Easy DIY Batman Halloween Trick-or-Treat Bucket

Make a custom Halloween trick-or-treat bucket for your kids in thirty minutes or less with this simple tutorial that (truly) ANYONE can do.

NOTE: THIS POST INCLUDES AFFILIATE LINKS TO PRODUCTS I HAVE USED AND LOVED. SEE MY DISCLOSURE TO LEARN MORE.

It’s almost Halloween!…Which means I’m up to my eyeballs in costume preparations around here. Halloween is NOT my favorite holiday (I just don’t like scary things), but I do love creating costumes for my kids.

This year, my oldest son (7) decided to be Luke Skywalker–specifically Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi when he is wearing the black costume (which NO one sells, by the way). So…I’m dusting off my sewing machine and altering a black dress shirt to (hopefully) look like Luke’s costume…cross your fingers for me, please!

My number two son (5) has been obsessed with Batman for years and was thrilled when I bought him the costume of his dreams (thank you, Costco)…complete with batarangs. Apparently, batarangs are an essential accessory for Batman. Who knew?

Since his costume didn’t require any work, I thought it would be fun to make him a custom Halloween trick-or-treat bucket to match his costume.

It ended up being a really simple and quick project that Little Brother is excited to use on Halloween! The only problem is that now his older brother is asking what kind of special bucket HE gets, too.

We started with a $1.00 Halloween trick-or-treat bucket from Walmart. After removing the existing design, we cut out felt in the shape of the Batman logo and glued it on.

And…DONE! It was that simple.

It took less than an hour to make (probably closer to a half hour if you don’t count all the kid-related distractions), and my son loved helping me and watching the transformation process.

Plus, this simple DIY is completely adaptable to just about any costume you can imagine.

Read on to get the full instructions!

DIY Batman Halloween Trick-or-treat Bucket

Materials needed:

Halloween bucket, black
Acetone nail polish remover (100% acetone is best)
old rag/paper towels
printed Batman logo (get the one I used here)…or whatever design you choose
two sheets of felt: one yellow, one black
freezer paper (optional, but helpful)
pencil/pen
scissors (best sewing scissors ever)
iron
hot glue

Directions:

Step 1: Remove existing design from bucket

1. To remove the existing design (mine had candy all over it), pour acetone onto an old rag and rub the paint off.

Make sure to wear gloves if your nails are painted because…well, it IS nail polish remover, after all. Also, protect your work surface because the nail polish remover can damage some finishes if it spills.

2. Keep working your way around the bucket, adding more acetone to the rag as needed, until the whole design is gone and your bucket is completely clean.

Note: 100% acetone is best because the concentrated formula really eats through the paint quickly. However, I used normal (cheap) acetone polish remover and it did the job, too. It required a little elbow grease, but all the paint came off mine in less than 10 minutes.

Alternate method: You can also just cover the whole bucket in felt if you’d rather. Just make sure you buy enough to go around the whole bucket. This is a great option if you can’t find a bucket in the color you want. You can even use an empty plastic ice cream bucket (the party bucket size) if you have one lying around.

Step 2: Prepare your felt design

1. Print out the Batman logo HERE. Trace the outer oval and the bat symbol onto freezer paper (not wax paper) as two separate shapes (see picture below).

2. Cut the shapes apart and iron onto the felt, with the shiny side of the freezer paper facing the back side of your felt design. The oval should be yellow. The bat should be black.

Note: Be careful when ironing felt. If you turn your iron to full heat, you risk melting the felt. I recommend putting a thin cotton piece of fabric or parchment paper over the whole thing before ironing to prevent this issue. I just used a t-shirt that was already sitting nearby.

I learned about melting felt the hard way so I could pass on this tip to you. You’re welcome! (If you DO happen to join the “melted felt” club, here’s how to clean melted felt off an iron.)

3. Once you have ironed your felt onto the freezer paper, cut out the design along your traced lines.

Note: You don’t absolutely have to use the freezer paper method for cutting felt. You can just trace your design directly onto the felt and cut it out. However, the freezer paper method makes it much easier to cut the shapes exactly how you want them, especially if your design has complex curves or sharp angles.

Alternate method: You can use craft foam instead of felt.

Step 3: Glue the design onto the bucket

1. Heat up a hot glue gun (you could also use tacky white glue or spray adhesive).

2. Glue the bat symbol onto the yellow oval. Then glue the whole design onto the bucket.

3. Let it cool, check for spots that may need additional glue, and remove any extra wisps of glue.

Step 4: Go trick-or-treating!

That’s it! Your DIY Halloween trick-or-treat bucket is finished and your little Batman is ready for a night out on the neighborhood!

So, what do you think? Would you make a candy bucket like this for your kids?

P.S. – In case you’re wondering, Baby Brother is going to dress up as a fireman this year. I can’t wait to see him walk around in his fireman rain boots!

Easy DIY Batman Halloween Trick-or-Treat Bucket

NOTE: THIS POST INCLUDES AFFILIATE LINKS TO PRODUCTS I HAVE USED AND LOVED. SEE MY DISCLOSURE TO LEARN MORE.