Trick or Treat Sack AND Keepsake!

 I went to a Halloween event with my kids and I was wishing I had sacks for them! I mean, we have the normal plastic buckets which are so cheap that they can break if your child plays with them too rough! 

They cost a fortune and all for a character that your child might not even like next year! I mean, come on, how much are we already spending on the costume!?!

They are also annoying to store for the year to come because they are too bulky! 

"Why haven't I just made some kind of sack for them!?!" I thought to myself.

They can use the same one each year! If it gets dirty, it can be washed! If it rips, it can be sewn! It can, also, simply be folded and stored away, taking up no space in the Halloween bin! 

Ok, here is were this idea becomes genius!

You know all of those CUTE hand/footprint ideas for Halloween! I am a sucker for those like most moms BUT what am I going to do with them? If they aren't framed, they will be ripped up as the years go on! I am, also, not one of those people who like to keep stacks of papers....

I admit, I throw away most of my sons school papers immediately after looking at them out of the backpack, even the art (I'll normally just take a picture of the cute stuff). 

Also, I have THREE kids!!! That can add up!

However, Combine the Trick or Treat sack with hand or footprint art and I'm SOLD!!!

Every year choose a different hand or foot print idea and paint it to your child's sack, along with the year! What a GREAT way to have the keepsake art and also put it to use! I am now just so sad that I haven't thought of this sooner for my big boy Brenden, but glad I thought of it soon enough! It's never too late to start, unless your kids are too big to trick or treat, then save this idea for your grandchildren! Also, if your child is older, maybe you will want to choose a hand AND footprint idea for each year so their sack will be totally decorated in a few years!

Here's all you need:

• A pillowcase per child (I chose white)
• Fabric paint (slightly watered down acrylic paint works just the same)
• *Optional* Fabric markers

First, I taped off a section that my kids could decorate around where I drew their names. I used fabric markers for this part!

 Since this is our first year doing this, I wanted them to chose a foot AND handprint that they wanted! Here's what they chose! Kiki wanted her pumpkin at the bottom of her sack and Brenden wanted his spider at the top of his sack! I am so pleased with how they turned out! They are SO CUTE! I used Glow in the dark puffy paints in the spiderweb, for the spiders eyes, and for the dates!!

 Here is Kiki with her new Trick or Treat sack! If you don't want it as large, you could just cut some material off the top, fold over and sew. If you don't have a sewing machine you could use hot glue! With the extra material that you cut off, you could use it to make a strap for their sack!

Can you imagine how fun this is going to look as the years go by! It will be full of cute halloween pictures and memories of their hand & foot size!

How cute did this turn out!?! Garren's First Halloween....

His footprint is smaller than an acrylic paint jar!

I pulled together some of the CUTEST ideas of Halloween hand and footprint art from Pinterest! Now just pick your favorite and get started! 

Witch HandPrint!

Bat Print!

Cat Print: Just paint on the cat face instead of making it!

Ghost Print! 

If your sack is white, like mine, just paint a square of black and let it dry. Then add the ghost print on top of it!

Spider Print!

These pumpkins are made by stamping your child's fist!

And if you want to make it visible for nighttime Trick or Treating....Use Glow in the dark paints!!!

Here is a follow up post that I did for this trick or treat sack! I decided to use who my children were dressing up as as inspiration to their hand/footprint for the year! Click on the picture below to go to the post!

Here is another follow up post of 2014 & 2015 to give you more ideas of how I came up with hand and footprints for the costumes my kids wore. Click one the picture below to see that post.

Here is one of the Footprints from 2016. Click on the picture to see the post!

Also, if you like this idea, you will love my Christmas Tree Skirt Keepsake! Just click on the picture below!