Weekly Roundup: Ten 3D Printable Halloween Trick or Treat Things

With things like peanut and other food allergies being so much more common than they used to be there are a lot of reasons to avoid giving out candy as Halloween treats. Obviously no one is going to like the house that gives out pennies or travel soaps, there is no faster way to get an egged house than being that guy. Still, last year I was weighing my options when I decided to 3D print a bunch of fun little models and hand those out instead of candies. To my surprise, pretty much all of the neighborhood kids loved the little toys that I was handing out. Granted, the teenagers weren’t really happy, but I managed to get through the night egg- and toilet paper-free, so I plan to 3D print more things to give away this year. I’m sure it helped that I had my 3D printer by the front door running all night, which made the kids a lot more excited about their 3D printed treats.

Last year I 3D printed a bunch of random models that I had found, but this year I decided to find a bunch of easy to print models with a Halloween theme. Not everyone is willing to risk giving out no candy, but the 10 models that I found are also excellent additions to gift bags, great treats to send to school with your kids and if you’re feeling generous you can just pair them up with candy so everyone is happy. I tried to find 3D models that were easy to print, required very little to no post processing or supports, and could print relatively quickly so it would be easy to make enough to hand out.

Here are Ten 3D Printable Halloween Trick or Treat Things:

JACK SKELLINGTON BOOKMARK

Jack´s head bookmark (Nightmare Before Christmas) by Cibonacci

Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free

Jack Skellington has become one of the most iconic Halloween characters that people all over the world love. The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of the best Halloween and/or Christmas movies around, so I expect these bookmarks to be a big hit with my trick or treaters.

This simple bookmark is just Jack’s face on a page marker, making it a really fast print job. The bookmark can be 3D printed in any color material, but I would suggest either black or white to match the aesthetic of the movies. This will also look great in a glow in the dark filament.

GLOWING EYES BRACELETS

Halloween Globobs by faberdasher

Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free

I actually made these last year and they were a really big hit. I just purchased a bunch of those cheap glow stick bands that you can find in any dollar store and made a bunch of them. I saw kids and their glowing wrists walking around the neighborhood all night.

The designer created these little charms to easily slide over the glow stick band, and there are holes cut in the models to it looks like the little character eyes are glowing. Because these are meant to be worn at night, and will be on something that glows, it is probably a good idea to print these out in a black or other similarly dark color filament.

HALLOWEEN-THEMED SNAP OUT CHARMS

Halloween Snapout by 3D BROOKLYN

Found on: MyMiniFactory
Cost: Free

There is nothing like a toy that is interactive, and this cool Halloween-themed snap out set of charms is made to be interacted with. The creator designed the charms as if they were on a sprue, however instead of the standard join spots he has the charms connected by spider webs. Kids can just snap off the charm that they want and use them as charms on a homemade bracelet or necklace, a scrapbook or as decorations for desserts and tasty treats. Make sure that you 3D print this model sheet using PLA so it’s soft enough to break the webs, and so it will be nontoxic if you use them to decorate any desserts. These would look great in any color, but obviously orange is a no-brainer.

JACK-O-LANTERN BAG CLIP

Pumpkin Jack o Lantern Clipz by crazyman2099

Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free

This is probably a little more time intensive of a 3D printed treat for trick or treaters than most of you are going to want to invest, however these adorable jack-o-lantern bag clips are still great to make for gifts or to just use around the house yourself. Each clip 3D prints as one single part and requires no assembly or supports.

The designer 3D printed these using ABS with a 100% infill, which makes each clip clock in at about 90 minutes printing time. These are safe to print with PLA, they just will not be as durable as ABS. Clearly these can be printed in any color filament that you have, but orange and black are the obvious choices.

