and keep the cloth off the exhaust and wheels. This one is for the parked car only, so take the sheet off before you drive. About 30 minutes with a helper.

2. Make the open hatch a monster mouth

An open liftgate already looks like a jaw. Glue two large googly eyes, about 8 inches across, to the top of the lid, then hang black fabric across the opening so the inside reads as a dark throat. Cut six white felt triangles for the top teeth and six for the bottom, as in the photo, and tape the top row to the liftgate edge and the bottom row along the sill.

Let a long red felt tongue drape over the bumper toward the kids. Set the candy bowl on a small table at the side so nobody has to reach into the dark mouth. About 90 minutes.

3. Wrap the back of an SUV in a pirate ship

Brown cardboard or poster-board panels painted as wood planks can cover the rear and side of an SUV like a ship hull. The photo adds a tall mast with a cream sail and a small black flag, an anchor, rope swags and a rope net along the side, plus a treasure chest of gold coins in the cargo area.

Brace the mast to a bucket of sand or to the roof rack, since wind catches a sail. Hold panels on with painter's tape and keep them clear of the wheels and mirrors. A weekend project.

4. Set up candy fishing in a minivan

A blue cloth over the cargo floor turns a minivan into a pond. The photo shows about a dozen paper fish cutouts in orange, yellow and turquoise taped to the cloth, and ten strings hanging from the open liftgate, each with a wrapped treat tied on. Three wooden dowel rods with string lean against the bumper for the kids to fish with.

Space the strings a hand-width apart so they do not tangle. Tie on only wrapped candy and non-food prizes too big to swallow. About 45 minutes.

5. Stage a mad scientist lab at dusk

A small folding table, about 2 feet wide, fits inside most cargo areas and holds the whole lab. The photo shows three flasks, two narrow-neck bottles, a foamy green beaker, a lidded jar of purple liquid and four test tubes in a wooden rack, all glowing green or purple. Storage bins sit behind the table.

Tint water with food coloring and drop a battery tea light or glow stick behind each glass. Use plastic or sturdy glass and hold pieces down with removable putty. Label the bottles "not for drinking" so no toddler samples the colored water. About an hour.

6. Run a teal pumpkin trunk with non-food treats

A teal pumpkin signals that you hand out non-food treats, which helps kids with food allergies. In the photo, one teal pumpkin sits on a hay bale at the left of the cargo area. One wicker basket holds wrapped candy and a second holds glow sticks, bouncy balls, star stickers and small erasers. Maple leaves are scattered across the floor.

Paint a craft pumpkin with matte teal acrylic and let it dry overnight. Keep the two baskets clearly separate and label them. About 30 minutes plus drying.

7. Build a Día de los Muertos trunk

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Día de los Muertos is a Mexican holiday that remembers loved ones, so this trunk leans colorful and respectful rather than scary. The photo shows a turquoise vintage car with a banner of six white sugar skulls with pink, teal, orange and yellow accents across the underside of the trunk lid. Inside are a skull in a black sombrero and a striped serape, a coffin with teal trim and a flower-topped skull sign.

Two small skeletons on poles stand at the bumper. A black banner with a large sugar skull and pom-pom fringe hangs below the trunk. About 2 hours.

8. Plant a foam graveyard in the cargo area

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Two gray foam tombstones show how little a graveyard needs. One has an arched top with a skeleton in relief and a large RIP. The other has a peaked top over a skull-and-crossbones panel. A bundle of corn stalks stands behind them, with pumpkins and straw in the foreground.

For a trunk, choose stones 18 to 30 inches tall so they clear the lid. Zip-tie them to cargo hooks or brace each with a sandbag, then scatter straw and mini pumpkins on the floor. About 20 minutes with ready-made stones.

9. Load a hatch with a hay bale pumpkin patch

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This display is simple. Two golden hay bales sit against a black fabric backdrop, with one big orange pumpkin lifted on a stack of wooden crates and two more resting on the straw. The black cloth makes the orange pop, and the crates add height without extra bales.

In a trunk, hang black fabric across the back of the cargo area, set one or two bales on the floor and stack a crate or two beside them. Add 6 to 8 pumpkins of mixed sizes, with the biggest on the crates. A typical bale runs about 3 feet long. Hay burns easily, so keep it away from the exhaust and any warm engine parts, and sweep up loose straw afterward. About 30 minutes.

10. Seat two skeletons for a tailgate chat

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Two plastic skeletons in black iron chairs make a story without a script. In the photo, one reclines with its head tipped back and jaw open, as if laughing, while the other slouches with its head turned and legs crossed, chatting. Pale green seat cushions and patterned back pillows soften the chairs, and a small jack-o'-lantern with a shocked O mouth sits on the table between them.

Fit two folding chairs beside or inside the hatch with a small side table. Pose the limbs with zip ties. About 40 minutes.

11. Hang a giant spider on black gauze

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A single oversized spider reads from across a parking lot. The photo shows a large furry black spider, about 2 to 3 feet across, clinging to a gray light fixture, with black torn gauze draped over the top and a smaller pipe-cleaner spider low at the left edge.

Drape black gauze or cheesecloth over the open hatch frame and fasten it with tape. Anchor the big spider at the top corner with fishing line, then pose a few small ones lower down. Gauze catches fire easily, so keep it off lights that run warm. About 20 minutes.

