DIY Dollar Store Halloween Candy Bowl

This DIY Halloween Candy Bowl is a fun and creepy way to serve treats to all the grabby little hands on Halloween night!

Another Halloween, another state. From Connecticut to Georgia and now down in Florida, our Halloweens keep getting hotter, but one thing is constant: the insatiable need for sugar among the wee witches and guppy-sized goblins out patrolling the streets for their fix.

Like zombies shuffling relentlessly and tirelessly in search of brains, today’s costumed kiddoes will stop at nothing to that sweet, satisfying sugar high, consequences and sugar crash be damned!

In Connecticut, Halloween 2019 was marred by one of the largest candy heists in recorded history.

The brazen crime was perpetrated as my poor babes and I tried to have a relaxing and quiet evening watching The Conjuring. Little did we know, the only conjuring going on was a disappearing act right outside our front door! I was only alerted to the crime by the repeated ringing of our doorbell. Thinking that perhaps today’s youth no longer possessed the ability to read and reason – the sign next to the bowl on the table blocking the front door encouraged them to take a handful.

A handful, madam!

We’re not cheapskates here at The Navage Patch! Perish the thought!

They could take a handful from the bowl sitting on the table that was literally blocking access to the front door and the doorbell!

So when the doorbell kept ringing, what other conclusion could I reach but that these were dimwitted Draculas and illiterate Elsas at my door?

My patience grew thin. Didn’t these pea-brained pipsqueaks have parents? Couldn’t they read?

Finally and at long last, my last nerve snapped and I shot up from the sofa to investigate the black hole of brainpower that seemed to be growing on my stoop.

I opened the door with a flourish but then blanched in terror at what I saw.

Nothing, madam. I saw nothing!

There was no candy left. None.

And the worst part was, neither was there a candy bowl! One or more unknown assailants had hit our generous candy display and not only made off with an estimated 10 pounds of candy, but he (or she or they or whatever pronoun is preferred by sugar-crazed thieves) also absconded with the damn candy bowl!

Now this was no ordinary bowl. Its diameter could be measured in feet, not inches! It could serve as a bathtub for twin babies…possibly even triplets, and you might even have room left over for a quick sail between scrubbings!

Well, nothing gets the blood boiling like being burgled, so I put on my shoes, grabbed a flashlight and lit out into the pitch black night.

It was creepy, I’ll give you that. We didn’t live in the most populated part of town, and street lights were non-existent. The night was overcast, cold and the crescent moon that hung behind the clouds and the trees offered no illumination.

I stood in the cul-de-sac, seeing nothing and hearing naught but wind and the occasional burst of laughter from distant groups of marauding candy hunters. Handan came running out after me telling me to get back inside.

Whoever had hit us was long gone. I shined my powerful beam at a few gaggles of teens, but I couldn’t be sure of anything since I knew nothing.

After some time standing in the road, a burgled doofus with nary a candy wrapper to his name, I turned and headed back towards our driveway, and that’s when I spotted it.

There, leaning against the post of our mailbox, was the empty candy bowl.

Hey, candy can be replaced. That bowl is one-of-a-kind. I chalked it up as a victory and headed back inside to light and warmth and my babes.

Because I’m apparently stupid and far too trusting, I made the same mistake last Halloween in Georgia. Hey, it was still the height of Covid hysteria, and we were all encouraged to put out candy bowls – that or wear biohazard suits and give candy away with 6-foot tongs from across a barrier table. We opted for the outdoor bowl. Again, we put it just outside the door on a table with a sign generously instructing the knee-high ninjas to take a handful (but not more or the witch would get them). I noticed some neighbors set up tables closer to the street.

So who got hit? The tables near the road (and farther from the house)? Or the table right up at the house?

You guessed it, madam! I’d offer you a winner winner chicken dinner, but I’m afraid that too might get stolen before I had a chance to serve it to you!

So I may be a charter member of homo sapiens moronus, but it doesn’t mean I’m incapable of learning from past mistakes. This year, we’re going to do things differently. This year, if the little squid-fingered sugar-addicts want something from The Navage Patch, they’re going to have to get it the old fashioned way – they’re going to have to ring the doorbell.

Still, though the all-you-can-steal sugar smorgasbord has been permanently shuttered, I’m not going to be the curmudgeon who plops only one dinky “fun-size” morsel in everyone’s bag and sends them on their grumbling way. I’ll still allow their half-pint hands to grab a handful from a big pile…it’ll just be under my watchful eye.

Okay, so I had this idea to use Dollar Tree skeleton hands to make something…I was thinking a wreath. But then my babes came up with a better idea, so I abandoned my wagon and jumped onto hers.

With 8 Dollar Tree skeleton hands, a DT serving tray and a plastic DT bowl, we made this perfect Halloween candy bowl (I’m calling it a “bowl” even though it is clearly a tray because the Google Search Gods favor the term “candy bowl.”) The total cost for this project (not including spray paint and hot glue, which, let’s face it, are like flour and sugar in the kitchen) was $10.

DIY Halloween Candy Bowl VIDEO TUTORIAL

You may want to watch our short video below for an overview of our DIY Halloween candy bowl before you read the detailed step-by-step tutorial.

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DIY Dollar Store Halloween Candy Bowl TUTORIAL

Dollar Trees may change from state to state (and we’re just beginning the process of acquainting ourselves with DTJaxFL), but one thing we’ve found they all carry are these big plastic serving platters in the party supplies section.

For our Halloween candy bowl (or tray or whatever the heck you wanna call it), we need this clear platter to be black. Spray paint to the rescue! I found this can lurking in our box of name-brand spray paints. It’s apparently made by Rust-Oleum, and it sells for just over a dollar at Home Depot. The plus side is…duh…it’s cheap. The downside is you’ll need to use more of it because it doesn’t cover nearly as well as its brand-named brethren. Anyway, it was good enough for this simple project.

I sprayed the bottom of platter. This will prevent the paint from chipping off when little hands are pawing for chocolate.

It gives a glossy look to the top of the platter, but it’ll soon be filled with treats, so that’s okay.

After the platter, I also painted the outside of the bowl. No need to paint inside, as it’ll be face down.

Back inside, I hot glued the bowl to the bottom of the platter. I used tape to help with the placement.

I removed the guide tape once the bowl was in place.

Next, I arranged the skeleton hands around the bowl to get an idea of spacing.

When I had them positioned how I wanted them, I picked up one hand at a time, applied hot glue, and then carefully put if back in its place.

We found that it takes a good amount of hot glue to get these hands to stick properly. At first, I didn’t put enough, and a few hands fell off. Putting way more than you think you’ll need keeps them in place, but just be sure to give the extra glue a little more time to cool and set.

And that’s it! When all the hands are glued and cooled, your Halloween candy bowl is done. Time to flip it and fill it!

There will be no more candy shenanigans this year. I’ve got my two best birds guarding the stash.

These bony birds mean business!

And this one is just waiting for a thieving little hand…