Despicable Me Halloween Candy Bags

When we decided to do a Despicable Me family costume this year, I assumed it would be easy to find coordinated candy bags since the licensed Gru and minion costumes are all over the place.  (Not so with Lucy, you have to piece that together yourself.)

No luck with the candy bags, so I decided since I was making minion costumes for the boys I might as well made candy bags, too.

We already limit the number of houses to 10 or so, a number Bear can manage without getting (too insanely) overstimulated.  Plus, the boys are only 5 and 1 and just don't need that much candy.  Since most candy bags are big enough to hold all the candy I buy to secretly eat all October for over 100 trick or treaters, I figured it was just as well to downsize.

Project Supplies
Tote bag(s)
Black felt
White felt
Craft glue

Basic copy & paste and Word skills, plus access to a printer are also important.

Difficulty Level
Parental Scale: one cocktail, optional
Parent-Child Togetherness Scale:  your kid is old enough to use scissors but young enough to not yet be sniffing glue

I found these 8" x 8" tote bags at the dollar store.  I'd have preferred black, but the color selection was limited and at 2 for $1 I wasn't going to be picky.  I went with radioactive minion yellow.

I found this Gru logo and pasted it into Word for sizing, then printed it on paper to use as a template. 

This is the logo printed onto plain paper and laid out on a standard piece of white felt (you can find sheets of felt in the craft aisle at Walmart for about 33 cents each).  The craft bags are 8 inches square, so I did roughly a 6" logo.  You can adjust the size using the ruler in Word.

Cut a black circle for the background and a white circle for the G.

Carefully cut the G out of the template and trace it onto the white felt circle.

Notes:
 1) Technically you can skip cutting the white circle, I just found it easier to do that way.

2) Trial and error taught me you'll get a cleaner look if you trace the G backwards (not shown here).  That way there are no stray pen marks on the finished side after you cut it out.

If you're using something like Elmer's glue or a glue gun, have at it. 

If you're addicted to the convenience of spray adhesive like I am, retire to a well ventilated area and place felt pieces on a disposable surface. I go out in the garage or on the back patio and use old newspaper or a chunk of cardboard from the recycle bin. 

Make sure you are applying the glue to the back side of the felt G, then carefully place it on the corresponding black circle. Seriously, if you are anything like me, double check the whole forwards/backwards thing.  Spatial relationship skillz! I do not have them.

Decide it's silly to wait for the glue dry on the logo before adhering it to the bag.

Spend several minutes trying to turn the still fragile logo over while the spray glue residue on your hands makes it stick to your fingers and fall apart.

Debate letting the logo dry and then sewing it to the bag so your kids can't peel it off like a giant sticker.  Ignore the voice of reason, forge ahead with glue plan.

Carefully measure Estimate the spacing Slap that sucker on the bag and think about making a cocktail as a reward for being such an awesome freaking mom that you just fabricated custom made Halloween candy bags.  Realize you're high from the glue because you forgot to open the garage door and head off in search of the adhesive remover, because you can't take your contacts out with felt glued to your fingers.

Pro tip: These cute little bags may be the perfect size for limiting your child's Halloween intake, but the flip side is they don't provide enough overflow that you can allocate a stash of your own.  The solution to this problem is buying extra for the trick or treaters and "forgetting" to get that bag out of the Top Secret Candy Hiding Place on Halloween night.


This is my Despicable Me Halloween costume Pinterest board. 
This is my pin of this Despicable Me Halloween candy bags post.