This year, our church is doing its very first trunk or Treat. It promises to be a great outreach to the community and a fun way for the kids to dress up, have fun and get some great treats. I can’t wait. But it looks like we may need Halloween candy 400 times over. My husband only half jokingly mentioned that we might need to take out a home equity loan in order to be as generous with our treats as we would like.
Why 400? Well, we expect around 200 kids, and we may wind up doing two different trunks for the event.
As you may recall from an earlier post, no one trick or treats on our street. This means that we have saved quite a bit in candy costs. Plus, we never really buy candy for home. So I was a bit blown away when I went to a local discount store and found that even “cheap” candy there is pretty expensive.
Of course, I’m regretting giving away two large bags of candy recently, instead of holding it for Halloween. The in-laws give candy buy the sackful.
Of course, I want to avoid the cheap candy route and go for the good stuff, so I have been doing some research. How can I spend as little as possible while still getting some great treats for everyone?
First of course, I’ll be using some of the tricks I already know. You can see them in my How to Save Money on Halloween Treats.
In the spirit of buying in bulk, I thought about Oriental Trading for candy. They have some great assortments for good prices. But I am so paranoid about the candy coming in time for the event, especially since I don’t want to spend extra in shipping. I need it right away.
I might still check out the dollar stores, although I wonder if they will have the name brand good stuff. I’ll probably base a lot of the treats on things I can make myself. Not only should that be a less expensive way to go, but it will work great with the Trunk or Treat.
Target is seems to be a good way to go, too. I know that they have some good coupons, thanks to the Deals blog here on Families.com.