Last minute Halloween goodie bags and mini lanterns plus free Halloween patterns download!

With Halloween only a few days away, I thought it might be nice to make some adorable little paper bags using some Halloween themed patterns that Djerba made.
(The patterns are available for free download! The link is given further down in the post.)

Once made up, they can be used as cute goodie bags, or turned into simple yet fancy mini lanterns (see photo above) by inserting an LED candle into the bag. (I'm really excited about these!)

Now the instructions may seem a little complicated at first, but once you get started, you'll see it's really not so bad. It's just a little measuring and folding. And once you've made one, you'll be a pro at making the second, and third and fourth!

To make one of these little paper bags you will need the following:

free Reprodepot Halloween patterns (click here to download!)

printer, either laser or inkjet, black and white or color

printer paper

glue stick

scissors

ruler

pinking shears

Print out the pattern you would like to use. Cut out the pattern along the light gray line and discard the white border.

With your paper laying horizontally and starting at the upper left hand corner, use your pencil and ruler to mark the very top at 1/8 in, 1/4 in, and 5 in. Then mark 1/8 in and 1/4 in in from the right hand corner. Do this on the back side as well. Make sure your marks are small.

With your paper laying face down, fold the right corner to meet the middle, matching the 1/8 in mark with the middle 5 in mark. Line the top edges up and crease the fold.

Fold the left edge in to the middle so the 1/4 in mark meets the edge of the other folded side, and the 1/8 in mark lines up with the middle. Match the top edges and crease fold.

Unfold the creases and lay the paper flat again, face down. Make a tiny mark at the top of each crease you just made. From this mark, measure 3/4 in on each side. Mark on the bottom on each side of the fold as well. Using the ruler as a guide, fold two more creases on each side of the first fold. These folds will create the accordion folded sides of the bag.

Fold the other side the same as the first.

To make the bottom of the bag, flatten the paper out again, face down, and measure up from the bottom 1 1/2 in. Using the ruler as a guide, fold the bottom up and crease it.

Using your scissors, snip along the vertical creases just to the horizontal fold at the bottom of the bag.

Use the glue stick to put some glue on the face of two of the side flaps (the smallest flaps), and fold in to create a right angle. Press to stick.

Fold in and glue the other corner the same way. Press well to stick.

At this point the back side of your bag will be open, with two flaps. Put glue on the white inside bottom of one of the flaps. press onto the bottom outside of the box to form the bottom of the bag. Glue the last flap the same way. This last flap will overlap the previous one.

Carefully smear glue on the very inside strip under the over lap, and press to seal the seam. Use your pinking shears to cut across the top of the bag to make it a little fancier (and to cut off those little pencil marks!)

Fill the colorful bags with spooky Halloween candy and hand them out to your favorite kiddies or insert a battery operated LED candle and light the way!

Come and get it trick or treaters!

If you're looking for more goodie bag ideas, our friend Courtney over at Two Straight Lines has created these stylish orange labels, and she's offering them on her site as a free download as well!

I think these labels would look awesome if you made one of our goodie bags, filled it with candy, folded over the top, and stapled it closed with a sweet little label for the lucky recipients name. These would really finish off your bags!

Have fun with all these free downloadables today and have a Happy Halloween!