Trunk-or-Treat Is the Perfect Way to Combine Cars, Candy and Child Safety

For them, pretending to be Spider-Man and knocking on the door of a total stranger sounds exciting. But in the era of health and safety, many parents don't think it's a good idea or simply don't have the time to chaperone them.

That's why many communities across the nation have found an entirely different way to link the joys of candy and decorating. Trick-or-treat has thus turned into trunk-or-treat, an event where people give their vehicles a makeover and gather at a car park. This allows parents to keep a close eye on their children and maybe have a conversation of the four-wheeled kind.

Nobody knows who organized the first trunk-or-treat, but churches have been doing them for about a decade now. Everybody is welcomed, regardless of their religious convictions. The events are popular in rural communities as well because the distances between houses are greater.

Many folks are unfamiliar with their neighbors because nobody does old-school socializing. So for them, trunk-or-treat is a less awkward scenario.

Maybe there's a way to combine our kids' love for the fanciful with our adult passion for cars. Maybe your kid would like to dress as a Fast and Furious character, or he/she's a Mad Max fan. That would be our cue to break open the piggy bank and buy a Local Motors Rally Fighter, paint it black and put guns on top.

So how about it, wives of America, could we use this as an excuse to finally get that matte black paintjob on our 32 Roadster? How about that custom gun that shoots gummy bears? Twin iPads in the trunk of the Mustang showing non-stop vampire movies? No? We're pushing it, but here are a few trunk-or-treat ideas on a shoestring.