Halloween Museum page two

Trick or Treat Bags

A great selection of duplicates from my collection are for sale on Page 10

I am always on the lookout for different trick or treat bags, in case you have an interesting bag.

The cloth bags are the earliest. Popeye is rare since it is a famous cartoon character. The same is true of Casper. Casper is made of the same material that Halloween costume masks are made of - heat formed thin plastic.

My book on Halloween Costumes is available. It is called "Halloween Costumes and Other Treats" and features costumes, trick or treat bags and much more. It is illustrated with about 700 color photos, a price guide, and history of the items. Autographed copies are available from me for $29.95.
Good Halloween bags are actually very hard to find as kids dragged them along the ground ripping out their bottoms or they were ripped apart by the young trick or treaters and afterward, thrown out. But even though they are tough to find, the most expensive Trick or Treat bag may only sell for $50 and the majority sell for under $20. This is a good example where rarity does not translate into dollars.

Here is a selection of bags from the mid 1950s (top row) and late 1960s (in plastic). It is fun to find bags that were given out by stores or companies. As you can see, witches, scarecrows and jack-o-lanterns are among the most popular images.

Trick or Treat Bags from the 1950s and after


Ben Franklin' store	Ben Cooper showing costumes	Lots of great images	Kahn's hot dogs	Frisch's Big Boy Hamburgers

Made of sewn cardboard	Variation one	Variation two	For Goblin's Loot - great slogan	1950s Ring 'n Treat Pirate bag

Trick or Treat Bags are one of my favorite things. I guess it is the imagery and the memories of trick or treating that appeal to me. My favorite images are those showing kids in costume and stylized images that reflect the time they were made. One of the great bags shows kids in costume and was made by Ben Cooper Co. - the costume company. It shows a few of their costumes. Generally, the earliest bags were made of cloth, so I would date those as 1940s to early 1950s. Popeye, actually made in the 1960s, is an especially desirable bag sought by comic character collectors as well as Halloween collectors. After the cloth bags, the smaller bags with a loop handle appear and were made in the 1950s to 1960s. In my photos, you can recognize them in that they seem to have a single strap going up from the middle of the bag. It is actually going from front to back.


Ghosts & Spider webs	Lots of Ghosts	JOL head witch & owl	Jujy Fruits	Rare bag from Walgreens

Great image of Trick or treaters	Available in a shorter version	Great "Shell Out" slogan	Orange Crush soft drink	Early 1960s

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the bags were still small shopping bag size with a typical shopping bag handle (rolled brown kraft paper) attached at two points on each side of the top of the bag. Also made during this time, the semi-ridgid plastic bags with the raised image on the outside (above left and below right) and the red or green plastic (below left - can also be found in green)(Reminds me of Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons in design). Remember Jujy Fruit candy? Those gummy little pellets that could rip out your braces or a loose tooth. If you bought enough, you got a free Trick or Treat bag. It is a long bag (only half shown here) and not very inspired.


Simple bag style - 8.5 " tall	Early 1960s	Late 1960s	Early 1960s	Late 1960s

Late 1960s	Great costumes - Late 1960s	Late 1960s - very sweet	Late 1960s - non-scarey cat	Late 1960s - non-scarey cat

The bags get larger in the late 1960s and thereafter


Late 1960s	Late 1960s - color the owl	1973 rare Dairy Queen	Late '60s or early 70s

Late '60s or early 70s	Late '60s or early 70s	Late '60s or early 70s	Late '60s or early 70s


Late '60s or early 70s	Late '60s or early 70s	Late '60s or early 70s - 2 sides of the same bag

Late '60s or early 70s	Late '60s or early 70s	Late '60s or early 70s - 2 sides of the same bag

In the early to mid-1960s, you begin to see a large shopping bag style trick or treat bag and a few heavy plastic bags appear. The 1970s was a strange time for bags. The stores began to emphasize their advertising rather than the trick or treat theme and although bags were made, there are very few memorable ones. The 1980s saw the death of nice Trick or Treat bags, but a few were made and sold in party shops and stationary stores that have some charactor (see my book, Halloween In America for examples). The 1990s was almost all thin plastic bags with a few interesting bags coming from McDonald's restaurants, Bloomingdales, and party or stationary stores.


1993 Nightmare Before Christmas TOT bag	Bloomingdales' Little Brown Bag. Only made for one year in the mid-1990s.	Harry Potter Trick or Treat bag from 2001.	A Haunted Mansion movie TOT bag from 2003.


2009 Hannah Montana TOT bag	Pirates of the Carribean TOT bag	2009 Spongebob TOT bag	A superb, early 1970s TOT bag


A 1960s Bell's Burgers bag	1990 White Castle TOT bag came with a Pez dispenser. Looks like '50s	1964 McDonalds arches TOT bag	1964 Archie McDonald for McDonalds


	McDonald's 1990 Vinyl Trick or Treat Bags


Scary tree bag, 1960s	Clown bag, 1960s	1960s Martian Bag

Go back to Halloween Museum, page 1

Parties and Decorations, page 3

Halloween History, page 4

Crepe Aprons from 1910s to 1920s, page 5

Halloween - Jello Sculpture instructions & my graveyard fence, page 6

The Pirate and Retirement Home Parties, page 7

The Black & White and Pajama Parties, page 8a

The Hippie and Jumpsuit Parties, page 8b

The Murder Mystery Party in 2010, page 8c

Vintage Halloween Costumes for Sale, page 9a

Vintage Halloween Costumes for Sale, page 9b

Vintage Halloween Trick or Treat Bags for Sale, page 10


	Here is a selection of bags from the mid 1950s (top row) and late 1960s (in plastic). It is fun to find bags that were given out by stores or companies. As you can see, witches, scarecrows and jack-o-lanterns are among the most popular images.