"You've Been Boo'd" -A Halloween Gift Giving Tradition

Enjoy sneaking a treat to your neighbors and friends with this fun Halloween gift giving tradition… You’ve Been Boo’d!

I LOVE October! It kicks off my very favorite time of the year. 🧡 As soon as October rolls around, I know there’s cooler weather on the way and three straight months of excitement, traditions, caring, thoughtfulness, and all-around joy and love. Such a wonderful time!

Some of our family’s favorite traditions that come during the tri-holiday season are the ones that involve being sneaky gift givers. It’s super fun to give gifts to others, but there’s something extra fun about being sneaky about it. Is it the anxiousness about trying to not get caught? The thrill of doing something nice that only you know about? I don’t know. But we love it.

For October, we love the Halloween gift giving tradition of ‘You’ve Been Boo’d’.

You’ve Been Boo’d

If you’ve never heard of this fun tradition, the basic idea is that you make/give a treat to someone (without them knowing who gave it to them), and then there are instructions for them to ‘pass on’ the fun by doing the same thing to someone else. It’s a great way to get some holiday spirit spread around.

However, I’ve always had a little bit of an issue with the method used in the original activity. Traditionally, there is a piece of paper given to each recipient that they are supposed to make copies of in order to continue the fun going. (The paper to copy has gift tags on it that say “You’ve Been Boo’d” and “We’ve Been Boo’d”.)

This always seemed like a dud to me. For one, what if the recipient doesn’t have a copy machine? For two, I’m pretty sure every time I got one of those papers to copy, it had been printed in black and white and the quality was horrible by the time it got to me.

Now, I know that gift giving does NOT have to be pretty and fancy in order to be special. Buuuuut… it is always *so* much more fun for me when it is. 😉

(And let me clarify… ANY gift that people share with my family is always loved and cherished, regardless of its cuteness factor. But when I give a gift, part of what brings *me* joy is making it pretty. Not because I think they will love it more, but because it just makes me happy. lol.)

So giving a grainy black and white copy of a tag to someone is just not going to happen on my watch. I’d always end up making a new tag of my own to pass on.

And it got me thinking… there has got to be a better way to pull off this fun tradition without making each recipient dig out their copy machine (if they even have one) and go through the hassle of copying an ugly paper to pass on to someone.

free printable for "You've Been Boo'd" halloween gift giving

A new method

Well, I thought up a super cute alternative! (*insert trumpet sound*) Instead of making each person print copies, why not just have an envelope you can pass on with the goodies that already has all the copies printed out for them?! It seems like a nicer alternative than giving a gift that says, “enjoy a treat, and a headache”. 🤣

It seems like such an obvious solution, but I’ve just never seen it done that way. So it was time to make a change!

And again, since it’s so much more fun for me to give something cute, I decided that instead of just a plain envelope, I’d make up a fun little tag and envelope set for this “You’ve Been Boo’d” tradition that would make it super fun to pass along. 😁 I know, y’all… I just can’t help myself. I think I need therapy. 😂

How to Start the Fun

If you’d like to spread some halloween fun through your neighborhood, all you need to do is:

Download and print off the FREE halloween gift giving printable set below.
Assemble the envelope. (Instructions are in the kit, but basically you’re just folding it on the indicated lines and taping the sides so it’s like an envelope. Just make sure you only tape the sides and not the top flap. 😉)
Print as many pages of the tags as you’d like and cut them into their individual tags. (The more tags you print, the longer the fun should continue. But no worries if someone were to run out… there’s instructions on the envelope for how to print more.)
Put the tags in the envelope–keeping one “You’ve Been Boo’d” tag out for you to use. (I like to separate and paperclip the two different tags into groups so it’s easy for each recipient to find what they need.)
Make a special treat for someone who could use some holiday love and attach the “You’ve Been Boo’d” tag.
Being super sneaky, deliver the goodies, along with the “Pass It On” envelope that is full of extra tags.
Watch the fun spread!

halloween goodies for sneaky gift giving

It’s so easy to spread some love! I’m excited to start the holiday fun with my kiddos this year. I’m sure we’ll be sneaking off to quite a few houses. 😉 And although I love seeing the joy it brings to others, I truly joy in the happiness I see in my children’s faces as they are going about doing good. There’s just no comparison. 🧡

Happy Fall, Y’all!!!