Cheap Trunk Or Treat Decorating Ideas

Check out my AWESOME list of 20 of the BEST simple trunk or treat ideas for your car, truck or SUV! You're going to love these easy and super fun Halloween ideas to make your trunk the best in the lot!

Trunk or Treat decorating ideas including a mermaid in the back of a trunk, a trunk of a black car with a red tongue hanging out and white teeth, a car wrapped like a mummy, a car decorated like frankenstein and a truck bed decorated with pumpkins.

Every year my church does a Trunk or Treat for Halloween. I am always looking for simple trunk or treat decorating ideas and something that can be put together quickly.

If you haven't heard about a Trunk or Treat before it's usually a church, school, neighborhood or community sponsored event where people gather up and park their cars in a big parking lot. They open up their trunks or truck-beds and decorate them. Then they pass out candy.

It's a fun way for kids to get a lot of candy in a short amount of time. Plus, it's a nice, safe family-friendly environment, too.

Here are my favorite Simple Trunk or Treat Ideas!

A trunk decorated with skeletons, pumpkins and lights for a spooky Halloween night.

1. Skeleton Theme

Set up a spooky Skeleton Truck or Treat Idea from Curly Crafty Mom complete with pumpkins and lights! A perfect setting to a fun Halloween night and an easy trunk or treat idea for SUV's!

A candyland theme trunk or treat with big candies and balloons - great ideas for truck bed!

2. Candy Land Theme

Bring Candy Land from Pinterest to life in your trunk! This works great in a truck because you can fill the whole thing with candy – every kid's dream! No kid will be able to resist walking up those colored spots!

3. Zoo Theme

It's a true Trunk Zoo from Project Little Mo in this trunk. Perfect for SUV's and that can use all your animal stuffed animals for a quick and thrifty trunk!

A unicorn made in the backseat of a trunk.

4. Unicorn Theme

This larger-than-life Unicorn from Pinterest is the perfect way to magically decorate your car for Trunk or Treat! I mean, who can resist those eyelashes and all of those colors – not me!

5. Camping Theme

Going camping has never been more fun than in this Camping Trip from Jeannie Marie & Company. Set up a tent, a chair and a cute paper fire with plenty of treats – sounds like my kind of camping! Who knew that trunk or treat camping ideas could be so fun?

A large mouth decor in the back of a trunk with candy bags inside of it.

6. Mouth Theme

Have you ever seen a bigger Mouthful of Candy from Pinterest? Such a fun way to display treats in a car or an SUV especially if you want to walk around with your family!

7. Wizard of Oz Theme

Follow the Yellow Brick Road from Pinterest all the way to the bucket of treats at the end of the rainbow! This would be a fun trunk or treat idea for church or a neighborhood gathering!

A large frog with a long red tongue and feet outside of the trunk

8. Frog Theme

Transform your car into one big Trunk Frog from Pinterest. Complete with the longest red tongue that is perfect for leading kids to the treats in the trunk.

An open SUV truck with stuffed animals in it with a sign saying I Spy with two people looking at it.

9. I Spy Theme

Make the ultimate trunk with this interactive I Spy game from Pinterest. Use items from all over your house and add them in your trunk. Kids will be hanging around your trunk all night playing this game! What fun ideas for pickup trucks on Halloween!

10. Mummy Theme

What can you make with an old sheet and a little paint? A Mummy from Pinterest is the perfect idea for trunk or treaters! Such a simple trunk or treat idea that everyone will love!

An open car trunk with records hanging down with a Grease sign and balloons in it with a girl in black next to it.

11. Grease Theme

Bring all the nostalgia from the movie Grease from a User on Flickr to your trunk with simple decorations. This would be a fun trunk or treat idea for church, too. Bonus points if you wear a poodle skirt! Go, Grease Lightening!

12. Black Cat Theme

Transform your car into the biggest Black Cat from a User on Flickr the kids have ever seen! It will prove to be a purr-fect night with the treats in the trunk! It's a simple trunk or treat idea that will knock the socks off the guests!

An open trunk with gold, a treasure chest and a skeleton in it.

13. Pirate Theme

Ahoy, Matey! Pirate Treasure from Pinterest is found in your trunk and this is the one the kids will be clamoring to come to on Halloween night! Lay our your gold treasures – aka candy – for the perfect decoration/treat ever!

14. Spooky Halloween Theme

A Classic Halloween trunk is the perfect way to come to a trunk or treat. With spiderwebs, gravestones and cauldrons, what more do you need for a spooky good time?

A teenage mutant ninja turtle cover over an open SUV trunk with a green blanket in it and a brown carpet with TMNT and pizzas on it.

15. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Theme

Bring back the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in the best way possible with this simple TMNT decor from Pinterest! This is an easy trunk or treat idea for SUV's. The only way it could be better is if the theme song is playing. Turtle Power!

A jeep filled with plants and an inflatable dinosaur with a black covering saying Jurassic Park.

16. Jurassic Park Theme

Welcome all of the Jurassic Park fans to a fun world of dinosaurs in the back of your jeep from this cool idea from Pinterest! Complete with an inflatable dinosaur, this trunk will be a hard one to beat! It would also be a great idea for a truck bed!

17. Kayak Theme

Kayaks and candy – what a great combination from the Daily Sentinel! This is one of those ideas for a pickup truck that will wow the other guests! Easy to set up and so fun to be at as all the trick-or-treaters come by to get their candy!

An Alice in Wonderland themed truck bed idea with a person dressed as the white rabbit in it.

18. Alice in Wonderland Theme

No trunk or treat is complete with an Alice in Wonderland-themed idea for a pickup trunk from Down South Balloons on Instagram! With simple decorations this is a fun idea for your truck bed and to show off all that memorabilia!

An Aladdin themed setting with people dressed up as characters sitting on a rug with clouds underneath them.

19. Aladdin Theme

It's a whole new world when you have an Aladdin-themed trunk from the Dating Divas that could be great for pickup trucks or for cars. I wonder if you can get a Genie to come out of that lamp though….

20. Monster's Inc Theme

Imagine seeing this fun Monster's Inc trunk while you were our trick-or-treating! I would love to see Mike Wazowski from Shine Like Stars come alive in this trunk especially if he was handing out the treats!

More Halloween Ideas

20 Cheap Kid's Halloween Costumes for Under $10 – If you're looking for a cheap kid's Halloween costume, check out this list!
Monster Cookies – The spookiest cookies that taste amazing and are a great family project!
Pumpkin Bowling – A fun family game that everyone can play using Halloween materials!
Halloween Treasure Hunt – Put together this adventure that will take Halloween to the next level with this super fun treasure hunt.
DIY Pumpkin Spice Room Spray – Fill your home with the fresh aroma of fall with this homemade pumpkin spice room spray.

For more Thrifty Trunk or Treat Ideas check out my Pinterest board full of them! And please tag me on Instagram showing me your trunk – who knows, it may end up on my list next year!!

A snapshot of trunk or treat ideas from a PInterest board.

This post is helpful for finding tons of ideas on trunk or treats that aren't so expensive. My favorite is the yellow brick road one - so adorable! 20 Thrifty Trunk or Treat Decorating Ideas HappyMoneySaver.com #trunkortreat #Halloween #ideasfortrucks #simple #Halloweendecor #treat #ideasforcars

This blog post was originally posted September 18, 2014, and updated with several new ideas, better images and updated descriptions on October 15, 2020.