Trunk or Treat Flyer Ideas and Wording for Churches, Schools and HOAs

A trunk or treat flyer usually has two jobs: getting enough decorated cars signed up, then getting families to the parking lot. A trunk or treat is a Halloween event where kids collect candy from the open trunks of parked, decorated cars instead of walking door to door. Below is wording for both flyers, for churches, school PTAs and HOAs, plus a checklist, sizes for a church door or a backpack folder, and prompts for Flyer Maker. Flyers for the rest of the year are in the holiday flyer ideas by month.

What to put on a trunk or treat flyer

Families decide in a glance whether they can make it, so the logistics go first. This order also works as the order of type size, largest to smallest.

Must have

1. What it is, in plain words. "Trunk or Treat: trick-or-treat from decorated cars." Grandparents and new neighbors may not know the term.
2. Who's hosting. Name the church, the PTA or the HOA, so parents know who to ask.
3. Day, date and hours. "Saturday, October 24, 5 to 7 PM." Give an end time so parents can plan dinner and bedtime.
4. The lot, not just the building. "North parking lot, 400 Quarry Road, enter from Alder Street." Families arrive around dusk, and at a school or church with several lots, the entrance is the detail they need.
5. Rain plan. "Rain moves us into the gym" or "Rain date: Sunday, October 25." One line now saves printing a second flyer later.
6. Who's welcome and what it costs. "Free. Kids 12 and under with a grown-up." Say "open to the neighborhood" if it is.

Nice to have

7. Trunk sign-up. "Host a trunk: sign up by Sunday, October 18," with a QR code or an email address.
8. Allergy-friendly treats. A teal pumpkin signals non-food treats such as small toys, and FARE's Teal Pumpkin Project suggests keeping those in a separate bowl from the candy. One line covers it: "Teal pumpkins mark trunks with non-food treats." FARE's Teal Pumpkin Project map, which FARE lists as coming soon for 2026, takes events as well as home addresses, so allergy families can plan their route.
9. Extras with times. "Best trunk contest at 6:30. Hot dogs $1." A time gives families a reason to arrive early.
10. Safety line. "Engines off from 4:30 PM until the last family leaves. Battery lights only, no candles in trunks." The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests lighting jack-o'-lanterns with a flameless candle, a flashlight or a glow stick rather than a real flame.
11. Contact. One email or phone number for questions.

Trunk or treat flyer ideas and wording

The wording changes with who's hosting, and you'll probably need a second flyer to recruit trunks. Every name, date and address here is made up, so swap in yours. For a Spanish or bilingual version, see the Spanish flyer wording page, and for an indoor costume party, use the Halloween party flyer ideas instead.

Church trunk or treat flyer wording

Write a church trunk or treat flyer for neighbors who have never been inside the building: where to park, that it's free, and that everyone is welcome.

• Headlines: "Trunk or Treat at Fenwick Hill", "Candy, Costumes and Cars", "Fall Family Night: Trunk or Treat"
• Supporting lines: "Free for the whole neighborhood. Hot cocoa in the fellowship hall." "Costumes welcome, nothing too scary for toddlers."
• Call to action: "Bring a neighbor who has never been."

Keep Sunday service times to one small line at the bottom, if at all. Potlucks, Christmas Eve and the rest of the church calendar have their own church flyer wording. Some churches that skip Halloween themes run a harvest festival instead; the fall festival flyer page has that wording.

School and PTA trunk or treat wording

School flyers go home in folders and get read by parents at the kitchen table, so include the rules the school cares about.

• Headlines: "PTA Trunk or Treat", "Brindlemoor Trunk or Treat Night"
• Supporting lines: "All grades and siblings welcome." "Wear your costume, no masks or toy weapons." "Quiet hour from 4:30 to 5:30 for kids who like it calm."
• Call to action: "Sign up to decorate a trunk at pta@example.com by Monday, October 26."

HOA and neighborhood trunk or treat wording

An HOA trunk or treat has one audience, the residents, and one venue, usually the clubhouse or pool lot.

• Headlines: "Neighborhood Trunk or Treat", "Trunks at the Clubhouse"
• Supporting lines: "Residents and their guests. The lot closes to traffic at 3:30 PM." "Walk over if you can; parking is for trunks."
• Call to action: "Reply to the HOA email to reserve a trunk spot."

Wording for the trunk sign-up flyer

The volunteer flyer asks for work, so make the ask small and concrete. Send it first, with a deadline about a week before the event, so you know how many cars to expect and how much of the lot to close.

• Headlines: "Trunks Wanted", "Decorate a Trunk, Make a Kid's Night"
• Supporting lines: "Bring a decorated car and treats to hand out. We'll have extra candy if you run low." "Theme ideas: pumpkin patch, outer space, under the sea, a campsite."
• Details to include: arrival time for setup ("Park by 3:30 PM"), the prize if there is one, and the sign-up deadline with its weekday.

The sign-up form behind the QR code needs four answers: the host's name, a phone number for the day, the vehicle (hatchback, SUV, truck bed) and the theme. With those, you can map spots before anyone arrives and keep the two outer-space trunks from parking side by side.

Rain plan and change-of-plans wording

Post a short update the day before, in the same colors as the original so people recognize it.

