DIY Trick or Treat Bag

Turn an old T-shirt into a fun Halloween trick-or-treat bag! By using the existing hem as a drawstring channel, you can make a reusable bag with just one seam. Then let the kids help decorate it with homemade Halloween stamps.

When my son Eric was little, trick-or-treating wasn’t nearly as common here in Spain as it was when I was growing up in the United States. Halloween was becoming more popular, with decorations appearing in stores and costume parties popping up around town, but going door to door for candy was still pretty unusual.

Luckily, my mother-in-law lived in one of the few neighborhoods where families organized trick-or-treating for the kids.

Eric actually went trick-or-treating for the first time when he was only a month old! Of course, he had no idea what was going on, but the neighbors loved seeing him dressed up in his little lion costume. Any candy he received went straight to the older kids.

In the following years, we didn’t always get to participate. The neighborhood kids were getting older, and trick-or-treating sometimes didn’t start until around 10 PM. By then, we were already home getting Eric ready for bed!

Still, I wanted him to enjoy some of the Halloween traditions I remembered from my childhood. And what better way to prepare for trick-or-treating than to make our own Halloween bag?

I found an old orange T-shirt in our clothes bin that had a stain and a hole in one sleeve. It was the perfect size for a little trick-or-treat bag, and the orange fabric gave me an idea: Why not turn it into a jack-o’-lantern?

I made the bag, and Eric helped decorate it using homemade craft foam stamps. We ended up with a pumpkin face on one side and little ghosts and pumpkins on the other.

How to make a trick-or-treat bag from an old T-shirt

The bag itself is surprisingly easy to make. I used an old orange T-shirt and took advantage of its existing bottom hem to create the drawstring opening. That meant I only needed to sew one seam!

1. Fold the T-shirt. Fold it in half lengthwise, making sure the sleeves and side seams line up.

2. Cut the fabric. Cut away the sleeves and neckline, making a curved cut from the underarm area toward the center of the neck. I like the rounded shape for a pumpkin, but you can cut straight across if you prefer.

3. Unfold the shirt. Open it up to see the shape of your bag. The original bottom hem will become the top opening.

4. Sew the bottom. Turn the shirt inside out and sew along the curved edge to close the bag. Turn it right side out again.

5. Make openings for the drawstring. Cut small slits in the outer layer of the original T-shirt hem, on either side of the seams. I made four openings, but you may only need two if your shirt has one side seam and you’re using a single drawstring. Be careful not to cut through both layers of fabric.

6. Thread the drawstring. Attach a safety pin to one end of your ribbon or cord and use it to guide the ribbon through the hem. Thread it through the front and back of the bag, then tie the ends together, leaving enough length to open the bag comfortably.

For more details on threading drawstrings, including how to make a double-drawstring closure, see my tutorial for making drawstring pouches from old T-shirts.

How to Make Homemade Halloween Fabric Stamps

Once you’ve made your bag, it’s time to decorate it! I made some homemade stamps using craft foam and pieces of clear plastic. They’re inexpensive, easy to make, and a fun way to get kids involved.

I made a little ghost and pumpkin stamp, along with some shapes for creating a jack-o’-lantern face.

Making the stamps

1. Cut out your designs. Draw your Halloween shapes onto a sheet of craft foam and cut them out. For the jack-o’-lantern face, I made triangular eyes and a W-shaped piece that I could stamp several times to create the mouth.

2. Attach the foam to a backing. Glue the foam shapes onto small pieces of sturdy plastic or wood. I used pieces of old CD cases, which worked particularly well because the clear plastic made it easier to see exactly where I was stamping.

Decorating the Trick-or-Treat Bag

Before stamping, place a piece of cardboard inside the bag to prevent the paint from soaking through to the other side.

Apply a little fabric paint to your homemade stamps and press them onto the bag. I decorated one side with ghosts and little pumpkins and made a big jack-o’-lantern face on the other.

