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Mario Brothers Trunk or Treat Ideas

Mario Brothers Trunk or Treat Ideas

This year our theme is Super Mario Brothers, so I’ve got a few Super Mario Brothers trunk or treat ideas for you to steal for your own–they’d also be great for Super Mario birthday party. I seriously started thinking about Halloween in May this year, because this is the year we’re definitely winning the church trunk-or-treat competition. Trunk-or-treat, if you haven’t heard of it, is a pretty wonderful concept; it brings together the community for an evening of all out fun. Cars pull into an empty lot, pop open their trunks and decorate them for the kids to come by to trick or treat in a convenient central place.

And if Mario isn’t your bag, I’ve got a whole list of trunks for you to see! This post is part of the Halloween Trunk or Treat Blog Hop, with some seriously talented ladies participating in coming up with some incredible trunk or treat ideas. Links are at the bottom of this post.

When you live in a family full of video game enthusiasts, you learn stuff you don’t want to know by osmosis. (See last year’s Minecraft Trunk or Treat display.) And if you ask opinions on party themes, etc., you will inevitably get a video game suggested in response. But since we do take trunk or treat seriously and it’s such a big family activity for us, I bent to their will and came up with quite a few ideas that are MUCH easier than they look to put together for a Super Mario Brothers theme.

HUGE TRUNK OR TREAT TIP: Always think BIG with your props! You don’t need many, but the big items fill up lots of space and look impressive. Almost all the props here started out as a cardboard box or a dollar store item, big doesn’t need to be expensive…but you are going to have to be creative!

A few affiliate links ahead–they cost you nothing but help pay for the creation of displays like this one!

Super Mario Brothers DIY Ghosts

These ghosts are called “Boos” on the game. Here is the full tutorial on how to make boo ghosts–it’s made from a printable and a white paper lantern (buy them here.) We used a bit of fishing line to hang them from our open trunk. It worked out that we were able to put a few suction cups with hooks (buy them here) to hang them up with instead of tape–which was a much less messy route for hanging things up.

Super Mario Trunk Treats

The number of kids with food allergies is getting out of control, and I always feel bad for the kids who can’t do the candy at Halloween. Our house has pretty much switched over to giving little toys for trick or treat. If you hit up Amazon, they’ve got massive amounts of great Halloween toys that end up costing less than candy most times. And it’s not just us ditching candy! Check out the Teal Pumpkin movement.

Crowd favorites? Lighty blinky glow in the dark toys, like blinking spiders or finger lights. I have a whole list of suggestions along this route in this blog post. (click here)

Mario themed trick or treat favorite? Definitely these mustache whistles. The parents are going to curse your name for a bit, but the kids will be wildly delighted and these whistles look just like a Mario mustache. Also available on Amazon.

The added bonus to non-candy treats? There isn’t any candy to hang around for you to accidentally eat before Halloween. But maybe your willpower is far greater than mine…

Super Mario Chomper and Question Mark Box

These guys were on the list of things I HAD to put in our trunk from the kids.

Chomper was a bit of a challenge, but now that I have him figured out, I know you could totally make him, too. I got a few beach balls from the clearance section, spray painted them black, then cut out white and black vinyl with my Cricut to make teeth and eyes. The dollar store has plastic chain lengths you can use, or get it shipped by Amazon (buy it here.) Each one would have been a 15 minute project to construct had it not been for a few screw ups on my part along the way!

The question mark boxes pop up coins in the game, so I thought they’d make great tables for treats. I started with a 20x20x20 cardboard box (mine was from Office Depot) and yellow craft paper (buy it here.) I printed out the question marks and dots and used a glue stick to put each of the dots on the box–just 4 of the sides, though! You can see the Mario question mark box tutorial and download the printable here.

Super Mario Brothers Piranha Plants

The kids were impressed by these, jaded little beings they are, so I was really excited about my Piranha Plants! You can see the entire Piranha Plant tutorial and download the printable here. I designed the plant and it was a bit more to have them printed as posters, but I thought the end result was well worth it. After mounting the picture to black foam core, I cut each plant out with a hot knife and taped a 4 foot rod to the back.