• "Rain or shine: if it rains, Trunk or Treat moves into the gym."
• "Update: Trunk or Treat moves indoors. Same time, same fun, now in the fellowship hall."
• "Rained out. New date: Sunday, October 25, 4 to 6 PM."

Design tips for trunk or treat flyers

Explain the event in the subtitle. A headline that says only "Trunk or Treat" loses anyone who doesn't know the term. "Trick-or-treat from decorated cars" under it fixes that.

Show a car trunk, not a haunted house. The picture should show the event itself: an open hatchback with pumpkins and string lights. Use original pumpkins, bats and cars rather than characters from movies or shows, which belong to their studios.

Make a light version for paper. Black and purple backgrounds look good in a group chat but use a lot of toner and can print muddy on an office copier. If the school will photocopy it, ask whether they copy in color, and make that version with Black and white colors.

Put the lot entrance near the date. The two things parents check at 4:45 PM are when and where to turn in. Keep them together in the top half.

Give the sign-up QR code its own corner. A code squeezed between clip art is hard to scan on a church door. Leave it a clear square at the bottom and scan it with two phones before you print.

Trunk or treat flyer sizes and printing

Most trunk or treat flyers need a letter page for doors, a half page for folders, and a phone version.

Flyer Maker saves a PNG in three shapes: Portrait 4:5, Tall 3:4 and Wide 5:4. For printing, choose 2K or 4K. A Tall 2K file printed 5.5 inches wide comes out about 7.3 inches tall at roughly 280 pixels per inch, so a half sheet gets a strip of white at the top and bottom. FedEx Office's online flyer printing takes your own uploaded design only at 8.5 x 11 and prints it with a small margin, so plan for a thin white border on letter pages too. For tabloid, A4 and postcard sizes, see the flyer size guide.

More trunk or treat flyer prompts

These three cover the invite for residents, the rain update and a quiet hour for kids who find the main event too loud. Every detail is filled in, so swap in your own names, dates and address before you run one.

Neighborhood Trunk or Treat at the Aldergate Commons Clubhouse, 25 Aldergate Circle. Saturday, October 31, 4 PM to 6 PM. Free for Aldergate Commons residents and their guests. Kids trick-or-treat from decorated cars in the clubhouse lot, which closes to traffic at 3:30 PM. Teal pumpkins mark trunks with non-food treats. Walk over and bring a treat bag. Questions: board@example.com. Orange and purple, friendly rather than scary, with a row of decorated car trunks under a full moon drawn in an original cartoon style.

Update: Trunk or Treat Moves Indoors. Because of rain, the Fenwick Hill Community Church Trunk or Treat is now in the fellowship hall, 400 Quarry Road. Same day and time: Saturday, October 24, 5 PM to 7 PM. Still free, costumes still welcome. Trunk hosts, bring your decorations and treats to the side door by 4:15 PM. Questions: office@example.com. Simple, bold layout with the word Update at the top and a small umbrella and pumpkin illustration.

Quiet Hour at Trunk or Treat, for kids who like it calm. Friday, October 30, 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM, one hour before the main event, in the staff parking lot at Brindlemoor Elementary, 1200 Lark Street. No music, no spooky sounds, soft lights only. Free for Brindlemoor families. RSVP to pta@example.com so we know how many trunks to open early. Soft pastel design with an original drawing of a smiling pumpkin in a car trunk.

Common trunk or treat flyer mistakes

• A weekday that doesn't match the date. In 2026, October 25 falls on a Sunday, and a flyer that calls it Saturday sends families on the wrong night. Check the calendar again after every edit.
• One flyer for two audiences. A flyer that recruits trunks and invites families at the same time buries both messages. Make two.
• No rain plan. Without one, families guess, and some drive over to an empty lot.
• No setup time for trunk hosts. If hosts only see the start time, cars pull in while kids are already walking the lot. Give hosts their own arrival time, such as "Park by 3:30 PM".
• A building name with no street address. Maps apps need the address, and newcomers need the entrance.

How to make a trunk or treat flyer in Flyer Maker

1. Start Flyer Maker with the family invitation. In "Describe your flyer", write the host, day, date, hours, lot and street address, rain plan, who's welcome and the one thing families should do. Make the trunk sign-up flyer as a second run.
2. Choose Tall under "Size" for doors and folders, then make a Portrait copy for the group chat.
3. Pick 2K or 4K under "Quality" in "More options" for anything you'll print.
4. Set the look. Playful style with Illustration pictures suits families. If the school will photocopy it, choose Black and white colors.
5. Put the church office email or the PTA phone in "Contact info". Flyer Maker is built to use only the contact details you type in.
6. Switch on "Leave a blank square for your QR code" for the trunk sign-up form. Flyer Maker leaves the square empty instead of drawing a fake code, so drop your form's real QR code into it with any photo editor.
7. Read the finished flyer line by line. Look at the dates, times, lot address and phone number, and at any slogan you didn't ask for. Type a correction in the "Want to change something?" box under the flyer (currently 60 credits, 70 for 2K, 90 for 4K), or fix the description and run it again.

Flyer Maker takes a logo but no photos. To put last year's picture of the decorated trunks on a flyer, use Smart Editor (Pro plan): upload the photo and type the words to add. Use photos of children only with their parents' permission.