For the jack-o’-lantern face, I stamped the triangular eyes and used the W-shaped stamp three times, overlapping the edges to make a longer, zigzagging mouth. You can actually see where the paint is a little darker in the overlapping areas!

Eric didn’t want to let go of his balloon while helping me decorate the bag, but he had fun anyway! After stamping the eyes, he wanted to keep going.

Let the paint dry completely, then follow the manufacturer’s instructions for setting it. Some fabric paints need to be heat-set with an iron, while others don’t.

More ideas for homemade fabric stamps

Once you’ve made your stamps, you can use them for all sorts of other projects!

Eric and I have used homemade stamps to decorate T-shirts, too. We made a shirt inspired by the movie Up, using stamps to add colorful balloons around the house. We also made a Minions T-shirt using the same technique.

For the Minions shirt, I used a sheet of acrylic plastic instead of old CD cases. I showed how to cut it into smaller pieces to make stamp bases in different sizes, so that tutorial is worth checking out if you want to make more stamps.

DIY Up Balloon T-Shirt

A T-shirt inspired by Disney's Up, decorated with colorful balloons using homemade fabric stamps. A fun project for kids to help with!

See the tutorial!

DIY Minions T-Shirt

Make a fun Minions-inspired T-shirt using homemade fabric stamps! Learn how to cut acrylic sheets into stamp bases and use them to create your own designs with fabric paint.

See the tutorial!

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DIY Trick-or-Treat Bag

Turn an old T-shirt into a reusable Halloween trick-or-treat bag! This easy sewing project uses the shirt’s existing hem to make a drawstring closure. Decorate it with homemade Halloween fabric stamps for a fun project kids can help with.

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Active time: 30 minutes minutes

Author: Tracy Ariza, DDS

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Equipment

• ▢
  scissors
• ▢
  Sewing machine or needle
• ▢
  Safety pin

Materials

• ▢ Old T-shirt orange works well for a pumpkin bag
• ▢ Ribbon or cord for the drawstring
• ▢ Thread
• ▢ Craft foam
• ▢ Small pieces of sturdy plastic or wood for the stamps
• ▢ Glue
• ▢ Fabric paint
• ▢ Cardboard to place inside the bag while stamping

Instructions

Make the bag

• Fold the T-shirt in half lengthwise and cut away the sleeves and neckline, leaving a rounded edge. Keep the original bottom hem intact.
• Turn the fabric inside out and sew along the curved edge to close the bottom of the bag. Turn it right side out.
• Make small openings in the outer layer of the original hem, on either side of the seams. You'll generally need two or four openings, depending on the shirt's construction and whether you're using one or two drawstrings.
• Attach a safety pin to one end of your ribbon or cord. Guide it through the hem around the bag, then tie the ends together, leaving enough length to open and close the bag comfortably.

Make the fabric stamps

• Draw Halloween shapes, such as ghosts, pumpkins, and triangles, onto craft foam and cut them out.
• Glue the foam shapes onto small pieces of sturdy plastic or wood to make stamps.

Decorate the bag

• Place cardboard inside the bag to prevent paint from soaking through.
• Apply fabric paint to the stamps and press them onto the bag to create your designs.
• Allow the paint to dry and follow the manufacturer’s instructions for setting it.

Notes

You can sew the bottom straight instead of curved, but I like the rounded shape for a jack-o’-lantern bag.

Clear plastic makes a great backing for the stamps because you can see exactly where you’re placing your designs. I’ve even reused old CD cases for this!

We used triangles for the pumpkin’s eyes and nose and repeated a W-shaped stamp to make the mouth.

I used one long piece of ribbon because that’s what I had on hand. If you have enough ribbon, you can use two drawstrings instead, threading one from each side. That gives you two handles and makes the bag easier to close and carry.

You can use the same technique to make drawstring bags in different sizes. See my drawstring pouch tutorial for more ideas.

 

 

 

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This post was originally published on October 28, 2013. It was updated in October 2026 with clearer instructions, new photo collages, and additional tips.