MINI JACK-O-LANTERNS

Jack-o’-lantern by MicrosoftStore

Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free

These simple little jack-o-lanterns are perfect for grab bags or for decorating cupcakes and other desserts. They print really quickly, especially if you print them hollow, and won’t need any supports. The designer includes an STL with a single pumpkin, or an STL with four pumpkins so you can print them even quicker.

RING WITH DEVIL HORNS

devil ring by bapt man

Found on: MyMiniFactory
Cost: Free

Several of the 3D printable rings that I made last year were a huge hit, and I actually had kids come back and ask if I had any more once I ran out. I’m going to be sure to print a bunch of extras this year, and I found this cute ring with devil horns on it to add to my to do list. There is also a bunny ear ring that would also work for Halloween, or Easter if you want to hang on to the STL file until next spring.

These rings are only going to take a few minutes to print, so you should be able to make quite a bit of them quickly. Use any color PLA, but only use a 10% infill so they are nice and flexible and will fit easily on any size finger.

HALLOWEEN SCRAPBOOKING CHARMS

Halloween elements for scrap-booking and other crafts by tomas LA

Found on: Pinshape
Cost: Free

These little charms are probably better suited to using as decoration for invitations, scrap books or desserts, but they are simple enough that they really could be used for almost anything. These could also be used to decorate a window or lamp shades, where they will cast a noticeable shadow. They could be sized up a bit without looking strange, and will still print relatively effortlessly. Depending on the size printing bed that you have, all of them can even be printed at the same time.

Most of these charms will print out in a matter of minutes, and won’t need any sort of supports or rafting. In addition to being ideal for just about any 3D printing material, these little charms would also look great painted up, either with a decorative paint or with a finish of some kind. If you print these in PLA then standard acrylic craft paint is really all that you’ll need.

MINI GHOST

Ghost by MicrosoftStore

Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free

This adorable ghost, like the jack-o-lantern, is a simple little model that will 3D print quickly and won’t need any supports or rafting. It can easily be scaled up or down depending on your needs, but the model is going to look better on the smaller side.

While white or transparent filaments are the obvious choices to print this model with, they would also look great printed in a glow in the dark material. Just use a Sharpie or some black paint to color in the eye and mouth holes to really make them pop.

SPIDER-SHAPED HAIR COMB

SPIDER COMB by muzz64

Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free

These cool spider-shapes hair combs are super fast to print, don’t need any supports and can be scaled up and down depending on your printing bed. The designer does suggest at least 50% infill in order to make sure the comb is strong enough to actually comb hair without breaking. Personally I would bump that up to 100% infill, it doesn’t add much to the printing time, but it does make the comb a lot more durable.

It is fine to 3D print these in either ABS or PLA, however the ABS comb will be a lot stiffer and won’t have as much give as the PLA version. If these are purely decorative then it really doesn’t matter, but if you think the people that you’re making them for will use/wear them, the PLA will probably be more comfortable.

FLAT MINI SKELETON FIGURE

FlatMinis: Skeleton by grumpyrobot

Found on: Thingiverse
Cost: Free

This cute little skeleton figure is part of a whole line of 3D printable flat miniatures that can be used for RPGs, game pieces, decorations or simply as 3D printed toys. There are a ton of Flat Mini options available, including monsters, adventurers, animals and even terrain pieces. But this cute skeleton is also a great toy to hand out for Halloween because it’s easy to print and is fun for the kids to assemble. I’m going to hand them out with all of the pieces packed up in a small baggie so everything stays together nice and neat.

I’ll be 3D printing the skeletons that I’m using out in a bone white color, but it doesn’t really matter what you print these in. PLA is the ideal material choice, because the parts will need to be a little flexible in order for everything to snap together. Once they’re assembled you could even paint these little guys if you wanted.

That’s it for this week, but remember I’m collecting Halloween-themed models all month long. So make sure that you check out last week’s column, and come back next week for ten more 3D printable Halloween things. If you use any of these as treats this year I would love to see them, you can snap pics and either email them to me, or you can Tweet me @SJGrunewald!