You’ve Been Booed! 6 Scary Good Ways to Boo Friends

boo your friends for halloween

How does “You’ve Been Booed” work?

Spook your friends this Halloween season by “booing” them with a surprise treat. In short, the way “You’ve Been Booed” works is that you secretly leave sweets and treats for your friends to find. For example, you might sneak onto your friend’s or neighbor’s porch and leave behind goodies with instructions so they can keep spreading the festive spirit and join in the ghoulish fun.

Of course, this delightful tradition is also fun at the office and at school! Below are 6 scary good free printables for handcrafting your own “boos.” Besides, you won’t even need a mad scientist and lightning storm to bring these “You’ve Been Booed” ideas to life. They’re easy to make and a fantastic way to get people into the Halloween spirit.

Check out more fall resources you might like:

“You’ve Been Booed” instruction cards

"You've been booed" card with instructions for booing friends. Avery card 5689 is printed with a black and white design featuring bats.

Print yourself on 4-1/4″ x 5-1/2″ postcards for laser printers or inkjet printers. Or, order custom-printed postcards.

Not sure what type of printer you have? Here’s how to tell.

Although getting booed is becoming more popular, there are still many people who don’t know the rules or could use a refresher. Make sure to include a set of “You’ve Been Booed” instructions and a sign for the recipient to hang that lets others know that they have already been booed. We even created a “You’ve Been Booed” template for instructions and our free Avery Design and Print Online software makes it a snap to personalize it.

“You’ve Been Booed” free printable tags

Bright orange "boo bags" with black ribbon and white tags, featuring the word "Boo!" in large letters and small black bats.

Mix and match black ribbon with black and white string for a perfect Halloween “boo” bag.

Print yourself on 2″ x 3-1/2″ printable tags, or order custom-printed tags.

A cute "You've Been Booed" treat idea featuring orange jack o' lantern buckets and caramel corn bags. The image shows a close up view of a black and white ghost-print ribbon and Avery tag 80511 that reads "Happy Halloween."

Complement treat tags with a printed ribbon.

Print yourself on 2-1/2″ round scallop tags, or order custom-printed tags.

Halloween isn’t just about the candy, it’s about the mood. Treats are important but the spooky presentation and personalized details are what can upgrade your boo bag from being just a cute treat to the highlight of Halloween. Printable tags are perfect since they give you the ability to print out phrases with frightful fonts and eerie images.

Tags, cards, labels, and other trimmings help dress up treats to fit the spooky season. These features also help draw in and direct the attention of the person you’re booing so that they can recognize every enchanting detail.

DIY spooky cute ideas for treats

Choose several simple predesigned templates from the Halloween category to create eye-catching treats!

Print yourself on 2″ round labels, or order custom-printed round labels.

Metal buckets are filled with various candies and decorated with orange and black spider print ribbon. The buckets are finished off with a tag made from Avery business card 5371 that reads, " You are fab BOO lous!"

Business cards are great for making a lot of DIY gift tags all at once, and all you need is a hole punch. This hack is ideal for creating boos for a large group or organization.

Print yourself on business cards for laser printers or inkjet printers. Or, order custom-printed business cards.

Halloween themed s'mores treats to use for "You've Been Booed" packages. The chocolate is made to look like tombstones and the marshmallows are made to look like ghosts. Avery labels decorated with bats and "Eat at Your Own Risk" are folded over the top of the treat bag to seal them.

No sharp staples to worry about when you create your own bag toppers by folding a label in half.

Print your own bag toppers on 3-1/3″ x 4″ blank labels, or order custom-printed rectangle labels.

Traditional Halloween candies and snacks you can gift include candy corn, popcorn balls, and candy apples. However, Halloween is also a celebration of all types of candy so feel free to mix and match. Many popular candy companies also release seasonally-exclusive and experimental treats during this time so take a stroll through your local store to see if anything jumps out at you.

You can also choose treats by how well they work together to make a more haunting display. If your treats look good enough, they could even end up on your neighbors’ coffee tables as spooky conversation starters.

Ready-to-make packs of snacks are also a fun option to put together, especially with your kids. Craft your own devilish concoctions by mixing together various types of candies.

“You’ve Been Booed” gift ideas

Now that you have your instructions, decorations, and treats, it’s time to stitch them all together to make the final package. Make sure that a tag or note is immediately visible so that the recipient knows they’re being booed. This is a good way to let them know why they received a sudden gift and also makes it more likely for them to read the instructions and continue the tradition.

Also, don’t be afraid to branch out and be creative with your gifts. Candy is always welcome but Halloween-themed clothing, toy rats, plastic cauldrons, and more are also awesome gifts. Depending on who you’re gifting, many of these presents can also end up being decorations for desks, homes, or classrooms as well.

And feel free to take a look through our various other labels and cards to see what your imagination can conjure. You can also use Avery blank labels by the sheet in a huge variety of materials, shapes, and sizes. Or, we can even print your projects for you with our WePrint custom printing service.

Even though boo bags are anonymous, the best gift will be the one that is undeniably you. Use #averyproducts on Instagram to show of your devious creations!

Author: Ryan Han

If you have a question about an Avery product, there’s a good chance Ryan will know the answer. Originally hired in 2014, Ryan worked for years answering calls, responding to chats and collecting review data before he was given the opportunity to be a copywriter. With almost a decade’s worth of Avery knowledge, he now writes copy for product pages, articles, emails and wherever else a little punching up is needed. With a BA in Creative Writing from California State University, Long Beach, Ryan loves any chance he can get to tap into his more poetic side. Whether it’s a motivational quote on a planner cover or waxing lyrical about the near-mystical reflective properties of a new holographic label, Ryan has been a steadfast fan of Avery Products and Avery people. In his free time, Ryan loves to try out new skills and hobbies. He drew a webcomic for a few years, can build a computer, placed eighth once in a Tetris tournament and is trying to learn Spanish so that he can have conversations with his girlfriend’s madre.