12. Crash a witch into the trunk

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This old gag still gets a laugh. Two legs in black-and-turquoise striped stockings and black buckled shoes poke up at different angles from an orange tub packed with loose straw, with four pumpkins clustered in front of it.

Stuff striped tights with fiberfill or newspaper, add a dowel or pool noodle up the middle so they stand, and wedge the legs into a tub or bucket of straw. Brace the tub against the cargo wall so it cannot tip. Set pumpkins around it. About 45 minutes.

13. Hang ghosts holding lanterns from the lid

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Two white gauze ghosts hang from tree branches in the photo, each carrying a small black lantern in a plastic skeleton hand. Their hems are frayed and trail almost to the ground, and no face shows, so they look hollow.

Drape cheesecloth over a foam ball for each head and tie a neck with string. Hang them from the raised liftgate with fishing line at about kid eye level, and swap each lantern for a battery tea light inside. Fray the hems with your fingers. About 20 minutes each.

14. Fill the hatch with a canopy of paper bats

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About a dozen black paper bats hang on clear thread in the photo, several per strand, at different heights, with warm orange fairy lights glowing behind them. They float like a flock.

Cut 20 to 30 bats from black cardstock, about 6 inches across, and fold each down the middle so the wings lift. Tape the thread to the top edge of the open hatch, and stagger lengths from 1 to 4 feet. A battery light strand along the edge adds glow. About an hour.

15. Float glowing jellyfish for an under-the-sea trunk

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For a theme that is not spooky, hang glowing jellyfish. The photo shows about a dozen orange-red domed lanterns glowing around bright yellow centers, each trailing crinkled ribbon tentacles and thin curly strands, against a nearly black ceiling.

Make your own from round paper lanterns, each with a battery tea light inside, and glue or tape 6 to 10 tissue or ribbon strands, about 2 feet long, to the bottom. Hang them from the hatch at different heights. Use a dark cloth behind them. About an hour for five.

16. Wrap pumpkins in battery fairy lights

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A single battery light strand can carry a whole trunk. The photo shows a string of warm-white globe bulbs draped over four pumpkins: a large deep-orange one, a small pale one in front and two small orange ones, set on crumpled brown paper.

Wrap a strand around each pumpkin and tuck the battery pack behind it. Pick a pack with a timer, since it can run for the hours before and after trick-or-treating. Place the group at the front of the cargo area so the glow lights the kids' hands. About 15 minutes. For more yard lighting ideas, see our outdoor Halloween decorations.

17. Serve candy from a styled tray

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A shallow tray makes a candy station that looks planned. The photo shows nine lollipops in clear wrappers, white with orange edges and black spider or web prints, nine foil-wrapped coins with ghost, bat and cat designs, and a dozen eyeball candies with red veins.

Sort your candy by type on a tray or two and hand out only commercially wrapped pieces. Set one tray on a table at the edge of the hatch, with another full one in reserve under it. About 10 minutes.

18. Paint a solar system for a space trunk

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A space theme works when you want something other than spooky. The photo shows 15 painted half-spheres glued to a board that fades from blue-gray at the top to black, spattered with white paint dots for stars. The biggest are a yellow dome with a white spiral and red dots and a teal-and-navy swirl, with smaller black, yellow and orange ones around them.

Paint a 2 by 3 foot foam board or plywood panel black, flick on white stars with a toothbrush, and glue on foam balls cut in half, from 2 to 8 inches wide. Prop it in the cargo area. About 3 hours with drying.

19. Sit scarecrows on the bales

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Scarecrows give a harvest trunk a friendly focal point. The two in the photo wear orange hats with a yellow flower tucked in, plaid shirts and orange neckerchiefs, with cream faces, blue eyes, orange noses and black smiles. Golden bales, about ten pumpkins and gourds in orange, cream and green, and four wicker baskets fill in around them.

Stuff an old flannel shirt and jeans with straw or crumpled newspaper, then pin the cuffs shut with twine. Top it with a straw hat, and paint a face on a burlap sack or a pillowcase with acrylics. Set one in a folding chair on the bales so it does not tip. About an hour.

20. Lean a wagon wheel against the bales

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A wooden wagon wheel gives a harvest trunk a ready-made frame. In the photo, a 12-spoke wheel leans on hay bales, with two yellow warty gourds tucked between the spokes. Orange and white pumpkins, yellow crown gourds and a green-and-white scalloped squash fill in around it.

Lean a wheel against a bale at the back of the cargo area and wire two or three gourds into the spokes with floral wire. Check farm stands and thrift stores for a wheel, or skip it and stack crates instead. About 15 minutes once you have the pieces.

Final tips

• Pick one color story or theme per car so the pieces read as a set.
• Do a full dry run in the driveway, including opening and closing the hatch with props in place.
• Bring a tarp, tape and zip ties for wind and rain, and cover cloth props when it drizzles.
• Park with a clear walkway around the open hatch, and keep the engine off.
• Wipe off damp hay and fabric props before you pack them, and keep each theme's pieces in one labeled bin for next year.
• Find more ideas on the Halloween hub.
• For paint-and-glue pumpkins to line the cargo area, see our painted pumpkin ideas and no-carve pumpkin ideas.