Trunk-or-Treat Sign-Up Sheet: Cars, Candy and Games Without the Group Text

A trunk-or-treat is one of the easiest outreach events a church or school can run. Families park in a row, open their trunks, decorate them, and hand out candy to kids walking the line. No haunted house, no rented space, and the neighborhood comes to you.

It is also easy to run short. Ten days out, the group text says "we'll be there!" a dozen times, but nobody knows how many trunks are coming, who is bringing candy, or who is running the hot cocoa. Here is how to plan one in the time you have left, with a sign-up sheet that tells you exactly where you stand.

What a trunk-or-treat needs

• Trunks. Decorated cars handing out candy. These are the event, so start here.
• Candy. More than you think (see the math below), plus a few people bringing extra bags for trunks that run out.
• Parking and safety. Two or three people in bright vests who close the lot to moving cars and keep the walkway clear.
• A welcome table. Someone greeting new families, handing out a flyer about your church or school, and collecting names if you want to follow up.
• Games or a craft. A ring toss, a beanbag throw or a coloring table for the little ones while they wait.
• Food and drink. Hot cocoa, cider or a chili supper, if you want people to stay and talk.
• Setup and cleanup. Cones, lights and tables before; trash bags and a sweep after.

How many trunks and how much candy

Start from how many kids you expect. If last year brought 120, plan for 150. Every child usually visits every trunk, so each trunk needs about one piece per child, plus some extra for the kids who come back around.

Fewer trunks with plenty of candy beats a long row that runs dry halfway through. Keep the extra bags at the welcome table and send a runner when a trunk is close to empty.

A sample sign-up sheet

Two details make this sheet work. Each trunk spot says to bring your own candy, so nobody assumes the church is supplying it. And it asks people to leave a note with their trunk's theme, so you do not end up with four princess castles in a row.

Parking, lights and safety

1. Park the trunks first, then close the lot. Every trunk car should be in place 15 minutes before kids arrive. After that, no car moves until the event ends.
2. Back the cars in so the trunks face one walkway, and keep the walkway on the side away from the street.
3. Light it. It gets dark early at the end of October. String lights, battery lanterns and headlamps for your parking crew.
4. Mark the way in and out with cones so families walk the row in one direction.
5. Keep one parent with each group of kids. Say so on your flyer.

Have a rain plan

Decide now where it goes if it rains: the fellowship hall or the gym, with tables standing in for trunks (some churches call it a "hall-or-treat"). Write it on the sign-up sheet, so the people who signed up already know, and tell them by noon on the day so nobody hauls a decorated car across town for nothing.

A ten-day timeline

Mistakes that sink a first trunk-or-treat

• Counting trunks the night before. By then it's too late to recruit more. Count two days out, when a few more asks still work.
• Not saying who brings the candy. If the sheet doesn't say "bring your own," half the trunks will assume the church is supplying it.
• Letting cars move after kids arrive. Park every trunk first, then close the lot. No exceptions for someone who's running late.
• Deciding about rain when it's already raining. Pick the indoor plan now and put it on the sheet.
• One long shift for everyone. Volunteers with kids want to walk the row too. Short shifts let them do both.

How to make your trunk-or-treat sheet in Regify

Regify sign-up sheets are free, and the people signing up never make an account.

1. Go to Sign-ups and click New sign-up, then pick the Volunteer shifts template.
2. Rename it ("Trunk-or-Treat 2026"), add the date, time and place, and put the rain plan in the details.
3. Edit the spots to match the sample above, with how many people each one needs. You can change what the rows are called, so the page can say spots, jobs or anything you type.
4. Leave comments on, so people can add their trunk's theme or what they're bringing.
5. Turn on a reminder for the day before.
6. Click Publish and share your short link.

When the sheet goes live, Regify emails you its link with share buttons and a QR code you can put on a flyer or a slide. People pick a spot and type their name, and can take more than one place on a spot ("I'll bring 2 bags of candy"). Everyone sees what's taken, so nobody signs up for a spot that's already full.

• Reminders go to everyone who left an email. Turn on Require email if you want everyone reminded.
• A waitlist on full spots fills a gap automatically when someone withdraws.
• A daily summary of new sign-ups, so you don't have to keep checking.
• A contact form on the sheet, so a volunteer can ask you a question without your email address being posted.
• Duplicate the sheet next fall and change the date.

After the candy is gone

A trunk-or-treat brings families onto your property who may never have walked in your door. If you're running a Christmas program, a winter retreat or a VBS next summer, the welcome table is the place to tell them. When those events need registration, forms or payment, the same Regify account runs them, and free events stay free. For more on running volunteers, see our free volunteer sign-up sheet guide.