The green pipe was made from a cardboard box. I wrapped it around a hula hoop, then covered it in green paper (buy it here). The outer lip of the pipe was just another piece of cardboard wrapped in green craft paper.  I have a PVC pipe sunk in a bucket of concrete I’ve used over and over for yeaaaaars (aka, you should have one if you do lots of parties) that I popped the plant into. It weighs it down against the wind that way, as well as provides upright support.

Super Mario Brothers BoBombs

Cute little guys. The DIY BoBombs are made from a printable, a tissue poof and a 6 inch piece of cord. All you really have to have to put it together is a pair of scissors and a glue gun! Tutorial for how to make BoBombs here.

Covering the Inside of Your Trunk

If you have kids, chances are, you’re going to want to cover up what’s inside your car because the mess is a horror show all on its own. I’ve found the science fair boards (buy it here) fit perfectly into the back of an open small to mid-size SUV to cover the space and doesn’t require any tape or pins. Plus, science fair season starts next months, and now I’m already prepared. You can print out and pop on a few graphics that go with your trunk to keep everything festive.

Super Mario Brothers Trunk or Treat Costumes

It can’t be stressed enough that the adults (or kids) at the trunk will totally make or break your display. Be sure to dress up!! We were lucky to have a whole lot of Super Mario character costumes at our disposal–they really add a lot to the overall trunk, and act as a decoration all their own. Plus, it’s just fun. We got all of our costumes here on Amazon. Love shopping in my pajamas!

Halloween Trunk or Treat Blog Hop

You certainly can’t have a trunk or treat with just ONE trunk! Click around and see a few more!

1. Super Hero Trunk or Treat by Everyday Party Magazine

2. The Working Dead by Michelle’s Party Plan-It

3. Glam Cemetary by Jordan’s Easy Entertaining

4. Hocus Pocus Trunk or Treat by Pineapple Paper Co.

5. Monster City by Fronie Mae Bakes

6. Magic Trick Trunk or Treat by Piggy Bank Parties

7. Zombie Meat Market by Ritzy Parties

8. Alice in Wonderland Trunk or Treat by A Lovely Design

9. Super Mario Trunk or Treat by Frog Prince Paperie

10. Just Treats Trunk or Treat by Jen T. By Design

11. Harry Potter Trunk or Treat by Tikkido

12.  Bug Bistro by Fern and Maple

13.  Boo Spectacular from A to Zebra Celebrations

14. Flamingo Trunk or Treat by Cupcake Wishes and Birthday Dreams

Want to see how everything was made? Click onto the next page!

 

Paula Biggs

Owner at Frog Prince Paperie
Paula Biggs is a party planner, DIY crafter, and owner of Frog Prince Paperie, where you can find hundreds of party, craft and lifestyle ideas.

Leeza

Tuesday 3rd of October 2023

What font did you use for SPOOKY MARIO BROS

Paula

Sunday 8th of October 2023

@Leeza, I probably used "Super Plumber Brothers" font (a hard drive crash wiped my file with this font along with it!), but if you Google "Super Mario Fonts" you'll get lots of options of similar ones to use!! FontSpace and DaFont are pretty reputable to download from.

alyson

Thursday 21st of September 2023

Hi! What size did you print your priahna? Looks so cool!

Paula

Sunday 1st of October 2023

@alyson, he's 24x a bit over 36 inches. I usually get him printed at Office Depot on their wide format printer where the paper comes on a roll so I can make as long as I need. It's not standard poster size, but the dimensions of the graphic worked best this way.

Georgie

Saturday 20th of May 2023

Thanks for the awesome post! I’m throwing a Mario themed birthday for my son in a few weeks, and love the Chomper idea. You said you had a few hiccups. Would you mind sharing some tips and tricks? I don’t have a ton of time, so any bit extra guidance to save some time is appreciated.

Paula

Tuesday 23rd of May 2023

@Georgie, I think Chomper was an issue because I likely overcomplicated him at first. I am pretty sure that I tried to make individual teeth instead of just drawing them on with a marker onto the vinyl. So that was a fail a few times around. Also, figuring out how best to make my beach balls sit still while I painted them...well, I'm not always patient, haha!!

Katie

Tuesday 4th of October 2022

This is so awesome!! Great job! Do you happen to have the printable file for the Chomper? Thanks so much!!

Courtney

Wednesday 18th of October 2023

I'd also love the printable! What size beach ball did you use??

Kim

Monday 11th of October 2021

Can you share the file or where you got the spooky mario bros words?